Suspects charged in connection with UN killings

Authorities in the DRC say two suspects will soon face trial in the gruesome killings of two UN experts. UN investigators Michael Sharp, an American, and Zaida Catalan, a Swede, were killed in March in the Kasai region, where hundreds have died since last July in an insurrection against the government. A report on the EWN site notes that military prosecutor Colonel Odon Makutu on Saturday told reporters in the capital Kinshasa that the two suspects, Gerard Kabongo and a local chief named Mulumba Muteba, have been charged with the war crimes of murder and mutilation as well as terrorism and participation in and command of an insurrectional movement. Rights group say they suspect Congolese forces could have been involved in the murders of the investigators who report to the UN Security Council on human rights abuses and sanctions violations. ‘Given the implication of Congolese army soldiers in much of the violence ... we have serious doubts about the Congolese authorities’ ability or willingness to carry out a credible, independent investigation,’ said Ida Sawyer, Human Rights Watch’s Central Africa director.