51 killed in Congo police sweep on gangs

Police in Congo's capital conducted dozens of extrajudicial killings in a crackdown against organized crime gangs, alleged Human Rights Watch.
The government called the claims exaggerated and pointed to convictions of police involved in the sweep.
In a report released today, the rights group said the police committed abuses in "Operation Likofi," a three-month drive launched last November to quash an upsurge in armed robbery and other crimes by small gangs, known as kuluna. The report expands on similar allegations last month from a UN human rights office.
Police killed at least 51 young men and teenage boys when they were unarmed, outside their homes, or in open markets, for maximum intimidation effect, said the report. Five were aged from 14 to 17, and nearly three dozen more people disappeared, it said.

Human Rights Watch urged international donors and the United Nations to press Congo to arrest and prosecute those responsible. It said Gen Celestin Kanyama, said to be the commander of the operation, should be suspended pending a judicial probe of crimes associated with the campaign.
The report is "exaggerated," said government spokesman Lambert Mende Omalanga, speaking to The Associated Press. He dismissed the rights group's call for the suspension of the general.

"It's presumptuous of Human Rights Watch, and we won't work that way," he said.
During the sweep, Kinshasa police conducted numerous raids, and innocent victims were at times mistakenly targeted, Human Rights Watch said. Authorities led a broad cover-up such as by issuing gag orders to doctors, threatening journalists, and denying relatives access to bodies of their loved ones, the report said.

Last week Interior Minister Richard Muyej insisted some 30 police officers had been convicted for their behavior during the sweep - including five for murder and manslaughter and two for arbitrary kidnapping or detention.
Last month, Scott Campbell, a U.N. Human rights official, was expelled over a report detailing nine deaths and 32 enforced disappearances as part of the anti-gang operation.