Boys forced to rape mothers during Congo war; soldiers chopped and cooked human flesh while men were alive: UN report

A report by UN Human Rights experts reveals shocking details of the brutal crime committed by the rebels and government troops in Congo. According to the report, boys were forced to rape their mothers and soldiers chopped and cooked human flesh from men who were still alive.

The 126-page report about the atrocities was published on Tuesday and it said that the crimes were committed in late 2016. Kamuina Nsapu and Bana Mura militias and Congo's armed forces, the FARDC, were involved in committing the gruesome crime.

The report was created after a team that investigated the Kasai region told UN Human Rights Council that "all the sides were guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity."

One of the incidents mentioned in the report states boys forcefully raped their mothers, while women were asked to choose to get raped or die.

"What happened in the Kasai simply beggars description," Congo's Human Rights Minister Marie-Ange Mushobekwa told the Council, according to Reuters.

"One victim told us that in May 2017 she saw a group of Kamuina Nsapu militia, some of whom sported female genitals (clitorises and vaginas) as medals," the report said, adding: "Some witnesses recalled seeing people cutting up, cooking and eating human flesh, including penises cut from men who were still alive and from corpses, especially FARDC, and drinking human blood."

Another incident states that at least 186 men and boys' heads were chopped off by Kamuina Nsapu militia, which had children forces to fight. These child soldiers also became a victim of the crime when FARDC soldiers shot them with machine guns.

"The bodies were often buried in mass graves... or were sometimes piled in trucks by soldiers to be buried elsewhere," the report.

It was believed that there are around 86 mass graves in the region but the team now suspects that there may be hundreds of mass graves.

"We were not aware of this and it is very curious. But it is clearly a politically motivated press campaign that has nothing to do with justice," A Congolese government spokesman told Reuters.

Congo's Human Rights Minister, however, said that the investigation by the team was done very quickly. "One thing is absolutely certain. Each element of law enforcement and security forces that is responsible for these crimes will answer for their actions and will be severely punished," she said.