Joseph Kabila with Paul Kagame in Goma on August 6, 2009

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has released a report documenting atrocities, including serious violations of human rights, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the decade between March 1993 and June 2003. The report raises serious allegations of brutal and horrific mass killings, rape and other abuses during the period in question.

The United States strongly supports accountability for violations of human rights and international humanitarian law around the world, including in the DRC. We welcome the improvement in regional relations since the reporting period and call on countries in the region to continue to collaborate closely to stop the ongoing atrocities in the DRC.

As we contemplate the contents of the report, it is crucially important that we remain focused on the tens of thousands of victims in the DRC. Accountability is an important step toward ensuring that further such incidents do not occur. The United States is firmly committed to helping the DRC and other nations in the region take positive steps to end the corrosive cycle of violence and impunity.