Up to 3,000 civilians have been killed by the Rwandan army in the past three months, a report by a US-based group, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), said. "According to testimonies PHR has collected, killings of refugees and Congolese villagers, as well as civilians in western Rwanda, continue to this day," it said.
The report - promptly denied in Kigali - urged the US "to speak frankly about Rwandan abuses in the region and demand an end to them."
PHR's report follows a two week mission in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire. The group said its staff had come under pressure from the Rwandan army.
Most recently the army and Hutu militiamen have been fighting in north-western Rwanda. Officials in Rwanda said at least 150 militiamen and around 40 civilians had been killed there since Friday.
Meanwhile Burundi's Tutsi dominated army said yesterday that Hutu rebels killed more than 50 civilians including 36 children in the province of Makamba. In another development, witnesses said the army and Hutu rebels killed 20 people near Bujumbura.
The UN Security Council yesterday rejected a Burundian request for a tribunal to judge those accused of genocidal crimes in Burundi, western diplomats said. - (Reuter, AFP)