Central Africa on verge of huge conflict

UN human rights chief Louise Arbour warned yesterday that unpunished human rights violations — including “pandemic” sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo — are keeping central Africa on the brink of another major conflict.

She told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that the DRC and Great Lakes region would remain exposed to a return to large-scale violence so long as impunity is the norm.

“The periodic cycles of extreme violence that these countries have undergone cannot be broken unless governments demonstrate that perpetrators of human rights violations will be held accountable,” she told the 47-nation council.