Kinshasa – The Congolese army on Tuesday said three crew members of a military helicopter which crashed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, died after being tortured.
NAN reports that two military helicopters crashed in a strife-torn part of eastern DRC with at least four crew members on board, authorities said on Monday.
Gen. Leon Mushale told reporters that the crew members had been seized alive and handed over to the M23 movement’s military chief, Sultani Makenga.
A representative of M23’s political wing based in Uganda denied its fighters were in Congo.
Over the weekend, UN-sponsored Radio Okapi cited military sources as saying that the helicopters crashed while pursuing fighters from the former Congolese rebel group M23.
The M23 was the largest of dozens of armed groups in the country and controlled huge swaths of eastern Congo in 2012 and 2013 before it was defeated by Congolese and UN forces.
Reports of a possible M23 revival by former fighters held in camps in Uganda and Rwanda have surged in recent weeks. On Monday, Rwanda’s defence ministry said in a statement that a group of about 30 unarmed people claiming to be M23 and fleeing combat with Congo’s army crossed the border at the weekend.
Earlier in January, Uganda’s government said it had detained more than 100 former M23 rebels trying to return to Congo from camps in Uganda where they have been awaiting amnesties.
Congo said the fighters had encroached onto Congolese territory.
Millions died in regional conflicts in eastern Congo between 1996-2003, most from hunger and disease, and dozens of armed groups continue to fight over natural resources and prey on the civilian population.
