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Eastern
DR Congo has been unstable for more than two decades AFP
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Kidnappings have
"sky-rocketed" in mostly lawless eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo, with at least 175 people taken hostage so far this year, leading
campaign group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said.
Armed
groups tortured and whipped hostages, and demanded ransoms of between US$200
and US$30,000, although most were freed after relatives and employers made
lower payments, HRW added in a statement.
BBC Africa Live report continues:
Twenty
of the hostages were local and international aid workers, it said.
At
least three people were killed by their captors, while another was fatally shot
in a kidnapping attempt. One remained missing, HRW said.
"The
alarming increase in kidnappings is a grave threat to the people of eastern
Congo. Congolese authorities should urgently establish a special police unit to
help rescue hostages and investigate and prosecute those responsible," it
added.
In
one case on 2 September, armed men kidnapped a 27-year-old female student in
Goma, the main city in eastern DR Congo, and took her to a remote forest where
she was held with other hostages, HRW said.
The
kidnappers beat and abused the hostages, including burning them with bayonets
heated in a fire, it added.
"When
we asked for food, they chose a man among us and cut his throat, killing
him," HRW quoted the student as saying.
She was held for nine days,
and released after her family paid a ransom, HRW said.
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