Nobel winner urges EU, French aid to end DR Congo massacres

Kinshasa. DR Congo's 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate Denis Mukwege on Wednesday urged France and the EU to provide military support to help stop civilian massacres in his country's troubled east.

At least 60 civilians have been killed in North Kivu province since October 30, most in attacks by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), despite the presence of UN peacekeepers and a Congolese army offensive.

Another 10 or more were killed Wednesday in two more attacks blamed on the ADF in Beni and nearby Oicha, according to UN radio, citing military sources and local officials.

"We are urging the European Union and France in particular to consider sending elite troops... under Chapter 7 of the UN Security Council to protect the civilian population of Beni against terrorism," Mukwege said in a statement.

Mukwege was joint winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for his work helping victims of sexual violence committed in the conflict-ridden eastern DR Congo.

He called for a similar mission to the 2003 Operation Artemis, which saw EU troops deployed under French command to intervene in ethnic massacres in the neighbouring DR Congo province of Ituri.

He said it should be a limited military operation in time and area.

French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested military cooperation by providing intelligence to help Congolese forces battle the militias.

The ADF's historical roots with Islamist Ugandans opposed to Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

The group has plagued the North Kivu region bordering Uganda since the Congo Wars, and it has been blamed for hundreds of deaths since 2015.