Democratic ​Republic of Congo (DRC) has formed a new advisory council that includes senior ‌war crimes lawyers from the United States (US) and Europe to support its push for accountability for atrocities committed in the country’s conflict-ridden east.

The move comes as DRC’s government pursues an increasingly ​ambitious campaign for international justice in connection with the fighting, a decades old ​struggle involving dozens of armed groups and competition for mineral resources, ⁠in which millions are estimated to have died.

The conflict in eastern DRC is ​rooted in the fallout from neighbouring Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. After the genocide, many perpetrators ​fled into eastern Congo, helping fuel cycles of violence that have persisted for decades.

Last month, Kinshasa filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Rwanda of breaching international conventions on genocide, ​racial discrimination and torture.

At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly last year, President Felix Tshisekedi ​called for recognition of what he described as a “silent genocide” in Congo and urged the creation ‌of ⁠an international commission of inquiry to help break a “cycle of impunity”.

Fighting in eastern Congo intensified last year when the AFC/M23 rebel group, which the UN and Western governments say is backed by Rwanda, seized large swathes of eastern Congo. Kigali denies backing ​the rebels.

The new ​advisory council, known ⁠as the Council for the Examination of Atrocities in the DRC, will advise two Congolese state institutions as they seek recognition ​of crimes and push for reparations for victims.

It is co-chaired ​by Congolese ⁠human rights activist Julienne Lusenge and Howard Morrison, a British lawyer and former judge at the International Criminal Court and the UN tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Other members include ⁠Stephen ​Rapp, the former US war crimes ambassador who ​led the prosecution of former Liberian President Charles Taylor, and Pascal Turlan, a former senior International Criminal Court official who ​worked on Congo cases.

–Reuters–