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Belgian court clears way for Bemba transfer to war crimes court – AFP
- 02 jul. 08 - 08.32h BRUSSELS, July 1, 2008 - A Belgian court on Tuesday cleared the way for former Democratic
Republic of Congo rebel leader Jean-Pierre Bemba to be transferred to The Hague to face war crimes charges.
Belgium's
highest court rejected a charge by Bemba's lawyers that the legal procedures followed since his arrest in Brussels in
May had been irregular.
Bemba's transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been suspended
pending the court decision.
It is now expected to take place within days.
Bemba was arrested in the
Belgian capital on May 24 on a warrant from the ICC and faces four charges of war crimes and two of crimes against humanity
in the Central African Republic (CAR).
The former Congolese vice president, currently being held at a prison in
Brussels, is blamed for a series of rapes and torture said by victims to have been committed by his men between 2002 and 2003,
when his forces fought a coup attempt in CAR at the behest of then president Ange-Felix Patasse.
Bemba, 45, heads
a vast business empire and had been living in exile in Portugal, where he fled under United Nations protection following a
shoot-out with the presidential guard in Congo which killed more than 200 people in March 2007.
That followed
defeat to his fierce rival and current Congolese President Joseph Kabila in the 2006 elections.
Earlier in the
day his lawyer Aime Kilolo Musamba said Bemba would ask the UN Security Council to suspend his case.
"The
Security Council could demand a suspension (of the legal process) for somebody who has done a lot of work for peace,"
in Congo, the lawyer told AFP on the margins of the court hearing in Brussels, where Bemba is being held.
"Jean-Pierre
Bemba has no fear of the ICC. He is totally sure of his innocence," said Kilolo, who said the link between Bemba and
the groups responsible for the crimes had not been established, with the militias involved at the time responding to the Central
African Republic authorities.
"For us the matter has been politicised. The complaint comes from those close
to President Kabila", Fyfy Osambia, an official from Bemba's Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), said in
Brussels.
"We want him to present himself in front of the ICC as a free man, because we know he will be acquitted,"
she added.
When the European Union is reinforcing these decisions to close doors to the asylum seekers and immigrants, to highlight
the World Refugee Day, the UN Secretary General calls a redoubling of efforts. 20 jun. 08 - 15.19h Intolerance,
political breakdown and war have long, pernicious histories. Yet the fragility of political systems, the devolution of societies
into catastrophic violence has also provoked a humane reply, the protection of those forced to flee their countries in escape
from persecution.
Granting asylum can be traced back thousands of years and is one
of the earliest hallmarks of civilization. Today, the principle is firmly recognized in Article 14 of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, which this year marks its 60th anniversary: “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries
asylum from persecution.”
The United Nations Refugee Convention of 1951 defined a refugee as a person who
is outside his or her country of nationality or habitual residence and who has a well-founded fear of persecution because
of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.
Since 1951, human
displacement has become a far more complex issue. Distinguishing a refugee from a person driven across a border by sheer hunger
is often very difficult. Population flows are now driven by interrelated factors and, as barriers to human mobility have fallen,
protecting the displaced has become a greater challenge.
Conflict and poverty, the most common reasons people
are compelled to leave their homes, are now amplified by the effects of climate change, increasing scarcity of resources and
food shortages -- factors which may lead to greater insecurity in the future.
Compounding these challenges is
the fact that the responsibility of providing asylum currently falls disproportionately on developing nations. Contrary to
public perceptions in many industrialized nations, developing countries actually bear the burden of hosting a larger number
of refugees, despite their limited resources.
In the past year, the number of refugees has grown to more than
16 million worldwide.
I urgently call on the international community to redouble efforts to address both the causes
and consequences of forced human displacement. Greater international solidarity is crucial if we are to share the burden of
protection more equitably.
I thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and UN agencies that have
worked together to protect and help repatriate the displaced. We must not lose sight of the individual people who are fleeing
persecution, what they face on a daily basis as they try to meet their basic needs.
Our goal must be no less than
to ensure that refugees will be free one day to return home, in safety and dignity. But on World Refugee Day, let us first
reaffirm that all refugees have the right to asylum, and let us do everything we can to give them the full protection they
deserve.
Stop recruiting children to fight – Reuters - 08 may. 08 - 16.41h
KINSHASA, May 7 (Reuters) - Armed groups in Congo's violence-torn
east have ignored pledges made this year to stop recruiting children to fight and to free minors already in their ranks, the
United Nations said on Wednesday.
Dozens of rebel movements and local militias signed up to a Jan. 23 peace accord with Congo's government
meant to end a lingering decade-old conflict in North and South Kivu provinces.
However,
daily ceasefire violations have rocked the plan and U.N. officials say armed groups have flouted their obligations to respect
human rights and stop using child soldiers.
"This solemn engagement, which
demanded nothing more than good will on the part of the leaders of these armed groups, is still far from being a reality,"
Kemal Saiki, spokesman for Congo's U.N. peacekeeping mission, MONUC, told journalists.
UNICEF,
the U.N. children's agency, said it had reports of continuing recruitment by local Mai Mai militia, Tutsi insurgents,
and Rwandan Hutu rebels in North Kivu.
"We believe recruiting is still taking
place, without question," Jaya Murthy, UNICEF's spokesman for the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo, told
Reuters.
"We've seen children used as porters, for espionage, and in some
instances on the front line as child soldiers. Armed groups have targeted them in schools and markets," he said.
Recruitment and use of children under the age of 15 by armed groups is considered a war crime
under international law.
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced
it was seeking the arrest of Congolese warlord Bosco Ntaganda for conscripting children during a bloody ethnic conflict in
the district of Ituri to the north of the Kivus.
Ntaganda is now the military chief
of renegade General Laurent Nkunda's North Kivu-based Tutsi rebellion. Nkunda has yet to turn over his commander to authorities.
None of the groups accused of using child soldiers could be reached for comment
on Wednesday.
STRUGGLING PEACE PLAN
The U.N.'s appeal
for child soldiers to be handed over follows a surge in violence since late April due to fresh clashes involving Rwandan Hutu
rebels.
At least 43 people were killed in fighting between Nkunda loyalists and
the PARECO Mai Mai faction between April 20 and 28 in three villages around 100 km (64 miles) northwest of North Kivu's
provincial capital Goma, MONUC said on Wednesday.
At least 16,000 villagers fled
those and other clashes in the province over the same period.
North and South Kivu
are still charged with racial tensions rooted in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, which helped trigger Congo's 1998-2003 war,
and are home to over 1 million internal refugees.
Around half of those fled fighting
between government soldiers, Tutsi fighters, Mai Mai, and Rwandan rebels in the year leading up to the signing of the January
peace agreement.
A central aim of the accord was to guarantee peace and allow refugees
to return home and rebuild their shattered lives.
However, camps in the troubled
province have continued to grow, and the U.N. estimates around 75,000 refugees have fled violence since the deal was signed.
DRC:
Journalist beaten by Angolan Diplomat - arrested while unconscious Committee to Protect Journalists - 24 apr.
08 - 09.54h
A broadcast journalist
in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
pressed charges today against an Angolan diplomat, alleging he was beaten unconscious by the diplomat and his aides on Saturday,
according to local journalists.
Journalists familiar with their
colleague's station, Radio Télévision Mwangaza, told CPJ that the attack was in reprisal for coverage of a voter registration
scandal in 2006 involving Angolan expatriates in the run-up to the country's elections.
News Director Jean-Pierre Ndolo and reporter Pascal Luboya
of Radio Télévision Mwangaza, in the Katangan province's capital of Lubumbashi, were confronted by one of Ngoma's security guards on Saturday while picking up a package of tapes for broadcast near
the diplomat's residence, according to several accounts.
After being forced to move their vehicle - which was marked with the station's identification
- away from the house, the security agent grabbed their car keys and took Ndolo into the compound, according to Luboya.
The news director was then surrounded by more than a dozen people and severely pummelled before Ngoma joined
the melee, punching and insulting the journalist, according to Luboya.
Police arrested
Ndolo while he was unconscious and detained him for more than two hours on Ngoma's orders before taking him to the hospital,
according to local journalists. Ngoma later accused the journalist of trespassing and assaulting his wife. Ndolo denied the
charges, saying he had never met the diplomat or his wife.
"We call upon the Congolese
and Angolan authorities to investigate this assault and the reports that Angolan Consulate personnel were involved," said
CPJ's Africa program coordinator, Tom Rhodes.
Speaking to CPJ shortly after his release from the hospital today, Ndolo said
he suffered from head and chest pains. He said he filed a complaint today with the police for assault and battery against
Pedro Gomez Ngoma, the consul general of neighboring Angola in Lubumbashi, he said.
Ngoma's cell phone was out of service when CPJ attempted to reach him.
According to Rose Lukano, president and director-general of Mwangaza (Swahili for "Light"), Ngoma has been
hostile to her reporters since the station broke a 2006 story on the illegal voter registration of Angolans in the lead-up
to DRC's historic elections.
Neither Ndolo nor Luboya were with the station at the time,
but their professional affiliation triggered the incident, she said. Angola temporarily recalled Ngoma in the aftermath of the story, according to local journalists.
UNICEF
says DR Congo rebels are recruiting more child soldiers – AFP - 31
mar. 08 - 15.22h
GENEVA,
March 31, 2008 - UNICEF is
concerned rival armed groups in eastern DR Congo (DRC) are recruiting child soldiers again, two months after the government
and rebel groups brokered a fragile peace deal.
Julien Harneis, a representative of the UN Children's Fund, said more
child soldiers have been recruited in the two eastern Kivu provinces in the last two months, after a post-ceasefire lull.
Meanwhile, UNICEF has freed up to 300 child soldiers, though not all of them are back with their families, he said.
Harneis added that some children have been stuck in Bukavu's UNICEF refuge for up to nine months.
Armed groups have
recruited between 2,000 and 3,000 12 to 18 year olds in the east of the country, Harneis said.
Despite a ceasefire
in January, violations occur almost daily in both Nord- Sud-Kivu, where conflict has separated seven percent of children from
their parents and displaced 500,000 people, the UN said.
The report of renewed recruiting came after the UN's human
right's body in Geneva unanimously agreed last week to end the mandate of the special envoy on human rights
to the vast central African country.
Fear
of attacks in North Kivu IDPs from going home
– IRIN - 26 mar. 08 - 16.21h
[IDPs
in Mugunga camp, west of Goma, capital of North Kivu Province]
GOMA,
26
March 2008 - Hundreds of thousands
of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in North Kivu Province
in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are reluctant to go back to their villages for fear of attacks despite a truce signed
in January between the government and various armed groups.
"We fled our house because [armed groups] were attacking
and raping people and looting property," said Gina Kavira, 38, who fled with her husband and eight children from the village of Bambou
five months ago and who has been living with a host family in three cramped rooms in Vitshumbi on the shores of Lake Edward.
"There is not enough to eat here. I try and catch fish. Normally, I catch
three in a day. I sell two and feed my family on the other," she told IRIN. "My children can’t go to school because
we can’t afford school fees. I’d like to return home if there was peace and if I could afford the transport. All
we want is peace. I don’t know when we will be able to return."
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) will build a new
shelter on a 54-hectare site near the town of Rutshuru
to alleviate congestion in other IDP camps. UNHCR senior field officer Marie-Antoinette Okimba said the camp will cater for
an estimated 16,000 people.
The new camp at Nahanga is intended to relieve pressure on communities in the towns of
Rutshuru and Kiwanja, which have hosted 65,000 IDPs since October 2007.
According to the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF),
70 percent of IDPs in North Kivu live with host families, while only 30 percent actually
live in formal IDP camps.
Many displaced people are also occupying communal spaces, such as churches, village halls
and classrooms.
"In the beginning it is very easy for host communities to look after newly-arrived IDPs, but after
a few months it causes big problems," said Okimba. "To provide food and shelter after long periods becomes very difficult."
The ceasefire agreement, signed on 23 January in the North Kivu
capital Goma, called for an immediate cessation of hostilities, disengagement of troops and the creation of a buffer zone.
Parties to the pact include the government and armed groups such as the National Congress for the Defence of the People
(CNDP), headed by renegade general Laurent Nkunda, as well as traditional warriors of shifting alliances generically referred
to as Mayi Mayi.
A Hutu-dominated armed group many of whose members fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide, the Forces
Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), has also been party to the conflict in eastern DRC. However, it was not included
in the January agreement because it is considered one of the foreign armed groups in DRC, which should be dealt with according
to the provisions of a separate agreement signed in Nairobi in November 2007. Under this deal the FDLR should be disarmed and its members repatriated to Rwanda.
According to Venetia Holland, a civilian official of the UN Mission
in Congo (MONUC), despite the nominal ceasefire agreement, incidents of extortion, sexual violence, lootings, abduction, forced
labour, killings and even alleged massacres continue to be perpetrated by both elements believed to be members of FDLR and
some signatories of the Goma accord.
Okimba said that some civilians had tried to return home only to become victims
of the violence.
"In the beginning of March many IDPs in the Rutshuru region tried to return to their homes, but they
are coming back to the safety of the camps saying that [troops loyal to Nkunda] are accusing them of aiding and helping other
troops," she said.
Civilians have often been caught between rival forces and accused of complicity with the "opposition"
by the various rival groups.
Around Rutshuru, the IDP camps of Kasasa and Nyongera, which cater for a combined population
of 13,000, are heavily overcrowded, sparking fears of an imminent cholera outbreak.
Elinor Raikes, the Rapid Response
Mechanism Coordinator with the International Rescue Committee, said: "The situation in the camps is very precarious. Both
camps are completely saturated and unless a solution is found quickly then there’s a very high risk of public health
problems like cholera."
In Kasasa, 60 people share each latrine; a figure that is three times the recommended standard
of 20 people per latrine, according to Raikes.
Commissions set up to outline the implementation modalities of the
Goma deal, which are chaired by the government and include representatives from all the signatory armed groups, are expected
to begin their work before the end of March.
Holland, however, said it is unlikely that the protection situation will improve significantly, or that there will
be any mass return and reintegration of IDPs until civilians witness a real military withdrawal on the ground.
DR Congo war crimes suspect in custody of international court – AFP - 08 feb. 08 - 09.22h
THE HAGUE (AFP) — A former militia leader in Democratic Republic of Congo was transferred into the custody of the International Criminal Court in
The Hague
on Thursday to stand trial for the massacre of some 200 villagers in 2003, court officials said.
Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, former head of the Nationalist and Integrationist
Front (FNI), is accused of ordering his forces to "wipe out" the village of Bogoro, in the northeast Ituri region.
"Hundreds were killed, maimed or terrorised. Women were forced to become sexual slaves. The village was pillaged
by FNI forces and razed to the ground," the court's deputy prosecutor Fatou Besouda said.
Ngudjolo,
believed to be 37 years old, was arrested in Kinshasa on Wednesday on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity
and sent immediately to The Hague, DR Congo Justice Minister Symphorien Mutombo Bakafwa said.
Chief
prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Ngudjolo's transfer to The Hague "completes the first phase of the DR Congo investigations" focusing on crimes in the Ituri
region.
"We are now moving
on to our third case in the DR Congo, with applications for other arrest warrants in the coming months and years," he said
from Central
African Republic, where he is on a visit.
Moreno Ocampo said his team now will turn its attention to the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where "there are clear reports of serious crimes being committed even today".
"There will be no impunity
for the worst perpetrators of the worst crimes in the DR Congo," he said.
Since 1999,
clashes among militias and tribal killings have claimed at least 60,000 lives in mineral-rich Ituri, which borders on Uganda, and displaced more than 600,000 people, according
to aid agencies.
The prosecution
alleges that Ngudjolo, "as the highest ranking FNI commander, played an essential role in designing and implementing an indiscriminate
attack against the village of Bogoro, in the territory of Ituri, on or around 24 February 2003".
About
200 civilians were murdered, while others were tortured, imprisoned in a room filled with corpses, or used as sex slaves,
according to the arrest warrant.
The attack was allegedly agreed by Ngudjolo and other
commanders from the FNI and the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI). The arrest warrant lists nine counts of war crimes
and crimes against humanity, including the use of child soldiers.
Ngudjolo is the third
person in the custody of the International Criminal Court, after the transfer in October by the Congolese authorities of Germain
Katanga, a Congolese national and alleged commander of the
FRPI.
Katanga has also been charged in connection with the Bogoro
attack.
"For convenience,
it would be good to try them together, but that is a determination for the court to make," Bensouda said.
In March 2006, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a Congolese national and alleged founder and leader of the Union of Congolese
Patriots (UPC), was the first ICC suspect to be sent to The Hague.
The
ICC prosecutor opened investigations in DR Congo in June 2004 after the Congolese government referred the situation in the
country to the court, and Lubanga and Katanga were arrested in Kinshasa in March 2005.
Ngudjolo, a colonel with DR Congo's government army (FARDC), was arrested at a Kinshasa military academy where he was being trained since November last year after
leaving Ituri following a July 2006 peace accord.
DR Congo president denies murdered woman is half-sister –AFP-18 jan. 08 - 11.17h
KINSHASA (AFP) — Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila's private household denied Thursday any link with a murdered woman reported
to be his half-sister.
Aimee Mulengela was slain in the early hours of Wednesday morning, with local human rights campaigners La Voix des
Sans Voix (The Voice of the Voiceless) identifying the woman as Aimee Kabila Mulengela Koko, a daughter of the president's
late father and predecessor Laurent-Desire Kabila.
A Congolese police source had also said she was related to the president.
However, in a statement released to AFP, the presidential household said there was no family connection.
"Contrary to rumours circulated ..., Aimee Mulengela Koko, falsely presented under the name of Aimee Kabila,
is not of Mzee (old man) Laurent-Desire Kabila's family," it said.
Wednesday was the seventh
anniversary of Laurent-Desire Kabila's assassination by one of his bodyguards in Kinshasa.
Citing "information gathered from her first husband, police commissioner Jules Mazangala," the
statement also denied any "conflict" over the family inheritance.
It presented condolences
to the victim's family, deploring "the tragic loss of a human life".
The woman was killed
with a "close-range bullet in the chest" at her home by armed men who made off with "mobile telephones ... a computer and
a camera," the rights organisation said.
She had sought protection from the United Nations
mission to DR Congo, known by its French acronym MONUC, on several occasions.
MONUC said
she had been arrested roughly two years ago without official charge by special police forces and detained for several weeks.
Security and rights sources said she was claiming a share of Laurent-Desire Kabila's inheritance
and was in conflict with certain members of the presidential family.
One security source
told AFP on condition of anonymity that there was nothing at this stage to say that her murder was any different from killings
that happen under similar circumstances "every night in Kinshasa."
East Congo peace conference postponed until Jan 6
President Joseph Kabila
is under pressure from the United Nations and the United States
to find a political solution to end years of fighting in the Kivus involving government troops, Tutsi insurgents, Rwandan
Hutu rebels and Mai Mai militia. Reuters- 28 dec. 07 - 10.52h
GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Congo's authorities have postponed until January 6 a peace conference aimed
at ending conflict in the east between government forces and warring rebel and militia groups, the organisers said on Thursday.
The meeting on peace and security in the North and South Kivu provinces of Democratic
Republic of Congo was being organised by the country's Interior Ministry and National Assembly and had been scheduled to start
on Thursday.
But officials said the conference in the North Kivu provincial capital
Goma would now begin in earnest on January 6 to allow more time for preparation and for invitations to be sent to participants,
including rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
"We have to prepare ... then the important work will begin on the 6th
(of January) and end the 14th," said Apollinaire Malu Malu, the head of Congo's
independent electoral commission, who is coordinating the peace conference.
President Joseph Kabila is under pressure
from the United Nations and the United States
to find a political solution to end years of fighting in the Kivus involving government troops, Tutsi insurgents, Rwandan
Hutu rebels and Mai Mai militia.
Despite the end of Congo's
1998-2003 war, conflict in the east of the vast, mineral-rich former Belgian colony has continued, forcing hundreds of thousands
of civilians from their homes in the Kivus and causing renewed humanitarian suffering.
Nkunda, who says his fighters
are defending Congo's Tutsi ethnic minority against FDLR Hutu rebels involved in Rwanda's 1994 genocide, has recently managed
to push back an army offensive aimed at trying to disarm his men by force.
Malu Malu said Nkunda and his National
Council for the Defence of the People (CNDP) group would be invited to the Goma conference. ""Everyone is invited to this
conference," he said.
Nkunda's military commander, Bwambale Kakolele, said the CNDP was ready to attend the meeting,
but had not yet received a formal invitation.
"We didn't get the invitation, but we expect to receive it. If we get
an invitation we will be there because we want peace," Kakolele told Reuters by telephone.
"We will sit together with
the government and we will find answers to this problem," he added.
Kakolele said Nkunda's group was asking the international
community to guarantee security so rebel delegates, which could include Nkunda and his top commanders, could attend safely.
Foreign diplomatic envoys, including U.S. State Department Special Envoy Tim Shortley, met in Goma earlier this month
and agreed to create a task force to follow the implementation of a November agreement that seeks to pacify Congo's east.
Under that deal reached in Nairobi, Congolese and Rwandan foreign ministers agreed
that Congo's army would forcibly disarm the Rwandan Hutu rebels operating
in the east, while Rwanda's Tutsi-led
government would seal the border to prevent Nkunda's forces receiving assistance.
Too much! The persistence of human rights violations
in the DRC - MONUC concerned over humanitarian situation in North-Kivu – MONUC - 26 dec.
07 - 17.13h
At its weekly press conference of 26 December 2007, MONUC expressed its deep concern in relation to the humanitarian
consequences of the recent combat between Nkunda’s rebels and the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) in North Kivu. MONUC furthermore deplored
the persistence of human rights violations in the DRC, and asked the Congolese government to “imperatively” put
an end to this violence and to bring the authors of these crimes to justice.
“MONUC continues to deplore the persistence of human rights violations and international humanitarian
law in the DRC, in particular those made by the FDLR and Laurent Nkunda's dissidents, as well as other armed groups and members
of the FARDC, the Congolese National Police (PNC) and other security and intelligence services,” said MONUC spokesperson
Kemal Saiki.
In particular, MONUC denounced human rights violations such as sexual violence towards women and the
recruitment of children into armed groups.
Although the situation is being gradually contained in North
Kivu, as the FARDC continue their efforts such as blocking Nkunda's forces, “sporadic clashes continue around
Kalengera and Rugari in Rutshuru territory between FARDC patrols and Nkunda’s rebels,” announced MONUC.
“In
parallel, in Masisi terrotory, violent clashes were noted between Mayi-Mayi groups and Laurent Nkunda’s rebels north-west
of Mushake, west of Kitchanga and in the neighbourhoods of Mweso.”
MONUC continues to assist NGO’s and
UN agencies in their work with displaced populations. MONUC continues its assistance with the deployment this week
of Mobile Operational Bases (MOBs) in North Kivu and northern South Kivu, which have regroupment
points for displaced people.
MONUC once again recalled that the recruitment of children into armed groups is a war
crime and a crime against humanity, citing the forced recruitment of children by the troops of the CNDP (Congrès national
de la défense du peuple), the military political movement of Laurent Nkunda.
“The latest information gives a
report on 200 pupils of Tongo secondary school, in Rutshuru territory, who were the targets of forced recruitment on 17 December
2007, after their school materials and their indentity cards were burned,” indicated MONUC.
With regard to the
organisation of the peace, security and development conference for the Kivus which will take place from 6 to
14 January 2008 in Goma, MONUC has intensified its day and nighttime air and terrestrial patrols.
North Kivu violence: Top UN envoy meets with DR Congo president regarding North Kivu
violence – UN - 16 oct. 07 - 09.19h
15 October 2007 – The top United Nations envoy
to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
and the Force Commander of the UN peacekeeping mission there (MONUC) met today with the country’s president today to
discuss the violence in the troubled North Kivu province.
The Secretary-General’s
Special Representative, William Lacy Swing, and General Boubacar Gueye conferred with President Joseph Kabila in Goma, in
the north-east, UN spokesperson Michele Montas told reporters in New York. They discussed
the ongoing military standoff between Government forces, known as FARDC, and dissident soldiers led by renegade General Laurent
Nkunda. Following the meeting, Mr. Swing issued a statement also on behalf of the ambassadors
of South Africa, Belgium, United States, France and the United Kingdom voicing full support for the democratically-elected
Government of President Kabila “as well as his right and his duty to protect and to assure the security of all the citizens
of the DRC.” It further called for all dissident fighters to join the retraining programme
and for regional actors to support the DRC’s reconstruction. In addition, the statement voiced concern about the humanitarian
situation and urged all warring parties to provide full access too all relief agencies seeking to help the affected civilian
populations. Meanwhile, the UN mission this weekend voiced its continued support for FARDC
as part of its mandate to help the Government restore and extend its authority throughout the country. In
a statement, MONUC urged all dissident troops to immediately join the “brassage” retraining programme for ex-combatants
to join integrated FARDC brigades. The mission and the Government have “already made the necessary arrangements including
reception sites and transport.” MONUC also appealed for the protection of civilians
and expressed concern over the displacements of people – estimated by the UN to be at 700,000 in North
Kivu – fleeing the conflict. In a recent interview,
General Gueye noted that UN peacekeepers have evacuated wounded FARDC forces and have transported their reinforcements and
ammunitions. He also said that blue helmets – for whom finding a solution to the crisis is a top priority – are
coordinating with humanitarian partners on the ground.
Kabila’s Majority is not able to bring peace: United Nations concerned by security situation in eastern
DRC – MONUC - 25 jul. 07 - 18.13h
At its weekly conference this Wednesday July 25, 2007, MONUC stressed the United Nations
concern over the security situation, conflict and humanitarian crisis in the east of the country, particularly in the Kivu
provinces where 700,000 people have been internally displaced.
In a statement made in New York on Friday 20 July 2007, UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-moon said he was deeply
concerned by the deterioration in the security situation in the provinces of North and South Kivu
in eastern DRC.
Mr. Ban Ki-moon made an appeal to the DRC government and all the parties concerned to continue an
inclusive dialogue in the Kivus, and called on the regional and international partners to support the efforts aimed at decreasing
the tension in the area.
During a patrol carried out in the morning of Tuesday July 24 last, on the Rutshuru-Nyamilima
axis, blue helmets from the North Kivu Brigade discovered five dead bodies in a banana plantation in the locality of Katweguru.
“All the victims were adult men, in civilian clothing, whose hands had been bound, and were dead for a few days.
For the moment, neither the identity of the victims nor the culprits of these murders are known. MONUC will do all in its
capacity, in collaboration with Congolese justice, to shed light on the assassination of these five people,” explained
MONUC spokesperson Kemal Saiki.
In addition, on 21 July, a doctor and a motor cycle driver were assassinated in Muranga
in the territory of Masisi,
by unidentified armed men, who fled with money and telephones.
In South Kivu, operations led by the FARDC against
dissident banyamulenges led to the capture of their headquarters -Moramvia town- on July 21, as the rebels fled into the forest of Itumbwe
and Rubanga. The operation left four dead and 10 injured within FARDC ranks, while dissident losses are unknown.
“MONUC
firmly condemns all these murders, and we appeal for an end to these acts of violence which continue to affect the Kivu provinces,
and demand that all should be done to put an end to the impunity which makes such acts possible,” Mr. Saiki added.
Meanwhile,
according to information compiled by MONUC’s Civil Affairs Division, the number of Congolese expelled from Angola has exceeded 26,500, a clear increase from last week.
Those expelled return under very difficult conditions, with cases of rape, torture and racketeering by Congolese and
Angolan border security forces reported by returnees.
In Kananga
on Tuesday 24 July, MONUC’s Civil Affairs Division facilitated a meeting on the humanitarian consequences of the crisis
with the local authorities, United Nations agencies and humanitarian actors.
Security forces in particular were recommended
to respect and apply the principles of human rights, and to facilitate the access of the foodstuffs into the zone and to refugees in
surrounding areas.
Distributions of drugs and non food items are underway, and an evaluation mission by experts of
the International Organisation for Migration (OIM) will take place soon.
In conclusion, Mr Saiki announced that
Mr. William Lacy Swing, the UN Special Representative to the Secretary General in the DRC, will receive an honoury doctorate
in political science from the University of Lubumbashi
next Saturday 28 July 2007.
Too much! - MONUC condemns murders in North Kivu – MONUC - 11 jul. 07 - 16.23h
During the weekly MONUC press conference this Wednesday 11 July 2007,
MONUC condemned the recent murders in North Kivu province in eastern DRC, including Mr. Floribert Bwana Chuy Bin Kositi, provincial
secretary of the Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD-Goma) political party, on Monday 9 July last in Goma, the
provincial capital. This follows other recent murders in Butembo and Beni.
“Mr.
Swing, UN Special Representative in the DRC to the Secretary General condemns the murder of Mr. Bin Kositi, who was also a
lawyer and government official for the Office of “Contrôle Congolais” (OCC), and whose body was found in Goma
on Monday 9 July 2007,” said MONUC spokesman Kemal Saiki.
According to information available to MONUC, he was
beaten to death, with the reasons for his death as yet unknown. The Congolese justice system, as well as MONUC’s Humans
Rights division, have launched an investigation into the murder, to find out whether the assasination was politically based,
or because of his professional work with the OCC in North Kivu.
“This odious
crime, which comes at the time when efforts are being made to bring a durable peace to North Kivu,
can only increase insecurity and exacerbate instability in this part of the DRC. MONUC urges the Congolese authorities to
competently do all in their power so that the authors of this cowardly assassination, which cannot be justified, are found
and brought before justice,” Mr. Saiki explained.
MONUC expresses its sincere condolences to the family of Mr
Floribert Bwana Chuy Bin Kositi, and joins in the mourning in the province
of North Kivu. This murder is in addition to other recent assassinations
of personalities and civil servants in North Kivu.
On 6 July 2007, a local businessman
was killed in Butembo in broad daylight at his home by armed men, like the murder, a few weeks ago, of the Chief of the National
Information Agency (ANR) in Beni.
Furthermore, MONUC remains strongly concerned about
the fate of the President of the National Mayi Party (PANAM), Célestin Kambale Milonga, who was arrested at his its residence
in Goma, on June 24 last, by troops of the 8th Military region of the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC).
So far there
has been no news following his arrest. MONUC launches an urgent call to the military authorities to observe the existing legal
procedures regarding the detention of people.
Justifiably, the population of North Kivu
feel a growing insecurity. Indeed MONUC has received reports of serious human rights violations in recent weeks, including
harassment, looting and other crimes, such as the forced eviction of civilians (in Kisharo, Buramba, Kisheguru, Katwiguru
in Rutshuru, and in Ngungu in Masisi, in a large part by the FDLR militia, the Congolese security forces, the FARDC and other
irregular armed groups.
These acts of violence, whether blind or targeted, need to stop, as they have affected this
part of the country for too long, and the impunity which makes such acts possible must be brought to an end.
MONUC concerned by increasing attacks on
civilians and humanitarians in eastern DRC – MONUC
- 27 jun. 07 - 16.19h
During the weekly MONUC press conference this Wednesday 27 June 2007, MONUC raised its
concerns over the deteriorating security situation in eastern DRC, citing an increase in attacks against the civilian
population and humanitarian organisations, particularly in North Kivu province.
In North Kivu, an attack was perpetrated last Monday by armed men in uniform,
against two vehicles belonging to an international NGO circulating in the area of Kisharo (Rutshuru territory).
Even
if there were no victims, this incident is all the more worrying as it follows another similar attack a few days earlier in
the same area - the looting in the night of June 20 of the warehouse of another international NGO in Uvira - also by armed
men in uniform.
The humanitarians concerned have for the moment decided to suspend their activities in the zones controlled
by the troops of the dissident general Nkunda, because of the deteriorating security conditions.
Also in North Kivu, MONUC’s Civil Affairs division carried out a joint evaluation mission in the past
week in the localities of Kisharo, Nyamilima and Ishasha, whose objective was to evaluate the security conditions of the civilian
population, in particular the displaced on the Ngwenda - Ishasha axis.
The mission noted that almost daily attacks
were made against civilians by the FDLR or the soldiers of the mixed FARDC Brigades deployed in the area, attacks which caused
concentrations of displaced people in Kiwanja, Nyamilima and Ishasha, Kisharo, where nearly 42,000 people have gathered since
last February.
Furthermore in North Kivu, MONUC’s Civil Affairs division worries about the operations of the
CNDP, the political structure of general Nkunda, who is pressurising the civil authorities to close the displaced people’s
camps - in Kichanga, Mweso (Masisi territory) and Nyanzale (Rutshuru territory), to impose taxes on the population, and set
up its own administration.
The Red Cross and the NGO CEPAC (the Community Pentecost churches in Congo) announced a shift in population since April 2007 towards
Kasugho in the southern part of Lubero territory. They also announce confrontations between two Mayi Mayi groups - "la Fontaine"
and "Jackson". The inhabitants of the villages located at the west of Kasugho, where elements of the FDLR are located,
are leaving their villages because of exactions.
In addition, according to the Red Cross and CEPAC reports, the FDLR
sexually abuse women, and plunder harvests, houses, and cattle. A mission of evaluation in Kasugho is being prepared.
Following
reports of a rise of tension in Kitshanga (Masisi territory) and Nyazale (Rutshuru territory), an evaluation mission was carried
out by OCHA and MONUC’s Civil Affairs Division. The mission confirms that the CNDP demands the closing of displaced
persons camps, accusing them of sheltering FDLR elements.
Moreover, more than 5,000 former displaced households in
Kisharu still did not receive assistance because of the high risk of looting and attacks that persists in the area. In the
past three weeks, 2,299 households fled the insecurity caused by the FDLR and the Bravo brigade.
In South Kivu, due
to joint operations led by the FARDC against FDLR/Rasta, humanitarians in South Kivu estimate
that 18,000 people have been displaced since June, although these figures have not been confirmed.
According to official
sources in Itombwe and Basimukindji, in the territory of Mwenga, several children, including girls, are exploited as carriers in the cassiterite
and gold mines in Miki, Kapanga, Makenda, Kasenge and Tulambo.
These children are subjected to the transport of mining
products and other goods on a distance of 120 kms from surroundings areas, which they traverse in two days of walking.
Young girls are also sexually exploited during the course of this work.
DR Congo's Bemba condemn to stay abroad - BBC
News - 11 jun. 07 - 09.28h
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, politicians close to opposition
leader Jean-Pierre Bemba say he will not be returning from Portugal. This is despite the end of the 60-day period the 2006 presidential
poll loser was given to seek medical treatment.
Mr Bemba left after sheltering for some three weeks in South Africa's embassy in Kinshasa after his bodyguards and the army clashed this March. The move was widely
seen as a way to ease tension in the capital
Security concerns
As a senator, he had to seek permission for the trip from the senate
authorities.
In Kinshasa, where he received two-thirds of the vote in the second round of the presidential
election, people I spoke to were keen for him to return. "If such a person who represents the opposition is out of the
country it's going to lead to a kind of dictatorship," one city resident said.
The director of Mr Bemba's cabinet, Fidel Babala, said that the
opposition leader did want to return but that at the moment he would not be safe.
"At the time of the fighting on 22 and 23 March his house was destroyed,
his cars were destroyed, his media were destroyed.
"If even theoretically he came back today where would he stay? This
violence that we saw... is that going to happen again? Can Mr Bemba's security be guaranteed? And by whom?" Mr Babala said.
Should he return, Mr Bemba may well face charges of high treason
for the fighting.
He currently has immunity from prosecution because of his position
in the senate, but now the time-limit for his trip has expired, his opponents in the senate could take steps to expel him.
DRC: Congo prosecutor asks Senate to lift Bemba immunity – Reuters - 12 apr. 07 - 17.51h
KINSHASA,
April 12 (Reuters) - Congo's public prosecutor has asked the Senate to lift Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba's immunity so he can
be charged over bloody clashes between his forces and army troops last month, according to documents seen by Reuters.
Public Prosecutor Tshimanga Mukeba said in a
letter to the provisional head of the Senate that Bemba, who flew to Portugal
on Wednesday for medical treatment, was the "intellectual author" of the fighting in which up to 600 people died.
"I request the authorisation to prosecute Senator Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo to allow legal authorities to deepen
their investigations and the individual to present his defence," read a copy of Mukeba's letter obtained by Reuters.
The three-page letter was dated April 10 and stamped as received by the office of the Senate president on April
11.
A second letter from Mukeba requesting permission to prosecute Bemba, sent on Thursday,
was also seen by Reuters.
The charges pending against Bemba, who lost a presidential runoff
in October against incumbent Joseph Kabila, included threatening internal state security, murder, armed robbery and destruction
of property, the first letter said.
Bemba was liable for prosecution "on the basis that
he was the intellectual author of the acts committed by his troops," it said.
Before leaving
for Portugal, Bemba had spent most of
the previous three weeks holed up in the South African embassy with his family. Portuguese officials have said his stay will
not be a long-term exile.
MONUC: One must not establish a climate of persecution against the opposition - 19 members
of the opposition, as well as 8 journalists, were subjected to visits from the security forces, in which there was some looting
- 04 apr. 07 - 17.54h
During the weekly press conference of April 4 2007, MONUC deplored the acts of intimidation and
threats of March 22 and 23 last, aimed at many opposition members, including those considered to be associated
to the MLC- Mr. Bemba’s political party.
“MONUC
received information that the residences of 27 people, including 19 members of the opposition, as well as 8 journalists, were
subjected to visits from the security forces, in which there was some looting,” explained MONUC spokesperson Kemal Saiki.
On the same issue, MONUC demanded of the highest authorities in the state to guarantee that the Congolese security
forces act in conformity with the law, and not seek to establish a climate of persecution against people associated with the
opposition, or those who originate from Equateur province, a stronghold of the MLC.
“It is crucial that the
fundamental rights of individual security and liberty, as well as the liberty of opinion and expression, which are guaranteed
by the DRC constitution, should be respected by all the security forces in relation to Congolese citizens, which includes
members of the opposition and the press,” Mr. Saiki added.
In addition, MONUC has put in place a multi-disciplinary
investigation team charged with verifying the allegations of human rights violations - summary executions, rapes, torture,
illegal detention, looting and forced disappearances - which were committed by both sides in the recent Kinshasa conflict.
MONUC is relying on the collabouration of the Congolese government in
order to gather all the necessary information for the investigation, and to have unlimited access to all detention centers.
In the presidential declaration dated April 3 2007, the UN Security Council underlined the ‘legitimate character
of the new institutions created following democratic elections, and the necessity for these institutions to ensure the security
of the population, and the importance for them to act within the law, as well as respecting international human rights laws,
and to act against all unnecessary or disproportionate use of force.’
Furthermore, the Security Council appealed
to the DRC government to respect the role and rights given to all parties by the constitution, with the aim of guaranteeing
their effective participation in national political debate, and to encourage all parties to continue to adhere to the rules
of political democracy.
600 deaths: Kabila is faced the man who have 42% of the
population behind; EU (European Union) heads express 'indignation' over Kinshasa violence
- Eoin Young / MONUC - 27 mar. 07 - 16.28h
At a press conference in Kinshasa this Tuesday March 27 2007,
the representatives of the European Union countries to the DRC expressed their ‘indignation’ at
the recourse to the violent armed Kinshasa conflict of March 22 to 25 2007, ‘when all routes to dialogue were not yet
exhausted.’ German ambassador Karl Albrecht Wokalek said the death toll ‘could reach 600.’
In a statement,
they deplored the loss of life, in particular that of civilians, as the Congolese Armed Forces - the FARDC - took to the streets
of Kinshasa against ex vice president J.P. Bemba’s guards in the two day conflict that paralysed the DRC capital, causing
much destruction and loss of life.
Furthermore, the European Union (EU) heads ‘condemned the numerous
cases of looting and rape committed by troops from both camps’ during the conflict.
In the political sphere,
the EU ambassadors stressed the importance for the authorities to ‘ensure the existence of a democratic space, in order
to guarantee free expression to all political opinions.’
UK ambassador Andy Sparkes said that they were there to show their ‘solidarity
with the Congolese people,’ who had ‘suffered much’ from the conflict.
“There remains a war
spirit in the country, which is a bit like malaria. We thought we had healed the country with a big dose of quinine, with
the holding of free and transparent elections last year, but this war spirit has returned.”
There
remains a war spirit in this country, which is a bit like malaria
For the ‘well being of the Congolese people,’ he
stressed that it was necessary to eradicate this ‘war spirit’.
“I find
this recourse to violence irresponsible, it shows that this war spirit remains, and it needs to be replaced by a spirit of
reconciliation and inclusiveness. This is the only way forward for stability in the country.”
The
‘BIAC’ bank building on Kinshasa’s main boulevard, which houses the Greek and Spanish embassies, as
well as UNICEF offices, was directly hit by mortar and light arms fire during the violence. The Italian ambassador's Kinshasa residence was also looted.
On
this subject, the ambassadors were forthright in their views.
Greek ambassador Ioannis
Christofilis deplored what he termed was a ‘direct attack which broke the Vienna
convention’ on diplomatic relations.
“This was a direct attack, with heavy arms,
not only on the Greek flag and embassy, but the Spanish embassy, as well as UNICEF, who work here for your (Congolese) children,
and the BIAC bank, who are working here for the economic development of this country.”
He
added that the DRC government had expressed its regret, and has promised a full enquiry into the events.
Mr. Christofilis went on to say that images of the attack on the Greek and Spanish embassies were aired around
the world, and had affected the image of the DRC.
The
real vicitms of this situation are the congolese people
“I received more than 40 telephone calls from Greek TV
and radio stations. How do you now expect me to persuade donors and investors to come here? The last victims of this situation
are the Congolese people.”
Spanish ambassador Jose Martinez added that it was ‘difficult
to understand why the BIAC bank building was targeted,’ but he said ‘it was clear that it was not a random attack.’
Italian ambassador Leonardo Baroncelli said that the events were ‘regrettable’.
He explained that, in his absence, uniformed men broke into his residence by force on the afternoon of Friday March 23, stealing
some property and causing minor damage.
“The issue is that this act constitutes
a grave violation of the spirit of the Vienna convention. Article 22 of the convention states that all diplomatic premises
shall be inviolable, and that the state is under a special duty to take all appropriate steps to protect the premises of the
mission against any intrusion or damage, and to prevent any disturbance of the peace of the mission, or the impairment of
its dignity,” he said.
The
democratic process is not dead, but is seriously wounded In the political sphere, the EU ambassadors concluded by saying that ‘the democratic process is not dead, but
is seriously wounded’ by the latest Kinshasa violence.
“There needs to be a new
spirit of reconciliation with a real engagement of the authorities for democratic opposition, where the liberty of expression
is reaffirmed in the country. Violence needs to be denounced so that dialogue can continue,” said UK ambassador
Andy Sparkes.
150 deaths after two days of heavy fighting in Kinshasa - Eoin Young / MONUC- 24
mar. 07 - 15.23h
Calm has returned to Kinshasa this Saturday March 24 2007, after two
days of heavy fighting in the central district of Gombe between members of ex vice President’s Bemba’s guards
and the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC), which claimed the lives of at least 150 people, and left many wounded.
Among the dead and wounded were members of Bemba’s
guards, the FARDC and the Congolese National Police, as well as Congolese and expatriate civilians.
Normality
is slowly returning to Kinshasa, with traffic beginning to circulate freely, although the majority of shops
remain shut in Gombe, which experienced much looting during the two day conflict.
The DRC government called on all of Bemba’s guards to surrender,
and MONUC is assisting in this process with the setting up of a regroupment centre at the “Mousse” factory, in
the suburb of Lumumba, just south of Ndolo airport.
MONUC military spokesperson Lieutenant
Colonel Didier Rancher said that the regroupment point will be open day and night.
“The
centre will be secured by Senegalese blue helmets, and will allow Bemba’s guards to present or surrender themselves,
where medical care will be given to the wounded,” he said.
In an official statement
yesterday, the DRC government pronounced that Jean Pierre Bemba had ‘betrayed the Republic’, in conformance with
the DRC constitution, and stated that he and ‘his accomplices would be brought before justice.’
Yesterday it was confirmed that Mr. Bemba, who is a member of the DRC senate, had sought refuge in the South
African embassy.
MONUC continues to monitor the security situation in Kinshasa, with frequent military patrols in Gombe and other districts.
In an official statement, MONUC welcomed ‘the
restoration of order in Kinshasa
by government forces, although it deeply regrets that force was used to resolve a situation that could and should have been
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