----- Forwarded by Jean-Francois Darcq/SUD/MENA/UNICEF on 10/31/2008 03:25
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"HRW Press"
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10/30/2008 10:32
PM
For Immediate Release
DR Congo: International Leaders Should Act Now to Protect Civilians
Intensify Diplomacy and Bolster UN Peacekeeping Force to Save Lives
(New York, October 30, 2008) – The United States, European Union, and
African Union should urgently intensify diplomatic efforts to protect
civilians and bolster the UN peacekeeping force in eastern Congo, Human
Rights Watch said today. As a result of the fighting in North Kivu, which
resumed in August after the collapse of a January peace deal, tens of
thousands of civilians are fleeing fighting between government troops and
combatants led by the rebel general Laurent Nkunda.
“International leaders who successfully intervened before should act
quickly to prevent the crisis in North Kivu from reaching catastrophic
proportions,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Congo researcher at Human
Rights Watch. “Diplomats from Washington, Brussels, and Addis Ababa helped
broker the ceasefire at the start of the year. Now the most senior members
of their governments must back them up to bring an end to this crisis.”
Rebel troops led by Nkunda took the town of Rutshuru on October 28, 2008,
causing thousands of people to flee. Late on October 29, the rebels stopped
just short of Goma, capital of North Kivu, after Nkunda announced a
unilateral ceasefire. A rebel spokesman had said that their forces expected
to take Goma in the next few days. Close to the Rwandan border, Goma is
home to more than 500,000 people, including thousands of people displaced
by earlier fighting.
On the night of October 29, government soldiers created chaos in Goma. At
least 20 civilians were killed, including 5 children, and more than 13
people were injured when soldiers looted shops, attacked civilian homes,
and stole vehicles. Soldiers reportedly raped women in their homes and
elsewhere. In one case, soldiers raped three family members at their home
and then shot dead a male relative.,
Jendayi Frazer, the US assistant secretary of state for African affairs,
and Louis Michel, the EU commissioner for development and humanitarian aid,
are both in Congo today. South African president, Kgalema Mothlante, is
also expected this week. They should press Congolese President Joseph
Kabila to take urgent action to avert further loss of civilian life and
destruction to the region.
The diplomats should call upon Kabila to cut ties between the Congolese
armed forces and combatants of the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(FDLR), an abusive armed group largely made up of Rwandan Hutu, including
some who participated in the genocide in Rwanda. Human Rights Watch
researchers recently documented cooperation between Congolese army soldiers
and FDLR combatants in fighting Nkunda’s forces in mid-September. According
to a November 2007 agreement between Congo and Rwanda, the Congolese
government is supposed to disarm the FDLR but it has not done so.
Frazer is also due to visit Rwanda, where she should deliver a strong
message to President Paul Kagame to end his tacit support for Nkunda.
Frazer said on October 29 that Rwanda allowed its territory to be used as a
base for Nkunda.
A peace agreement signed in January between the Congolese government and 22
armed groups, including the group led by Nkunda, collapsed in late August
when combat resumed between Nkunda’s forces and Congolese army soldiers.
Heavy fighting since then has displaced more than 200,000 people, according
to UN estimates. Currently an estimated 1 million people are displaced in
the province of North Kivu alone. Human Rights Watch researchers documented
the deaths of at least 70 civilians and injuries to another 150 since the
start of the fighting in August, figures that probably represent a small
percentage of total civilian casualties.
Peacekeepers with the UN Mission in Congo (MONUC), which is supposed to
protect civilians, have been struggling to keep Nkunda’s troops from Goma.
In recent days crowds in Goma and other places have stoned UN troops, angry
that they are not doing more to help them.
“UN peacekeepers are too few and too ill-equipped to protect civilians in
this difficult terrain,” said Van Woudenberg. “Member states have to deploy
more peacekeepers with greater military muscle if they want to end this
crisis and avoid further humanitarian disaster.”
High-ranking Rwandan authorities deny that they are giving any assistance
to Nkunda, but Human Rights Watch has evidence that Nkunda recruits
hundreds of his most experienced troops within Rwanda, many of them
demobilized soldiers from the battle-hardened Rwandan army. Although exact
numbers are not known, the fact that some 200 Rwandans have left Nkunda’s
ranks over the past 18 months to enter a UN-run demobilization program for
repatriation to Rwanda provides some idea of the scale of this problem.
Nkunda, himself Tutsi, claims to be protecting Congolese Tutsi from
oppression by the government in Kinshasa. Congolese of other ethnic groups
suspect Congolese Tutsi of collaborating with neighboring Rwanda,
remembered for its harsh occupation of the region. The presence of Rwandan
recruits among Nkunda’s combatants fuels hostility toward Congolese Tutsi
as well as toward Rwanda. In recent research in North Kivu, Human Rights
Watch found that some 40 Tutsi and other alleged sympathizers of Nkunda
have been arbitrarily detained in Goma and some of them tortured by state
agents.
“Senior diplomats should insist that President Kabila put an immediate end
to the targeting of Congolese Tutsi and hold to account those responsible
for abuses against them,” said Van Woudenberg. “It’s up to the Congolese
government, not Nkunda, to protect its Tutsi citizens, as it protects all
other citizens.”
Last night, the UN Security Council called for respecting the ceasefire as
well as prior agreements between the parties. It urged Kinshasa, Nkunda’s
group, and the Rwandan government to renew efforts to find a political
solution. It also encouraged member states to explore ways to provide more
troops to strengthen the UN peacekeeping force by the start of next week.
For more Human Rights Watch reporting on the Democratic Republic of Congo,
please see:
· “DR Congo: Peace Accord Fails to End Killing of Civilians,” July
2008 news release: http://hrw.org/english/docs/2008/07/18/congo19396.htm
· DR Congo country page: http://hrw.org/doc?t=africa&c=congo
For more information, please contact:
In London, Anneke Van Woudenberg (English, French): +44-77-11-66-4960
(mobile)
In New York, Alison Des Forges (English, French): +1-716-881-2758; or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
In New York, Carolyn Norris (English, French): +1-347-332-9835 (mobile); or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
In New York, Steve Crawshaw (English, French, German): +1-212-216-1217; or
+1-646-596-3348 (mobile)
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