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The East African (Nairobi)
October 27, 2003
Posted to the web October 29, 2003
B. Musinguzi, Special Correspondent
Nairobi
AMNESTY International (AI) has asked Uganda to acknowledge its share of responsibility for the enormous human suffering and abuse of human rights in Ituri, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
At the same time, AI has asked Uganda to stop supporting one ethnic group in Ituri against another.
"Uganda must take immediate steps to end its continued support of armed groups and economic plunder, which fuels the atrocities," said Irene Khan, Amnesty International's secretary general.
"For the past few years, a plethora of armed groups, sponsored and supported by governments in Kinshasa, Kampala and Kigali, have stoked inter-ethnic conflict in Ituri, turning one community against another and causing violence of unimaginable brutality," Ms Khan told The EastAfrican during her visit to Uganda last week.
She said that all people accused of participating in crimes against humanity in the DRC, including the Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF), should be brought to book.
"We shall push hard on the issue of impunity and justice, because where they have not been addressed they have caused trouble," she said.
Recently, the International Criminal Court (ICC) decided to take up cases of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ituri. AI welcomed the development, saying that priority must be given to establishing an effective national system of justice.
Launching the report, "Democratic Republic of Congo: Ituri, A Need for Protection, A Thirst for Justice," in Kampala last week, Khan added that, "Prosecution by the ICC will send an important signal, but it is not enough and other international measures must also be considered.
However, while receiving a copy of the report in Soroti last week, President Yoweri Museveni dismissed the claims of UPDF participating in crimes against humanity in Congo as being politically-motivated allegations.
Museveni emphasised his support for the peace process in Congo and stressed the importance of reinforcing the international peacekeeping force with more powerful equipment to effectively manage its mandate.
For years, Ituri region has been the scene of plunder, pillage and massive human-rights abuse. The report chronicles the mass slaughter, rape, abuse and displacement of thousands of civilians during the first nine months of this year by various armed groups and militia.
Hundreds of schools, health centres and social facilities have been destroyed, villages burned and razed to the ground. Some of the worst atrocities were committed in Bunia in the weeks following the rapid withdrawal of Ugandan forces in May this year and the failure of the UN Operation in Congo (Monuc) to provide protection.
The report acknowledges the tentative steps towards a political settlement being made in Kinshasa, but notes that the situation in Ituri will be a test for this process, which could go in either direction.
