CONGO
(Democratic Republic of the)
Democratic Republic of
the Congo
Head of state and
government: Joseph
Kabila
Death penalty:
retentionist
International Criminal
Court: ratified
Fighting continued to
afflict parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) despite
peace agreements involving many of the protagonists. Neighbouring
countries withdrew many of their troops in the second half of the
year, but there was an upsurge in fighting by armed groups and
militias in the east and northeast. The population continued to
suffer enormous hardships, with widespread hunger and frequent
human rights abuses by government forces, armed opposition factions
and foreign troops. Abuses included killings of unarmed civilians,
torture, including rape, and repression of political
dissent.
Background
The Kinshasa-based government
led by Joseph Kabila and backed by Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe
faced armed opposition on several fronts. The
Ugandan-supported Mouvement de la libération du
Congo (MLC),
Movement for the Liberation of Congo, and its allies controlled the
north while various factions of the Ugandan and
Rwandese-backed Rassemblement congolais pour la
démocratie (RCD), Rally for Congolese Democracy,
controlled large swathes of the east. There was fighting between
different RCD factions and with armed groups including the
mayi-mayi, local armed groups generally
opposed to RCD and Rwandese control.
In February a rebellion
against RCD-Goma and Rwandese rule was launched in the Minembwe
area by South-Kivu Tutsi known as Banyamulenge. Large numbers of
Banyamulenge civilians were killed in the fighting and up to 50,000
were displaced. In previous years the Rwandese and RCD-Goma
authorities had claimed that they were fighting to protect DRC
Tutsi from the DRC government. In October mayi-mayi captured the town of Uvira from RCD-Goma,
who retook it with the help of Rwandese troops. Fighting for
control of South-Kivu was continuing at the end of
2002.
Peace initiatives led to
significant withdrawals of foreign troops and the emergence of a
plan in which Joseph Kabila would remain President in a coalition
government, with the main rebel and unarmed opposition groups
sharing vice-presidential posts. Talks in Sun City, South Africa,
ended in stalemate and a power-sharing formula agreed between
President Kabila and the MLC leader, Jean-Pierre Bemba, remained
unimplemented. In October further power-sharing talks between the
government and its major opponents resumed in Pretoria, South
Africa.
In July, after talks in
Pretoria, Rwanda agreed to withdraw its troops from the east in
return for the Kinshasa government disarming predominantly Rwandese
Hutu rebels and sending their leaders for trial. In October and
November several dozen Hutu were returned to Rwanda by officials of
the DRC, South Africa and the UN's military cease-fire
monitors, MONUC. At least one returnee was detained. The returns
sparked a mutiny among Hutu former combatants at Kamina military
base; both mutineers and DRC soldiers were killed.
The withdrawal of
pro-government forces from Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe
accelerated. Uganda agreed to withdraw its troops after talks with
the DRC government in Luanda, Angola, in August although several
battalions of the Ugandan army remained in the
country.
Conflict between various
armed groups and factions in the east and north escalated after the
withdrawal of foreign troops. Massive human rights abuses were
committed (see below), leading to yet more people being internally
displaced or becoming refugees.
MONUC personnel increased to
more than 4,200 during the year and in December the UN Security
Council authorized an increase to 8,700. MONUC oversaw the
disengagement of DRC government forces and armed opponents from
frontline positions. In October a UN Panel of Experts reported that
both allies and opponents of the government, including military
commanders and political leaders from Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe,
were taking advantage of the conflict to loot the country's
natural resources and to prolong the war. In November President
Kabila suspended government and security officials implicated in
the report. The UN also announced inquiries into a massacre in
Kisangani in May and ethnic conflict between the Hema and Lendu in
the northeast (see below). The UN Special Rapporteur on the DRC
called for support for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, designed to
put in place new institutions.
In July the International
Court of Justice decided it did not have jurisdiction to hear a
case brought by the DRC against Rwanda for alleged aggression on
its territory.
Impact of the
conflict
More than three million
people were estimated to have been killed or to have died as a
result of the war to overthrow the DRC government which started in
1998. Up to two million people were internally displaced. The UN
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs estimated that
in North-Kivu province, four out of five rural residents had been
forcibly displaced at one time or another since 1998. The
devastation of agricultural production resulted in malnutrition and
high mortality rates for both the displaced and host populations.
The years of armed conflict also produced an environment in which
abuse of women by men, including rape, was widespread and children
were forced to work in mines or to serve as
combatants.
Areas under government
control
Death
penalty
More than 80 people remained
on death row, and courts continued to pass death sentences. In
September the government suspended a moratorium on executions which
had been in place since March 2001. Since 1997 the Cour d'ordre
militaire (COM),
Military Order Court, had sentenced hundreds of people to death
after unfair trials, of whom at least 200 were executed. Despite a
government announcement in November that it had promulgated a law
to abolish the COM in December, the court continued to try about
135 defendants (see below).
□ On 15 March the trial
began of some 135 people accused of involvement in the January 2001
assassination of former President Laurent-DÚsirÚ
Kabila before the COM. The trial had not concluded by the end of
2002. The defendants included 19 former security agents from Kivu
region who had sought asylum in neighbouring Republic of the Congo
but were handed back to the DRC in April 2001. One of the
defendants, Antoine Ngalamulume, was in custody at the time of
President Kabila's death and two are the wives of an army major
sought by the government. Many of the detainees were reportedly
tortured, and they were not given adequate time and facilities to
prepare their defence. The prosecution demanded the death penalty
for 115 of the defendants and it was feared that the September
suspension of the moratorium on executions was to allow them to be
executed.
Unlawful
killings
Members of the security
forces unlawfully killed dozens of unarmed civilians. In virtually
all cases the government failed to take action against the
perpetrators.
□ Government forces
reportedly killed at least 100 unarmed civilians at Ankoro, Katanga
province, after a clash with mayi-mayi combatants in November.
In Mbuji-Mayi, the hub of the
DRC's diamond trade, guards employed by MIBA – the
largely state-owned mining company which runs the concessions
– frequently used excessive force against unauthorized
miners. Dozens were shot dead by MIBA guards and many more were
injured. Not a single MIBA guard was known to have been brought to
justice for killing or injuring an unauthorized miner.
Torture and
ill-treatment
Torture and ill-treatment
continued to be widespread in unofficial detention centres run by
the security services without any control by the judiciary.
Detainees were almost invariably held incommunicado and were
routinely refused medical care. Beatings, including whippings
administered with cordelettes (military belts), were particularly common.
There were numerous reports of women in custody being raped by
members of the security services. Psychological torture, such as
death threats and mock executions, was also frequent.
Conditions in many detention
centres were appalling. At least 46 prisoners were reported to have
died between March and June 2002 in Kinshasa's main prison,
the Centre
pénitentiaire et de rééducation de
Kinshasa (CPRK),
Kinshasa Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre, previously known as
Makala Prison. They reportedly died as a result of ill-treatment,
lack of medical care and lack of food.
Persecution of human
rights defenders
Human rights defenders were
harassed, threatened and detained for investigating human rights
violations by government security forces.
□ N'sii Luanda
Shandwe, president of the Comité des observateurs des droits de
l'homme (CODHO), Committee of Human Rights
Observers, who was detained in 2001 then released without charge,
was rearrested on 19 April 2002 and held without charge in the
CPRK. He remained in custody despite a severe illness; he was a
prisoner of conscience.
Persecution of
journalists
Press freedom remained under
threat as journalists continued to face detention as prisoners of
conscience and ill-treatment.
□ On 3 April
JosÚ Feruzi Samwegele of the government radio and television
company was detained by the military security service DEMIAP,
accused of conspiring to broadcast a statement issued by the
opposition party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress
(UDPS). He was reportedly subjected to a mock execution before his
release on 10 April.
□ DieudonnÚ Karl
Nawezi, a sports reporter with the government broadcasting company,
was arrested by the Agence nationale de
renseignements (ANR) security service on 7 May. He was
interrogated for two days by the ANR in Lubumbashi because
television footage showed Congolese football fans in South Africa
wearing T-shirts bearing a photograph of Katebe Katoto, a
government opponent.
□ On 6 September a
Kinshasa court sentenced Raymond Kabala and Delly Bonsange
of Alerte
Plus to 12 and six
months' imprisonment respectively, and a large fine. They were
arrested in July after their newspaper published an article
claiming that a government minister had been poisoned. While in
custody, Raymond Kabala was reportedly tortured and in October
their lawyer, Sebastien Kayembe, was tortured by armed men in
military uniform. In November, a court reduced the fines, released
Delly Bonsange and reduced Raymond Kabala's prison sentence to
seven months.
Persecution of
students
Students demonstrating
against the government were arrested and ill-treated. Victims
included students from the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) and from
the University of Lubumbashi (UNILU).
□ Frank Buruani
Kitenge, a student at UNILU originating from Kivu, was arrested on
16 April by police in Lubumbashi. He was handed over to the ANR on
12 May and transferred to Kinshasa where he remained held,
reportedly accused of being a spy for RCD-Goma and Rwanda because
of his Kivu origins.
Areas controlled by armed political
groups and foreign forces
Fighting escalated in parts
of eastern and northeastern DRC. Hundreds of unarmed civilians were
killed. Much of the fighting over mineral-rich areas in the
northeast took place between combatants of the MLC and the
RCD-National on the one side and those of the RCD-Mouvement de
Libération (RCD-ML), RCD-Liberation Movement, on the
other. All three rival armed groups were backed by Uganda. An
agreement to end hostilities reached in Kampala, Uganda, in
November between rival factions of the RCD-ML was not
implemented.
Human rights abuses were
widespread, particularly unlawful killings of unarmed civilians,
arbitrary arrest, unlawful detention and torture, including rape.
In a 10-week period from 10 February, a local human rights network
reported more than 500 killings, more than 100 rape cases and
several abductions, as well as destruction of villages by fire and
looting in the eastern region under RCD-Goma
occupation.
Massacres in Kibali-Ituri
province
Killings of unarmed civilians
in the armed conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups
continued in the Ugandan-created Kibali-Ituri province, previously
part of Oriental province. As many as 50,000 people were reported
to have been killed since June 1999, and around 500,000 forcibly
displaced. The intensification of violence prevented international
humanitarian agencies from operating in the area. Of the tens of
thousands of Lendu who fled from their homes to surrounding
forests, many died from starvation, disease and
exposure.
□ Ugandan soldiers
allegedly killed more than 70 unarmed civilians at Kogoro, Gety and
Chakurundu in Irumu territory in February.
□ Scores, possibly
hundreds, of civilians, many of them women and children, were
reported to have been killed in Bunia in August. Several dozen
bodies were found in a mass grave near the governor's residence
after it had been bombarded by Ugandan troops.
□ In August Hema
militia killed dozens of Lendu while taking control of Bunia. In
retaliation, Lendu and allied militia killed dozens of Hema
including patients at Nyakunde hospital.
Atrocities in
Kisangani
As many as 200 people were
killed in Kisangani between 14 and 17 May. RCD-Goma and Rwandese
soldiers are reported to have raped and summarily executed
civilians after a mutiny on 14 May. Mutinous RCD-Goma soldiers
occupied a Kisangani radio station and called on the population to
end the occupation of eastern DRC by Rwanda. Hundreds of civilians
reportedly came out on the streets in response to the call and
killed several Rwandese soldiers and civilians suspected of being
Rwandese.
RCD-Goma claimed that only 41
people died in the aftermath of the mutiny. However, according to
the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary
executions, the bodies of more than 100 civilians and 60 police and
soldiers were identified and 20 corpses were spotted floating in
the Tshopo river.
Persecution of human
rights defenders
Human rights activists were
routinely threatened by RCD-Goma for investigating abuses in
Kisangani.
□ Xavier Zabalo, a
Roman Catholic priest, was briefly detained by RCD-Goma and
interrogated about his links to a local human rights group in May.
His colleague, Guy Verhaegen, required medical treatment after
being assaulted. They were released after international
pressure.
□ On 3 September
HonorÚ Musoko, a lawyer and member of the Justice Plus human rights organization, was
arrested in the town of Aru by RCD-ML soldiers, after describing
the human rights situation in a radio interview. He was
subsequently transferred to the RCD-ML "Mont Hawa"
military camp. Following appeals by AI and other human rights
organizations to the RCD-ML and Ugandan authorities, he was
released on 7 September.
□ Zelote Farini Luendo,
a member of a local children's rehabilitation group, was
arrested with two others by Rwandese soldiers on 27 May in Goma.
The three men were held blindfolded and with their arms tied
tightly behind their backs in a private house in Goma. They were
presented at a press conference on
31 May, where Zelote Farini
Luendo made a self-incriminating statement, allegedly under duress.
He remained in custody.
Detention and
torture
People accused of supporting
the government or its allies were arrested, detained and tortured,
particularly in Kisangani, Goma and Bukavu. Some were released
after making payments. Detainees taken into custody by RCD-Goma and
Rwandese soldiers were held in metal freight containers at Ndosho,
near Goma, in conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
□ Raphael Paluku
Kiyana, a radio station director in an area controlled by the
RCD-ML, was arrested on 9 March when he was found in territory
controlled by RCD-Goma. He was released by RCD-Goma on 14 March but
his property was not returned.
□ A group of 18
Banyamulenge men, four of them pastors, were arrested by RCD-Goma
in July and held incommunicado. Many of the detainees, who included
leading members of the Banyamulenge community, appeared to be
prisoners of conscience. At least 20 Banyamulenge refugees arrested
by the Burundian authorities were forcibly returned to eastern DRC
and detained. They and others arrested in South-Kivu were still
held at the end of 2002 (see Burundi entry).
□ On 13 September
Franklin Moliba-Sese, a correspondent in Gbadolite for the MONUC
radio station Okapi, was arrested by the MLC and detained for
one week for reporting on the plight of child
soldiers.
□ Journalists Safari
Ntamana, Bugumba Tanganika and Zamukulu Mulungula were arrested by
RCD-Goma officials in late September. The three men worked for a
Uvira-based radio station and had broadcast a debate about the
impact of a withdrawal of Rwandese troops from the area.They
escaped from custody on 14 October when mayi-mayi forces briefly occupied Uvira
town.
AI country
reports/visits
Reports
• Democratic Republic of
the Congo: Making a killing – The diamond trade in
government-controlled DRC (AI Index: AFR 62/017/2002)
• Democratic Republic of
the Congo: From assassination to state murder? (AI Index: AFR
62/023/2002)
Visits
In January AI delegates
visited northwestern DRC to interview refugees from the Central
African Republic (CAR) and discussed with MLC leaders human rights
abuses committed by the armed group's combatants in the DRC and
in the CAR in May 2001. In February AI delegates visited Goma to
assess the impact of a volcanic eruption on the activities of local
human rights defenders and to discuss concerns with RCD-Goma
leaders. In April AI representatives briefed the UN Security
Council in New York about the deteriorating human rights and
humanitarian crisis, especially in eastern DRC. In September a
delegation led by AI's Secretary General met exiled DRC human
rights defenders in Burundi.
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Make a difference!
» Justine Masika Bihamba, Women's Human Rights Defender
