CONGO (DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE)
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE
CONGO
Head of state and
government: Joseph
Kabila
Death penalty:
retentionist
UN Women's
Convention: ratified
Optional Protocol to UN
Women's Convention: not signed
Following extended peace
negotiations, a transitional government of national unity was sworn
in, comprising representatives of the former government, major
armed groups and civil society. In practice, however, the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remained under the
fragmented control of different armed forces. Conflict and grave
human rights abuses continued in eastern DRC. Abuses in the east
included mass unlawful killings of civilians, rape and the
extensive use of child soldiers. Torture, arbitrary arrests and
illegal detentions persisted throughout the country. Death
sentences continued to be passed and executions resumed. By the end
of 2003 around 3.4 million people remained internally displaced, in
many cases in areas inaccessible to humanitarian
assistance.
Background
A plan for a power-sharing
coalition government, to end the conflict since 1998 that has
claimed an estimated three million lives, was agreed in December
2002 in Pretoria, South Africa, in peace talks between the Kinshasa
government and rebel and unarmed opposition groups. In July 2003 a
transitional government led by President Kabila was
established.
Four Vice-Presidents were
drawn from the former government, the unarmed political opposition
and the two major armed political groups, the Mouvement pour la
libération du Congo(MLC), Movement for the Liberation of the
Congo, and the Rassemblement congolais pour la
démocratie-Goma(RCD-Goma), Congolese Rally for
Democracy-Goma. Ministerial posts were appointed from these groups,
other armed groups and civil society. In October, the UN Special
Rapporteur on the DRC noted that individuals involved in mass human
rights violations had been appointed to the
government.
The transitional government
was mandated under the peace accord to hold free and fair national
elections within 24 months and to form a unified national army. It
must disarm, demobilize and reintegrate into civilian life scores
of thousands of combatants who will not be integrated in the new
army.
A joint military command was
established, but the armed groups continued to control large areas
of the country.
The transitional Constitution
established a number of civil institutions to support progress
towards democracy, including a National Human Rights Observatory
and a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Both institutions lacked
sufficient independence, proper resources and a clear
mandate.
One individual suspected of
involvement in human rights abuses was appointed to the executive
committee of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
In eastern DRC, mass killings
took place in May in Ituri district of Oriental province, where
antagonism between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups since 1999 had
been manipulated by armed political groups and Ugandan government
forces for political and economic gain. In May, as the situation
deteriorated, the UN authorized the deployment of an Interim
Emergency Multinational Force (IEMF) to Bunia, capital of Ituri.
The Force largely restored security inside the town, but did not
deploy to surrounding areas where killings continued. It withdrew
in September and was replaced by a reinforced brigade of
peace-keepers from the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUC). By the year's end the brigade had begun to
deploy outside Bunia.
On 28 July the UN Security
Council authorized MONUC forces to use "all necessary
means" to protect civilians under imminent threat of physical
violence in Ituri district and the Kivu provinces, and imposed an
arms embargo on the same areas.
Human rights abuses in other
crisis zones, notably in North- and South-Kivu provinces, continued
at a high level, despite the installation of the new
government.
Widespread sexual violence,
unlawful killings of civilians and recruitment of children into
armed forces persisted. A redeployment of MONUC forces to the Kivu
provinces was planned but not substantially implemented by the end
of 2003. MONUC troops in the DRC numbered around 10,500 by the end
of 2003, 4,800 of them deployed in Ituri.
Impunity for the perpetrators
of human rights abuses remained widespread. The European Union and
UN took steps towards rebuilding and reforming the judicial system,
which included a review by international and national experts. In
July the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court indicated
that his office would undertake a preliminary examination of
alleged atrocities in Ituri.
Exploitation of natural and
economic resources continued to drive the conflict. In October the
UN Panel of Experts on the Illegal Exploitation of Natural
Resources and Other Forms of Wealth in the DRC submitted its final
report to the UN Security Council.
Previous reports had named a
number of international companies as engaged in resource
exploitation that contributed to funding the DRC conflict. The
final report referred 40 companies for further investigation by
their own governments. Part of the report was not made public and
allegedly accused Rwanda and Uganda of continued exploitation in
the DRC and of breaking the arms embargo. The Panel was disbanded
at the end of October. The majority of its recommendations remained
unimplemented. Reports continued of Rwandese and Ugandan
involvement in eastern DRC after their forces had officially
withdrawn, allegations denied by both governments.
Unlawful
killings
Ituri
Ituri district saw a dramatic
escalation of violence. In March Ugandan government forces seized
control of Bunia and other areas after dislodging the Hemadominated
armed group, the Union des patriotes congolais(UPC), Union of
Congolese Patriots, their former allies. The fighting in Bunia
claimed many civilian lives.
On 6 May Ugandan government
forces withdrew from Ituri. Immediately afterwards, inter-ethnic
killings of civilians by Lendu and Hema militia or the UPC resulted
in more than 400 reported deaths in Bunia and further killings
outside the town, including of two MONUC observers in Mongbwalu.
MONUC forces present did not protect civilians adequately. The
arrival of the IEMF in June and a reinforced MONUC brigade in
September calmed the situation in Bunia, although insecurity
persisted for the remainder of the year.
Massacres of civilians,
however, continued in other areas of Ituri. Most of the several
hundred killed were women and children, attacked with machetes,
homemade weapons and small arms. Hundreds of thousands fled the
violence, and at the year's end were internally displaced,
often inaccessible to humanitarian aid because of continuing
violence, or living as refugees in precarious
circumstances.
• Massacre sites
included Nizi, where 22 civilians were killed on 7 July; Tchomia,
where over 300 people were reported killed on 31 May and at least
80 on 15 July; Fataki, where at least 60 were killed in July and
early August; and Katshele, where on 6 October 65 civilians were
killed, 42 of them reported to be children.
Mambasa
In February the MLC, faced
with international condemnation, tried 27 soldiers by military
court for their part in large-scale killings, torture, including
rapes, and other abuses by MLC and RCD-National forces in and
around Mambasa, in Oriental province, in late 2002. However, by the
end of the year, many of the soldiers had reportedly been released.
The victims were mainly from the Nande ethnic group, who were
targeted for their presumed support of a rival armed group, the
Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie-Mouvement de
libération(RCD-ML), RCDLiberation Movement, and the Twa
community.
South-Kivu
In South-Kivu province,
scores of unarmed civilians were killed in fighting between various
armed groups or in unlawful killings by all the forces involved.
The fighting created massive waves of displacement.
Combatants extensively looted
and destroyed homes, schools, medical and nutritional centres, and
religious institutions.
In the Ruzizi plain, they
committed systematic abuses against civilians they accused of
supporting the "enemy". In October an agreement to cease
hostilities between the Congolese mayi-mayimilitia and the RCDGoma
was signed after mediation by MONUC.
The Hauts-Plateaux region,
home to a large Banyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi) population, was the
scene of a continuing rebellion by a former RCD-Goma commander.
RCD-Goma forces struggled to control the rebellion and reportedly
used excessive, indiscriminate violence against civilians,
particularly Banyamulenge.
Large numbers of civilians
were killed in the fighting, and up to 30,000 were
displaced.
• In April scores of
unarmed civilians were reported to have been killed in Uvira,
Walungu and Bukavu in fighting between the RCD-Goma and
mayi-mayi.
Child
soldiers
All armed forces in the DRC
used children as soldiers. In the east, armed political groups
actively recruited children, who reportedly constituted more than
40 per cent of their armed forces in some instances. Child
soldiers, boys and girls, sometimes as young as seven, were
typically subjected to ill-treatment during their training; in some
camps, children died from the harsh conditions. They were often
sent into combat or used as sex slaves. Some were forced to kill
their own families; others were made to engage in cannibalistic or
sexual acts with enemy corpses. Girl soldiers were raped and some
died as a result. Child soldiers detained for breaches of
discipline were tortured and ill-treated.
None of the commitments to
demobilize children given by the various armed forces proved
genuine, and little effort was made to support reintegration of
former child soldiers into civilian life. In the east, the small
numbers of children who were officially demobilized were at
constant risk of re-recruitment.
During visits to the DRC, AI
delegates heard testimony from former child soldiers of the
torture, ill-treatment and other abuse of child soldiers by
combatants.
• A child soldier,
recruited at the age of 13 by the RCD-Goma, lost the use of his
legs as a result of beatings to his spine in Mushaki training camp,
North- Kivu province.
• A child soldier, aged
12, who was first forcibly recruited aged seven, witnessed fighters
cutting off his commander's head in fighting in Ituri. The boy
was wounded in the arm and was not given proper treatment for his
injury or trauma.
• A former child soldier
from South-Kivu, recruited when she was 12 by the RCD-Goma, was
repeatedly beaten, whipped and raped by other soldiers. She had a
baby as a result of these rapes.
Violence against
women
Sexual violence against women
of all ages, including very young girls, was used as a weapon of
war by most of the forces involved in the conflict. In many cases
rape was followed by the deliberate wounding or killing of the
victim. Thousands of women and girls were abducted and forced to
remain with armed groups as sexual slaves. The prevalence of
HIV/AIDS among combatants added to the trauma and social stigma
faced by these women, who feared being ostracized by their families
or communities. Medical and psychological treatment appropriate to
the needs of the victims was rare. Leaders of armed groups have
taken few meaningful steps to protect women and girls against rape
by their fighters, and few of those responsible have been brought
to justice.
• In South-Kivu, the UN
estimated that some 5,000 women had been raped between October 2002
and February 2003, an average of 40 a day.
• On 16 May a soldier
forced his way into the house of Kavira Muraulu, from Mangangu near
Beni, North-Kivu, and raped her. After reporting the rape to the
district governor, she was attacked again at her home by the
alleged rapist and other soldiers, who beat her and stabbed her
with a bayonet.
Torture and illegal
detention
People suspected of links
with opposing armed political groups were targeted for torture and
illegal detention.
Human rights defenders and
journalists engaged in legitimate investigation and criticism were
also beaten, threatened and unlawfully detained because of their
reporting on the human rights situation.
Torture techniques typically
included systematic beatings or whippings of detainees, stabbing
with bayonets or electric shocks. Torture was facilitated by the
widespread use of private and unofficial detention centres –
including underground pits ( cachots souterrains), freight
containers and the homes of security officials – particularly
in areas of eastern DRC under the control of armed political
groups.
Arbitrary detentions remained
frequent across the DRC and virtually none of those detained were
known to have had their arrest ordered or reviewed by an
independent judicial official. Many spent long periods in detention
without charge or trial.
• Two men, Paul
Mbonabihama and Ndibwami Nyanga, died as a result of torture in
RCD-Goma detention in Bunagana, North-Kivu province, in January. At
least three other men were also tortured.
They had a hot iron pressed
on their backs and heavy weights attached to their testicles, and
were suspended upside-down for long periods. A woman detainee
reportedly had gunpowder set alight close to her breasts and her
thumbnails ripped out. No action was taken against the
perpetrators.
• Donatien Kisangani
Mukatamwina, a member of the non-governmental human rights
organization Solidarité-Echange pour le Développement
Intégral, Solidarity-Exchange for Integrated Development,
based in Uvira, South-Kivu, was arrested by the RCDGoma in June.
RCD-Goma officials detained him without charge for 13 days on the
pretext that he was linked to the mayi-mayi, and allegedly beat and
threatened to kill him.
• Human rights defender
N'sii Luanda Shandwe was released on 26 January, having spent
nine months as a prisoner of conscience at the Centre
pénitentiaire et de réeducation de Kinshasa, Kinshasa
Penitentiary and Re-education Centre. He was detained because of
his human rights activism, but was not formally charged with a
criminal offence.
Death
penalty
On 7 January, 15 people were
executed in secret in Kinshasa, the first executions known to have
taken place since December 2000 and the first following the
government's suspension in September 2002 of a moratorium on
the death penalty. The 15 detainees were reportedly executed at a
military camp close to Kinshasa's international airport, and
the bodies were buried in a common grave nearby.
The Military Court, which had
conducted unfair trials and sentenced to death large numbers of
people, including civilians, was abolished by presidential decree
in April. Other courts continued to sentence prisoners to
death.
AI country
reports/visits
Reports
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: On the precipice – The deepening human rights
and humanitarian crisis in Ituri (AI Index: AFR
62/006/2003)
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: "Our brothers who help kill us" –
Economic exploitation and human rights abuses in the east (AI
Index: AFR 62/010/2003)
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: Ituri – How many more have to die? (AI Index:
AFR 62/030/2003)
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: Ituri – A need for protection, a thirst for
justice (AI Index: AFR 62/032/2003)
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: Children at war (AI Index: AFR
62/034/2003)
• Democratic Republic
of the Congo: Addressing the present and building a future (AI
Index: AFR 62/050/2003)
Visits
In January, February and
March AI delegates visited Kinshasa, Goma in North-Kivu, and Bukavu
and Uvira in South-Kivu. In July AI delegates visited Bunia and
Beni in Ituri province and western Uganda. In October AI's
Secretary General travelled to the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda to meet
senior government and UN officials, survivors of human rights
abuses, human rights activists and international humanitarian
agencies.
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Make a difference!
» Justine Masika Bihamba, Women's Human Rights Defender
