INFO-CONGO/KINSHASA
Information document published by the
TABLE DE CONCERTATION SUR LES DROITS HUMAINS AU CONGO/KINSHASA
Entraide missionnaire, 15 De Castelnau Ouest, Montréal (Qc), Canada H2R
2W3 Tel. (514) 270-6089 Fax 270-6156 Email emi@web.ca

April - May - June  2001 Nos 168-169

 MONUC'S MANDATE EXTENDED AND WIDENED

By virtue of a resolution adopted unanimously on June 13, the Security
Council decided to extend the mandate of its mission to the Congo by one
year, until June 15, 2002, and to reinforce its policing capability. Acting
on the Secretary General's recommendations, the Council authorized the
setting up of a civilian police component in MONUC, as well as a military
and civilian department to handle disarmament and reintegration. Even more
important, the Security Council gave the Secretary General the go-ahead to
increase the size of the mission, starting next year, to grow from 2,366 to
5,537, including the 500 military observers. This decision by the Security
Council is the result of a recent peace mission conducted in the region by
the Security Council.

The mission, comprising 12 Council members, led by the French UN
ambassador, Jean-David Levitte, visited eight countries : the DRC (where
they met with the presidents of the DRC, Namibia, and Zimbabwe), Angola,
Zambia, South Africa, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Uganda.  Setting out
on May 16, they ended their tour May 25 on an optimistic note.  After
talking with all of the belligerents, the delegation felt there was « a
positive atmosphere, a feeling that everyone, one way or another [wanted]
to end the war. » This optimism was reinforced afterwards by three
important decisions : the decision by Jean-Pierre Bemba, the president of
the FLC, to pull his troops back 15 km from the front line; the decision of
the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, to allow political parties to
operate, and finally the announcement by Ketumile Masire, the mediator in
the Congolese conflict,  that a pre-dialogue would be organized in July in
Gaberonne (Botswana).

With the arrival of a contingent of 220 Tunisian soldiers in Kinshasa on
May 20, bringing Monuc's effective force to 2,000, there were only some 600
 additional men, expected on June 15, needed to complete the mission's full
deployment. However, difficulties continued on two fronts : Equateur and
Kisangani. In Equateur, Bemba's troops were supposed to draw back to the
positions they held before the signing of the Lusaka Accord,  that is not
15 km, but 100 km from the front line. Kisangani, in territory controlled
by RDC-Goma, allied with Rwanda, was supposed to be demilitarized,  but the
RDC continued to keep  « police »  there, who in fact were soldiers.
MONUC's commander in the DRC felt that he had to put up with their presence
to keep the peace, but only as a temporary measure. The same situation
prevailed in Badankusu, in territory controlled by  Jean-Pierre Bemba's
FLC, allied to Uganda, where soldiers disguised as civilians were also
stationed.


THE PRE-DIALOGUE FINALLY ANNOUNCED!

After meeting in Kinshasa on April 10 with representatives of more than 200
political parties and well-known figures to work out a consensus on the
venue and number of participants for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue,
Facilitator Masire went off to the rebel held territories. Then, meeting in
Lusaka, on May 4, representatives of the government and the rebel groups
agreed on « the fundamental principles of inter-Congolese political
negotiations. » Apparently the Congolese adversaries insisted on equal
footing, and that the Inter-Congolese Dialogue's decisions should be by «
consensus » and not by a simple majority vote. In reality, this kind of
decision-making will give each group the right of veto to block the
Dialogue's efforts if its decisions are not in their favour.  However, this
was to be expected, especially after an unpopular, murderous and
barbarously rapacious war.

There was one encouraging sign in spite of everything, when the
facilitator's office announced on May 22 that a pre-dialogue would open on
July 16 at Gaberonne, in Botswana. This announcement was preceded by a
speech from President Joseph Kabila on May 17, when he announced « a law
dealing with the organization and operation of political parties and groups
» in the DRC, a law which in principle should liberalize political activities.
.
Even if, according to the latest news, the pre-dialogue may be pushed back
towards the end of July, the facilitator's team has already taken a
decisive step in the naming of some 25 civil society delegates who will
represent a large part of the territory controlled by the rebels : North
Kivu, South Kivu, Orientale, the Kalemie region of Katanga and Kasaï. Apart
from Equateur in rebel territory, this leaves only the regions under
government control to come. Given the good will shown by President Joseph
Kabila up till now, the choice of the rest of the delegates should be
finally completed in time to get the first preparatory meetings underway.

In preparation for this pre-dialogue, on May 3 Jean-Pierre Bemba's FLC
initiated a « Union of Congolese Forces for the Integrity of the Lusaka
Accord and for the Holding of the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (UFAD) » with
two unarmed political parties : Etienne Tshisekedi's UDPS and Olenga Nkoy's
FONUS.  It must be emphasized that if two of the opposition « heavyweights
» have joined the FLC in an alliance qualified by some as unnatural,  UFAD
has been strongly denounced by the other political parties in the PDSC.


" YOUR SUFFERING HAS GONE ON LONG ENOUGH"

With these words the Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, addressed the
Congolese people on June 30 in Kinshasa, to acknowledge Belgium's awareness
of the hell the Congolese people have endured for several years.  Warmly
applauded by those present, who demonstrably appreciated this gesture from
Belgium, the Belgian prime minister also emphasised the support given to
his country by other western partners.  Strengthened by the European
Union's special mandate to Belgium to monitor attempts to achieve peace in
Central Africa, Guy Verhofstadt also declared : « What we have come to say
in humility is that we will do all we can, with others, with the European
Union, the United States, and the whole international community, to create
condititions in which the Congo can be reborn. »

As proof of its leadership in international aid to relieve the suffering of
the Congolese, the Belgian parliament has just ratified a global plan for
intervention in the region, « The Construction of Peace in the Great Lakes
Region : a Belgian Plan of Action. »  Four bilateral agreements were signed
during the visit for a total of $US 20m.  They dealt with the repair and
maintenance of roads in Eastern Kasaï and in Bas-Congo, support for local
development initiatives in the provinces of Katanga, Bandundu and
Bas-Congo, institutional support for the study of economic planning in the
Health Ministry and an urban social fund for the city of Kinshasa.

To emphasize Belgium's neutrality in the current conflict, the Belgian
delegation also went into rebel controlled territory. Visiting Kisangani,
the Belgian prime minister called for the demilitarization of the city. In
response to criticism from the non-armed Congolese opposition, which
interpreted the Belgian aid as official support for Kabila's government,
the prime minister insisted on the fact that his government was relying on
« the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, to set up a strong consensus, a democratic
government accepted and elected by everyone. »


PROMISES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Following in Belgium's footsteps, the European Union has just allocated
120 million euros to the Congo.

But more important, the countries which in 1997 formed the « Friends of the
Congo » club met again in Paris on July 3 at the instigation of the World
Bank.  In preparation for the meeting, a second delegation of the IMF went
to Kinshasa from May 3 to 16, during which « a strengthened interim
programme » was set up for one year which should lead to a more coherent
macro-economic framework. Eventually, a three year programme will be
proposed, which could start in 2002. The World Bank would even be prepared
to commit financing of between $US 40m and $US 50m
At present only the annulment of part of the Congo's debt, which has now
reached $US 13.9 billion, seems to be contemplated. Those providing funds
for the DRC have promised to provide support for the programme in the
region of $US 246m. This is $US 90m more that the Congo asked for.
The meeting of financial donors and the announcement of promises of
millions of aid came after Kinshasa introduced a whole series of economic
measures : the cancellation of the monopoly in diamond buying given to
International Diamond Industries (IDI) at the end of April; from May 27 an
end to exchange controls which have raised the rate to 313 Congolese francs
to the US dollar; a freeing up of the price of gas; a revision of the
mining and investment rules. . .


KABILA'S DEATH: A REPORT FULL OF HOLES

Though presented to the authorities on April 20, it took a month for part
of the Commission of Enquiry's report on the assassination of President
Laurent Kabila, which occurred on January 16, to be made public.  The
Public Prosecutor, Luhonge Kabinda Ngoy, who gave a broad outline of the «
logistics » of the assassination in a press conference in Kinshasa,
satisfied nobody.

The report concluded that it was indeed Rachidi Minzele,  one of the «
kadogos » of his personal guard, who assassinated the president.  It said
that the assassination was part of a plot aiming at a coup d'etat, and that
« the coup was planned and carried out on January 10, 2001, by a coalition
of foreign powers and those close to the president. . . . Certain foreign
powers and intelligence services were implicated in the plot. Of these
powers. . . Uganda, Rwanda, [and] RDC-Goma were actively involved ». Also,
« the summary execution of the Lebanese-who were not implicated in the coup
until later-was ordered to hide proofs of the involvement of the plotters.
» There must be more than this!

There are many dark areas on which the Public Prosecutor did not want to
shed light : the murder weapon has not been found; the person who killed
Rachidi has not been named; the date and place of the president's death
have not been reported; a fourth group implicated in the plot has not been
identified, so as not to compromise the criminal enquiry which is in
process; nothing is said about the presumed role of the 11 murdered
Lebanese. . . Congolese civil rights associations quickly condemned this «
denial of the the public's right to know. »  According to Journaliste En
Danger, the report has provided only information already available through
the grapevine, and « has not answered the key question of who had an
interest in this [death] and who profited » by it.

Many are still astonished at the total silence surrounding the detention of
Eddy Kapend, the former president's aide de camp, whose associates were
also arrested. Similarly not a word about the role which Mobutu's
ex-generals might have played and may still be playing. They have already
been accused of plotting another assassination attempt on April 15, this
time against Joseph Kabila. Arms were found, a dozen people arrested, and
Ngaliema, an area close to Kokolo camp, placed under surveillance. The
frontier between the two Congos has also been closed.

The truth about the assassination of Laurent Kabila and the presumed coup
d'etat, thwarted twice, is unlikely to emerge soon. Set up on February 12,
the « all party » Commission of Enquiry did its work. But as time passes,
some are questioning the methods it used, in particular the « independence
» of the commission vis a vis the judicial power and the freedom of action
given to the Zimbabwean soldiers in charge of guarding the accused. The
association La Voix des sans Voix is concerned by the prolonged detention
of more than a hundred people (104 out of 155 interrogated) in connection
with this affair, either by the Commission of Enquiry or by the many
government security agencies.  The group have asserted that most of the
detainees are receiving inhuman treatment and their guards have refused
them any legal assistance. They cite the case of Anne-Marie Kamwanya
Masumbuko,  detained and tortured simply because her husband had fled. On
May 11, the same group condemned the extradition from  Brazzaville of 19
DRC Congolese sent back to the Commission of Enquiry. These Congolese,
mostly natives of Kivu, fled Kinshasa in November 2000 following the wave
of arrests of natives from the East, and would normally have protected by
the HCR.
" THE ONLY LOSERS ARE THE CONGOLESE"

This is the conclusion of the report by the group of experts on the illegal
exploitation of the natural resources and other wealth of the DRC, who
presented their report to the President of the Security Council on April
12.  The goal of the enquiry was to study possible links between « the
illicit exploitation of natural resources and the continuation of the
conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. » Their conclusion is
devastating! « The conflict in the DRC has become a matter of access,
control, and trade in five key mineral resources : coltan, diamonds,
copper, cobalt, and gold. »
In fact, the report confirms the fact that the illegal  exploitation of the
DRC's resources « began with the first war of liberation in 1996. » At
present, « many accounts and documents indicate that from 1997, the first
wave of businessmen, speaking only English, Kinyarwandan, and Kiswahili
were already at work in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. »
When the second war broke out in August, 1998, Ugandans and Rwandans,
superior officers and their associates most of the time who knew where to
find the different sources of riches in the Congo, began a systematic
looting of the country : mineral resources, agricultural, forest, and
cattle products... Everywhere « the procedure was the same : troops from
Burundi, Uganda, Rwanda and/or DRC soldiers led by an officer,  visited
farms, factories, and banks. The soldiers were then ordered to load the
produce and goods onto army vehicles. » From several sources, the experts
established that in six months,  between November, 1998, and April, 1999,
2000 to 3000 tonnes of cassiterite and 1000 to 1500 tonnes of coltan were
carried off from the east of the Congo; in addition  factories were
dismantled, banks were looted, vehicles seized and taken to Rwanda and
Uganda, and wildlife decimated.  The most striking example of this attack
on wildlife is the Kahuzi-Biega Park, where only two families of elephants
remain out of the 350 that the park had before the war. The  situation is
said to be worse in other wildlife parks, such as Virunga and Garamba.

The report also outlines external support systems and complicity intended
to expedite this illegal exploitation. The first of these systems is
financial, bringing together certain banks active in the territory
controlled by the Rwandan and Ugandan armies.  First among these is the
Bank of Commerce, Development and Industry (BDCI), based in Kigali, set up
since the war with the AFDL by presidents Museveni, Kagame, and the
deceased Kabila of the DRC. Second are the Rwandan banks, among them the
Commercial Bank of Rwanda, BANCOR and the branches of Congolese banks still
operating in the east, particularly the Union of Congolese Banks and the
Commercial Bank of the Congo, all based in Kinshasa. The second system is
made up of Rwandan, Ugandan and Burundian businesses in partnership with
western transportation interests, including Sabena, and commercial and
financial enterprises.
Finally the report names individuals implicated directly or indirectly in
the network of pillaging : superior officers in the Ugandan and Rwandan
armies, presidents Kagame and Museveni, and Congolese leaders of the rebel
groups.

In conclusion the report proposes a series of measures to put an end to the
looting. The most important of these is the imposition on an embargo on
minerals seen as coming from the countries named in the report. The expert
group's mandate has been extended for 3 months so that it can complete its
report with the collaboration of the countries investigated. A new
president, the Egyptian diplomat Mahmoud Kassem, has also been appointed to
replace Safiatou Ba-N'Daw, appointed to the PNUD.
In Belgium on June 11, sixteen organizations presented a petition, « No
Blood on my GSM» to condemn their government's lack of action in the face
of the report's implication of Belgian businesses. Supporting the
operation, the leaders of several missionary institutions called on Sabena
to explain itself. Faced with mounting pressure the Sabena and Swissair
companies announced on June 18 that they were suspending the transportation
of coltan originating from the region.


2.5 MILLION DEAD

As the cease-fire is established, as the troops withdraw from the front, as
the « humanitarians » slowly gain access to zones hitherto cut off, the
magnitude of the Congo crisis is revealed.  It surpasses « the most
pessimistic predictions » according to the UN Bureau for Co-ordination of
Humanitarian Aid.  The first witnesses to reach Equateur, North and South
Kivu, and north Katanga are unanimous : it is a catastrophe!  At present
the repercussions are incalculable and the available resources cannot meet
even the most urgent needs. . .  Half naked, in a dreadful state, people
are coming out of the forest where they had fled, often for months.

Even by April 9, UNICEF estimated that 33% of the Congolese people were in
danger of malnutrition, that is 16 million people. On May 10, in its final
report the American NGO International Rescue Committee (IRC) revealed that
in the 5 eastern provinces where they had conducted an investigation, 2.5
million people had died as a result of the war since it broke out : 350,000
of these died directly as a result of the violence of war, the rest of
consequences of the conflict. Forty per cent of the total were women and
children. In Kalemie, for example, 3 of 4 children die before they reach 2,
while in Moba half of the newborns never reach one year. In four of the
seven regions studied, 8% and more of the inhabitants were dead. That is a
third more deaths than during the 18 years of civil war in the Sudan, or 3
times as many victims as during the war in Biafra at the start of the
1960's, commented Karl Vick in the Washington Post, April 30. On June 27,
the US Committee for Refugees estimated the number of displaced persons
inside the Congo as 1.8 million and 350,000 as the number of Congolese
refugees in neighbouring countries.

     The need is great but the resources are lacking. The appeal by the
World Food Programme (PAM) for the $US 110m necessary for its Congo
programme had produced only a third of the sum by last January. In
mid-June, the United States contributed $US 21.4m.  UNICEF too, by the
beginning of April, had received only $US 1.5m of the $US 15m it asked for.

And bringing in aid is proving a colossal challenge; PAM, which has
undertaken its largest emergency aid operation in the Congo in North
Katanga has to rely on aeroplanes to take food supplies from Kalemie into
the 6 prioritized zones. In South Kivu, the first aid trucks to reach
Kasika, though only 130 km from Bukavu, took a month to make the journey. .
. and if bringing emergency aid to Mbandaka is an easier task since the
reopening of the river route, the difficulties of taking it into the
interior of the province have not diminished.
Safety problems are added to logistics; 6 International Red Cross workers,
4 Congolese and 2 expatriots, were killed in an ambush on April 26 near
Bunia in Ituri.  Summoned by the Security Council to shed light on the
assassination which brought all work by humanitarian agencies in the region
to a standstill, on May 28 the Ugandan army responded by arresting a Lendu
peasant, the only member of a presumed band of robbers to be captured. When
the local authorities gave assurances for their safety, on June 27 the
agencies took up their work again.

It is no longer a case of preventing a humanitarian catastrophe; it has
already happened!  And the peace process itself could be in jeopardy
because of a « too large humanitarian deficit, » as the Under-Secretary
General of the UN, Kenzo Oshima, asserted at the beginning of May. He urged
the international community to intervene immediately, even before the
imposed conditions are met.

IN THE EAST, BEMBA'S FLC IN DIFFICULTY

In Ituri province, hopes for a peaceful settlement raised by the
unification of rebel groups struggling for power under the banner of the
Congo Liberation Front (FLC), have been dashed.  Jean-Pierre Bemba, the
movement's president, has rapidly lost all the credit he gained in the
people's eyes through the signing of agreements which were to end the
fighting between the Hema and the Lendu, and between the rebel authorities
and the Maï-Maï.

The replacement of Ugandan troops, who have been gradually withdrawn from a
dozen or so localities, by FLC soldiers, most of them ex-FAZ, upset the
local people as well as the local militia. There has been swift
condemnation of the lack of local representation in the military and
political hierarchies of the FLC, and of Bemba's partiality for Tibasima
Ateenyi, who is trying to impose his authority on his rivals. First, he
arrested 18 of Wamba dia Wamba's supporters at Bunia on May 29. They were
imprisoned until June 16, when 16 of them were released after Museveni
intervened personally.

But there was a more violent reaction from the militia supporting Mbusa
Nyamwisi.  From June 4 to 8, they confronted FLC troops sent to disarm them
and take them to Gbadolite.  According to local sources, the fighting left
78 dead.

So Bemba has not been able to heal the divisions among the 3 factions
making up the RCD-ML. On June 13, from Kampala where he is still living,
Wamba dia Wamba called on Uganda to neutralise the militias and to improve
current conditions before withdrawing their troops. In addition, he called
for a complete revision of the FLC's constitution.

The presence of the FLC in Ituri has also failed to ensure safety. The most
obvious proof of this is certainly the murder of 6 CICR agents on April 26,
in the Bunia region.  However, neither the FLC nor Uganda has conducted any
serious investigation, and the Lendu peasant presently arraigned has no
credibility, particularly locally.
 
The other striking proof is the 28 foreigners who were taken hostage on May
15, 15 km from Beni, by a Maï-Maï group calling themselves Lumumba's
National Resistance. They kidnapped workers from the forestry company, Dara
Forest,  including Thailanders, a Swede, and a Kenyan. For their release,
the Maï-Maï group demanded no less than the departure of Ugandan troops
from Congolese soil and the presence of representatives from MONUC and
various embassies as observers at the negotiations.  Although some hostages
were freed in exchange for medicines and a truck,  the fate of the majority
of them is still unknown.

The agreements signed on March 21 between the leaders of the FLC and 8
Maï-Maï groups  lasted only a week. Fighting broke out even more fiercely
after March 28, particularly on the Butembo-Manguredjipa axis, where
soldiers of the FLC and the Ugandan army tried to recover between 4,000 and
5,000 kg of coltan. Besides actual fighting, all kinds of extortion have
cast a tragic shadow over the region.  A report sent June 13 by the Societé
Civile Grand-Nord de Beni-Butembo, entitled « A Warning for those in charge
of MONUC in Kinshasa/RDC , » lists about 15 incidents illustrating « the
barbarous conduct of the FLC army and its Ugandan allies » :
assassinations, hundreds of houses burnt, looting, systematic theft of
civilian property, abductions, arbitrary arrests,  intimidation and crime
of every kind, motivating the authors to call for MONUC observers to come
and put an end « to the chaos and anarchy which have taken over the region
and which are the root cause of the proliferation of Maï-Maï militias. »


TROOP MOVEMENTS IN KIVU

The partial withdrawal of troops from the front line, and the arrival of
MONUC observers suggest a start to the application of the Lusaka Accord.
The effects are rapidly being felt in Kivu, Burundi and Rwanda.


Some of the Rwandan troops stationed in Katanga are said to be redeployed
in Kivu. Those living near Uvira, Bukavu, and Goma have also noticed many
troop movements on all routes. Far from returning to their own country,
Rwandan soldiers seem to be taking up positions closer to the frontier.

Rebel groups from Burundi and Rwanda, undoubtedly fearing the consequences
of a peace accord calling for their neutralisation, are moving towards
their respective countries. On May 12, columns of soldiers of the FDD-CNDD,
a group of Burundian rebels, were seen crossing the frontier at Gatumba in
broad daylight. This significant return of militias, observed for several
weeks, has led to a resumption of fighting in Burundi, making the
application of the Arusha Peace Accord signed a year ago even less likely.
The Burundian army has tried to put a stop to this return by going into
Kivu to search out the militias.  On May 15, combat helicopters attacked
the village of Ndunda in the Ruzizi plain, leaving many victims among its
inhabitants.

Similarly, some Rwandans, no doubt including Interahamwe and ex-FAR, have
gathered in Virunga Park.  According to the APR's spokesman, 2000 of them
are trying to return to Rwanda. From May 20, in fact, Kigali has reported «
infiltrations » of Interahamwe coming from the Congo into Ruhengeri and
Gisenyi provinces.  A security strategy is rapidly being set up in Rwanda.
But some are denouncing the operation  as a charade on Kigali's part to try
to demonstrate the necessity for maintaining its military presence in the
DRC. Has not President Kagame again told the Security Council's mission
touring the region that his soldiers would stay in the Congo until the UN
had disarmed all the Interahamwe? Others are doubtful whether this group of
« infiltrators » could constitute a serious menace. On June 12, the APR
confirmed that it had already killed 750 rebels, whom it described as weak,
isolated, and poorly armed, and captured another 350.  Little was said
about casualties in the army or among the people.

On June 23, an agreement was signed between South Kivu province and the
neighbouring prefecture of Cyangugu in Rwanda, which will allow public
transport operators to work on both sides of the frontier.  The Congolese
fear that this measure unduly favours the Rwandans, who have fewer taxes to
pay. The frontier has also been opened for local small traders.  Now Bukavu
merchants will buy goods for daily consumption, like manioc and beans, in
the Cyangugu market, where the taxes are lower, though they are mostly
produced in Idjwi or elsewhere in the Congo!


FAILURE OF THE KABILA-MUSEVENI MEETING

Having no press conference nor joint communique to pin down the results of
the meeting between the Congolese president Joseph Kabila and his Ugandan
counterpart, Yoheri Museveni, on July 14, observers have had to fall back
on interpretation of the sibylline words of the Congolese president, the
only one to speak about it. Even if their host, the Tanzanian president,
Benjamin Mkapa, pronounced the meeting as « very profitable » and the two
presidents also appeared to be smiling at the beginning and at the end of
their two hour meeting, the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, gave the
game away when he said, using the necessary diplomatic euphemisms, that «
it would be too much to say it was satisfactory, but there will be other
meetings like this; this is only the beginning. »

After a third summit meeting between Museveni and a  Congolese president,
one has to ask what is really the problem between them.  At the first
meeting in Tripoli (Libya), Museveni and the deceased Laurent-Désiré
Kabila, before witnesses, signed an agreement according to whose terms the
Uganda army was to withdraw from the Congo. The army from Chad, which was
supporting the Congolese government, packed up and went, but the Ugandans
did not budge. They took advantage of the situation to take over other
regions in Equateur. On the second occasion, it was thought that this time
President Museveni would keep his word. In vain.
 
So it is not surprising that his meeting with President Kabila, the son,
has produced no concrete result. This probably means that the non-stop
announcements of Ugandan troop withdrawals are just a smokescreen.


CHILD SOLDIERS, TORTURE, ABRITRARY ARRESTS
 
In his report on the human rights situation in the DRC at the beginning of
April, Roberto Garreton, the special Rapporteur for the Human Rights
Commission, confirmed that all the belligerents were currently recruiting
child-soldiers, but particularly the rebels and their allies. A report from
Human Rights Watch (HRW), published May 29, gave reasons.
Entitled « Unwilling Soldiers; Forced Recruitment of Children and Adults in
North Kivu, » the report accuses RDC-Goma of continuing this practice in
spite of its commitments.  Children continue to be recruited, usually by
force, by soldiers of RDC-Goma and the APR. If several months ago it was
township children who were targeted, now it is those from the countryside
who are taken so as to attract less international attention. A few days
after the Security Council's mission had left, when they insisted they were
in the process of demobilising the children, the leaders of DRC-Goma took
part in the « graduation » ceremonies for 1,800 recruits, aged between 12
and 17, during which they were given a military uniform and a combat weapon.

The UN Secretary General's special representative for children in conflict
zones, Olara Otunnu, visited the country from May 28 to June 8 to increase
the awareness of all sides.  During her visit, the Kinshasa government
ratified the last amendment of the Convention on Children's Rights, which
fixes 18 as the minimum age for induction into the armed forces. On June
15, President Kabila launched a national campaign to demobilise children,
with the help of UNICEF; this organization estimates their number to be
between 8,000 and 12,000.

It is hoped that these commitments will be honoured and that the lot of
children will improve. Yet on April 27, several Congolese civil rights
organizations condemned death sentences passed by the Military Court (COM)
against 5 soldiers, who were between 14 and 16 when the crimes were
committed. On May 31, the COM commuted their punishment to life imprisonment.

Torture  is also practised by all groups. In their report « Torture : A
Weapon against Civilians, » published June 27, Amnesty International (AI)
condemned innumerable cases of torture, often leading to death.  To obtain
confessions or to intimidate, persons suspected of conniving with the
enemy, or their families if they are absent, or journalists, or civil
rights activists are tortured. Rape is one of the forms of torture widely
used, and almost no-one is called to account, in spite of attempts to
prosecute. When the family of Desiré Lumbulumbu from Butembo, who died on
December 11, 1999, as a result of ill-treatment received during his
detention by the rebels, controlled by Mbusa Nyamwisi and Esdras Kambale
Bahekwa,  brought an action, the trial was continually disturbed by
interference from the current leaders of the FLC.

In Kinshasa, arbitrary arrests, common during Kabila senior's regime, have
continued more than ever.  They have been short-term, for Hubert Shiswaka
and Jeanne Bilonda at Lubumbashi, for example, or for Robert Ilunga Numbi
of the Friends of Nelson Mandela, and for many journalists.  Or they can be
longer terms : among the best known victims are Golden Misabiko from the
Katanga ASADHO, arrested February 5, or N'sii Kansi Kita, president of the
Committee of Civil Rights Monitors, detained since June 5. Civil rights
organizations have appealed to President Kabila many times to honour his
public commitment of March 8 to close the prisons which are not controlled
by the judiciary. Far from decreasing, their number seems to be growing.

Everyone is calling for an end to the Military Court (COM), the special
court which is supposed to deal only with soldiers.  In an astonishing
report, which appeared on June 26, the Voice of the Voiceless revealed the
practices of the COM public prosecutor, Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Alamba
Mongako. The actions of this man, reported in the document, are marked by
numerous civil rights violations :untimely interventions in the verdicts
announced, the death penalty imposed at the end of a hasty trial without
allowing the accused to present a plea for clemency, but also confiscation
of the the accuseds' property before a verdict, extortion, and illegal
seizure of the houses of the accused, who were unable to recover them when
their innocence was proven, influence peddling and intimidation of
magistrates. . .

The lieutenant-colonel was also accused by a Commission of Enquiry of the
Ministry of Justice in April, 2000, of actions which could be considered as
« undermining state security, » particularly the illicit transfer of
foreign currency into the occupied territory, misappropriation of property
taken from the accused, and demoralization of the troops by hasty
executions of soldiers on the different fronts.

The press has continued to be the object of every kind of repression.
Journalists have been arrested : Washington Lutumba, correspondent in
Matadi for Le Potential, arrested at the end of March, and Jules-César
Mayimbi, a correspondent in the same town for the Forum des As, arrested on
April 5,  in connection with the same matter, then freed on May 31. And yet
again,  Freddy Luseke, editor of La libre Afrique, already freed on January
4 after 369 days in prison. He was arrested again on May 30 and is still in
custody. Joachim Diana Gikupa, manager of l'Avenir, though close to those
in power, was also arrested June 14 and freed June 21.

Some of the media have been banned or have been threatened with closure :
on May 14, the new Minister for Communications and the Press banned
publication of the paper La libre Afrique, with its two supplements, Le
Derby and Incognito, apparently for not having published the address of the
editor and printer according to the regulations. And on June 16, the same
minister threatened 8 radio and television stations, 5 of them community
media in Bas Congo province, with closure if they did not pay a licence fee
of $ US 5,000 by the end of the month, on top of more than $ US 2,500
already paid to the PTT.

Journalists have also been prevented from doing their work : on April 25,
the army denied the media access to the area around Ndjili airport to cover
the return of Étienne Tshisekedi. On May 30, the head of the General Travel
Office refused to allow the secretary-general of Journaliste en danger,
Mwamba wa ba Mulumba, to leave. He was to have taken part in a conference
on International Freedom of Expression in Thailand.

This was the context for the National Conference on the Rights of Man held
in Kinshasa from June 24 to 29, organized by the government. Three hundred
and fifty delegates took part, among them representatives of all the
provinces, divided as follows : 60% from civil society, 22% from public
institutions, 15% from political parties, and the rest by invitation. The
conference adopted a plan of action and promotion of human rights, as well
as a Congolese Civil Rights Charter. Everyone now hopes that the results of
this work will be more than pious words.

June 30, 2001

Contributors to this issue : Kadari Mwene Kabyana and Denis Tougas.

English translation : M. Dowler for KAIROS

The English version of Info-Congo/Kinshasa can be obtained from KAIROS
Africa (CEJI) 129 St-Clair avenue West, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4V 1N5.
Tél. (416) 927-1124. Fax 927-7554 ; iccaf@web.ca

The German version of Info-Congo/Kinshasa can be obtained from Dialog
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Fax 0211/31 26 08.

Those who do not already subscribe to Info-Congo/Kinshasa and would like
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L'Entraide missionnaire is an educational group with very limited
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projects.
La Table de concertation is supported by the ACDI..

KAIROS- Canadian Ecumenical Justice Initiatives,
is a Canadian ecumenical organization involved in research, lobbying, and
advocacy. 
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KAIROS-AFRICA
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