Kigali — SENIOR officials of the Congolese army (FARDC) are in the DRC's volatile eastern region to assess the situation and come up with fresh strategies to battle against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia.
This was revealed by Maj. Vianney Kazalama, the Congolese army (FARDC) spokesperson in DRC's North Kivu Province.
"The chief of the army (FARDC Chief of Staff, Lt. General Didier Etumba), is currently in Walikale together with other senior army officers, to plan how to wipe out these rebels," he said.
The revelation comes shortly after Congolese President, Joseph Kabila, also toured the region and suspended mining activities in an attempt to clean up the sector and weed out rebel groups who are using the region's mineral wealth to fuel conflict.
The FDLR comprises remnants of masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi in Rwanda. They fled the country in 1994 after masterminding the killing of over one million people. For the past 16 years, the rebels have been entrenched in the DRC's vast eastern region where they have continued to cause a humanitarian catastrophe - killing, raping and plundering.
In a series of attacks in July and August, the FDLR, in conjunction with their Congolese Mai-Mai militia allies, gang-raped 500 women and some children in Walikale.
"Ever since the last attacks and the rapes, there have been no more serious incidents," said Maj. Kazalama.
The Congolese army is reportedly increasing its deployments there in what seems to be another bid to purge the FDLR.
Following the recent Walikale atrocities, a top UN official - Atul Khare, the United Nations Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping, admitted that UN peacekeepers had failed the rape victims. Khare then also recommended that the UN Security Council imposes targeted sanctions against the FDLR.
source:http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201009201192.html
Monday, September 20, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Kabila Suspends 'Conflict Mines'
The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo has ordered a suspension on mining in three provinces during a visit to the eastern Walikale region, where the United Nation says more than 240 women were raped within a month.
Joseph Kabila said authorities want to weed out "a kind of mafia involved in minerals exploitation" that he accused of fueling conflicts.
D'Assise Masika, the mining minister of North Kivu province, which is affected by the ban, said on Friday that the president wants to clean up the sector and create better living conditions for people there.
An official presidential statement would be published in the near future, Masika said.
Rebel groups accused of committing atrocities against local populations in the three provinces - North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema - also control the lucrative mining activities in the region.
The provinces are rich in cassiterite and coltan, the minerals used to make phones, computers, games consoles and other electronics. They also have some gold reserves.
Among the armed groups running illegal mining operations are the Hutu rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) - considered one of the main sources of instability in the region.
Officers of the DR Congo army and members of other rebel groups have also been accused of exploiting the mines.
Continuing conflict
Atul Khare, the UN under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations there, blamed the FDLR and its allies, the local Mai Mai militia, earlier in the week for a series of mass rapes between July 30 and August 3.
He also acknowledged that the UN had failed to halt "the unacceptable brutalisation of villages in the area".
Since war broke out in 1998, the DR Congo had been embroiled in a conflict that has left more than five million people dead - the highest war-related death toll since WWII.
In December 2008, the UN security council passed a resolution calling for a travel ban and asset freeze to be imposed on all individuals and entities supporting illegal armed groups in DR Congo through the illicit trade of natural resources. Another resolution was passed in December 2009.
While in May 2010, the UN adopted a resolution on the security situation in the DR Congo, in which it emphasised "that that the linkage between the illicit exploitation and trade of natural resources and the proliferation and trafficking of arms is among the major factors fuelling and exacerbating conflicts in the Great Lakes region".
A US financial reform bill passed in July 2010 also requires companies that engage in the trade and use of minerals like coltan to declare in an annual report if they are sourcing their supply chain from the DR Congo, or an adjoining country.
Source:
Al Jazeera (http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/09/201091155928846989.html)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
The Latest from allAfrica.com on DR Congo
Congo-Kinshasa: UN Mission in DR Congo Prolongs Special Patrols to Deter Attacks Against Civilians
8 September 2010
The United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Wednesday said it was extending by another week an operation designed to enhance the protection of civilians in the eastern areas of the country where members of illegal armed groups raped some 240 people recently.
The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, last week launched the operation known as Shop Window, intended as a show of force and to boost protection of residents of the villages of Pinga, Kibua and Walikale in North Kivu province, where the mass rapes took place. The operation has been extended until 15 September.
The operation, carried out by some 750 peacekeepers with the support of attack and observation helicopters, is also aimed at providing security cover to efforts by the national authorities to apprehend those suspected of committing the rapes in villages along a 21-kilometre stretch of road in North Kivu between 30 July and 2 August.
Eight of nine new operational bases have already been set up under the new measure. As of Monday, 165 patrols and 21 helicopter reconnaissance flights had been conducted. The operation is also intended to be a tool to gather information on armed groups in the area and to meet local officials and community leaders.
source: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201009090010.html
8 September 2010
The United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Wednesday said it was extending by another week an operation designed to enhance the protection of civilians in the eastern areas of the country where members of illegal armed groups raped some 240 people recently.
The UN mission, known as MONUSCO, last week launched the operation known as Shop Window, intended as a show of force and to boost protection of residents of the villages of Pinga, Kibua and Walikale in North Kivu province, where the mass rapes took place. The operation has been extended until 15 September.
The operation, carried out by some 750 peacekeepers with the support of attack and observation helicopters, is also aimed at providing security cover to efforts by the national authorities to apprehend those suspected of committing the rapes in villages along a 21-kilometre stretch of road in North Kivu between 30 July and 2 August.
Eight of nine new operational bases have already been set up under the new measure. As of Monday, 165 patrols and 21 helicopter reconnaissance flights had been conducted. The operation is also intended to be a tool to gather information on armed groups in the area and to meet local officials and community leaders.
source: http://allafrica.com/stories/printable/201009090010.html
Monday, September 6, 2010
Deaths in DR Congo boat accidents - Africa - Al Jazeera English
Deaths in DR Congo boat accidents - Africa - Al Jazeera English
Hundreds of people are believed to have died in two separate river-boat accidents on the Democratic Republic of Congo's vast rivers over the weekend.
In the first incident in the Central African nation, around 70 people were reported to have drowned when a boat capsized on the Rupi River early on Saturday morning. Ebale Engumba, a local official in Equatuer province where the accident occurred, said the boat hit a rock while travelling in darkness without a light.
"We are going to arrest people involved who are in charge of regulating the boat's movement who failed to stop that boat from traveling at night,'' she said.
On Saturday evening, another boat, overloaded with passengers, caught fire and capsized in Kasai Occidental province, leaving around 200 people feared dead.
Local officials said that passenger manifest had been burned in the fire, leaving them unable to confirm how many people were on board, but witnesses said that the boat was overfilled with passengers.
Looting fishermen
One survivor, a woman named Romaine Mishondo, said the boat was already packed with "hundreds'' of passengers when it stopped some 10 minutes before the fire to pick up more people.
She said she did not know exactly how many people were aboard, but said the boat was so crowded it reminded her of "a whole market in the village full of people.''
She said that local fishermen quickly arrived on the scene, but began looting the boat rather than helping those in the water.
"Fishermen attacked the boat and started beating passengers with paddles as they were (trying) to loot goods,'' she said.
Mwamba Mwati Nguma Leonard, the boat's owner, said the fire had started while the boat was refuelling. "At the moment I am crying after learning my boat caught fire,'' Leonard said. "I was just told on phone that it was while seamen were putting fuel into the tank that an explosion occurred after the oil touched the vessel's battery.''
He said he has not been able to contact his employees who were at the scene of the accident, about 800km from the capital Kinshasa.
Francois Madila, an official from the navigation department in the province, said police had arrested two crew members and were investigating the incident.
Accidents common
River boats are a common mode of transport in DR Congo, which has less that 480km of paved road. The boats are often in poor repair and overloaded for trips, and many passengers are unable to swim, making fatal accidents a common occurance.
In July, officials said at least 80 people died when a boat ferrying about 200 passengers to DR Congo's capital capsized after hitting a rock.
In May, dozens of people died when an overloaded canoe capsized on a river in eastern DR Congo. And last November, at least 90 people were killed after a logging boat sank on a lake.
The timber-carrying vessel was not supposed to be carrying passengers.
Source:
Associated Press
Hundreds of people are believed to have died in two separate river-boat accidents on the Democratic Republic of Congo's vast rivers over the weekend.
In the first incident in the Central African nation, around 70 people were reported to have drowned when a boat capsized on the Rupi River early on Saturday morning. Ebale Engumba, a local official in Equatuer province where the accident occurred, said the boat hit a rock while travelling in darkness without a light.
"We are going to arrest people involved who are in charge of regulating the boat's movement who failed to stop that boat from traveling at night,'' she said.
On Saturday evening, another boat, overloaded with passengers, caught fire and capsized in Kasai Occidental province, leaving around 200 people feared dead.
Local officials said that passenger manifest had been burned in the fire, leaving them unable to confirm how many people were on board, but witnesses said that the boat was overfilled with passengers.
Looting fishermen
One survivor, a woman named Romaine Mishondo, said the boat was already packed with "hundreds'' of passengers when it stopped some 10 minutes before the fire to pick up more people.
She said she did not know exactly how many people were aboard, but said the boat was so crowded it reminded her of "a whole market in the village full of people.''
She said that local fishermen quickly arrived on the scene, but began looting the boat rather than helping those in the water.
"Fishermen attacked the boat and started beating passengers with paddles as they were (trying) to loot goods,'' she said.
Mwamba Mwati Nguma Leonard, the boat's owner, said the fire had started while the boat was refuelling. "At the moment I am crying after learning my boat caught fire,'' Leonard said. "I was just told on phone that it was while seamen were putting fuel into the tank that an explosion occurred after the oil touched the vessel's battery.''
He said he has not been able to contact his employees who were at the scene of the accident, about 800km from the capital Kinshasa.
Francois Madila, an official from the navigation department in the province, said police had arrested two crew members and were investigating the incident.
Accidents common
River boats are a common mode of transport in DR Congo, which has less that 480km of paved road. The boats are often in poor repair and overloaded for trips, and many passengers are unable to swim, making fatal accidents a common occurance.
In July, officials said at least 80 people died when a boat ferrying about 200 passengers to DR Congo's capital capsized after hitting a rock.
In May, dozens of people died when an overloaded canoe capsized on a river in eastern DR Congo. And last November, at least 90 people were killed after a logging boat sank on a lake.
The timber-carrying vessel was not supposed to be carrying passengers.
Source:
Associated Press
One Rape Per Hour
Congo-Kinshasa: Outrage Grows Over Failure to Protect Civilians
6 September 2010
Geneva — Human rights groups are demanding an investigation into the U.N.'s failure to prevent a raid from occurring where nearly 200 women were systematically gang raped by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) late last month.
"These scandalous, outrageous atrocities should serve as a wakeup call for the international community," Marcel Stoessel, Oxfam International's country director in the DRC, told IPS in a phone interview.
Amnesty International echoed Oxfam's sentiments, calling for a critical investigation of the U.N.'s inaction.
"The DRC government and the United Nations must urgently review the failures to protect civilians to prevent such horrors from being inflicted again," Amnesty International said in a statement.
According to IPS, Amnesty also urged the immediate gathering and preservation of evidence in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Legally, the responsibility to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the mass rapes lies with the weak and often ineffective Congolese government, which has been under mounting pressure to capture and try the individuals responsible.
A spokesperson for the U.N. said that a team has been deployed to investigate the incident, and is expected to finish its work by the beginning of September. The Congolese government, however, is not involved.
Another official of a human rights group admitted that the rebels were not likely to be apprehended, much less prosecuted. He cited a leaked U.N. report, revealed by Le Monde on Wednesday, which accuses the government of Rwanda of war crimes, including possibly genocide, in the DRC as reflecting the history of violence in the region since 1993.
Rape is systematically used as a tool of war, with about one case of rape reported every hour - the perpetrators of which are usually armed men from rebel groups or the regular Congolese army, according to Amnesty.
Given the DRC's instability, in 1999 the U.N. sent a peacekeeping force to the country, now called MONUSCO, which is charged with the protection of civilians. This week, it was revealed that MONUSCO failed to act despite knowledge of the rebels' presence in the villages, and failed to respond timely after eventually receiving information of the mass rapes.
Source: allAfrica.com (http://allafrica.com/stories/201009060441.html)
6 September 2010
Geneva — Human rights groups are demanding an investigation into the U.N.'s failure to prevent a raid from occurring where nearly 200 women were systematically gang raped by armed groups in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) late last month.
"These scandalous, outrageous atrocities should serve as a wakeup call for the international community," Marcel Stoessel, Oxfam International's country director in the DRC, told IPS in a phone interview.
Amnesty International echoed Oxfam's sentiments, calling for a critical investigation of the U.N.'s inaction.
"The DRC government and the United Nations must urgently review the failures to protect civilians to prevent such horrors from being inflicted again," Amnesty International said in a statement.
According to IPS, Amnesty also urged the immediate gathering and preservation of evidence in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Legally, the responsibility to arrest and prosecute the perpetrators of the mass rapes lies with the weak and often ineffective Congolese government, which has been under mounting pressure to capture and try the individuals responsible.
A spokesperson for the U.N. said that a team has been deployed to investigate the incident, and is expected to finish its work by the beginning of September. The Congolese government, however, is not involved.
Another official of a human rights group admitted that the rebels were not likely to be apprehended, much less prosecuted. He cited a leaked U.N. report, revealed by Le Monde on Wednesday, which accuses the government of Rwanda of war crimes, including possibly genocide, in the DRC as reflecting the history of violence in the region since 1993.
Rape is systematically used as a tool of war, with about one case of rape reported every hour - the perpetrators of which are usually armed men from rebel groups or the regular Congolese army, according to Amnesty.
Given the DRC's instability, in 1999 the U.N. sent a peacekeeping force to the country, now called MONUSCO, which is charged with the protection of civilians. This week, it was revealed that MONUSCO failed to act despite knowledge of the rebels' presence in the villages, and failed to respond timely after eventually receiving information of the mass rapes.
Source: allAfrica.com (http://allafrica.com/stories/201009060441.html)
Friday, August 27, 2010
Reccomended Reading
Africa's World War: Congo, The Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe
written by Gerard Prunier
Rwanda's Involvement in Genocide
From Al Jazeera Africa:http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2010/08/201082717746660515.html
UN links Rwanda to DRC massacre
The prosecutor said the 'pattern' in the DR Congo slaughter resembled that of the Rwandan genocide
A war-crimes prosecutor has said Hutus who fled Rwanda to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the 1994 genocide were butchered in a "pattern" similar to the Rwandan massacre.
Luc Cote, the head of a new UN investigation, said that Rwandan Tutsi troops and their rebel allies targeted, chased, hacked, shot and burned Hutus in the DRC, from 1996 to 1997, after the outbreak of a cross-border Central African war.
"For me it was amazing," he told news agencies on Friday. "I saw a pattern in the Congo that I'd seen in Rwanda."
Cote was referring to the 1994 genocide where Hutu extremists butchered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
'Systematically done'
He investigated the genocide and ran the legal office of the UN International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda from 1995 until 1999.
"It was the same thing. There are dozens and dozens of incidents, where you have the same pattern. It was systematically done," he said.
Cote's comments came in advance of the official release next month of a 600-page UN report co-authored by him on atrocities committed in the central African nation.
It is a nightmarish inventory of murder, rape and looting that took place in the DRC from 1993 until 2003 as it was torn apart by more than half a dozen plundering armies.
The report's most damaging element says that Rwandan Tutsi commanders and their rebel allies may have committed genocide.
"The systematic and widespread attacks described in this report ... reveal a number of damning elements that, if they were proven before a competent court, could be classified as crimes of genocide," stated the probe.
Rwanda dismissed the report as malicious and ridiculous, accusing the UN of seeking to bury its own failings.
'Unacceptable'
"It is immoral and unacceptable that the UN, an organisation that failed outright to prevent genocide in Rwanda ... now accuses the army that stopped the genocide of committing atrocities in the Congo," Ben Rutsinga, the Rwandan government spokesman, said.
France's Le Monde newspaper said Rwanda had threatened to withdraw peacekeepers from Sudan's Darfur region over the charges.
The UN has said the leaked report was only a draft version and experts say diplomats are debating whether to include the genocide accusation in the final copy of the document.
Cote's probe, a draft of which was obtained by the AFP news agency, is silent on the death toll though it found evidence suggesting tens of thousands of Hutus had been killed.
UN and other aid agencies said in the 1990s that 200,000 Hutus were unaccounted for.
The possibility of genocide forms only a part of the UN report.
UN links Rwanda to DRC massacre
The prosecutor said the 'pattern' in the DR Congo slaughter resembled that of the Rwandan genocide
A war-crimes prosecutor has said Hutus who fled Rwanda to neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) after the 1994 genocide were butchered in a "pattern" similar to the Rwandan massacre.
Luc Cote, the head of a new UN investigation, said that Rwandan Tutsi troops and their rebel allies targeted, chased, hacked, shot and burned Hutus in the DRC, from 1996 to 1997, after the outbreak of a cross-border Central African war.
"For me it was amazing," he told news agencies on Friday. "I saw a pattern in the Congo that I'd seen in Rwanda."
Cote was referring to the 1994 genocide where Hutu extremists butchered an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
'Systematically done'
He investigated the genocide and ran the legal office of the UN International Criminal Tribunal in Rwanda from 1995 until 1999.
"It was the same thing. There are dozens and dozens of incidents, where you have the same pattern. It was systematically done," he said.
Cote's comments came in advance of the official release next month of a 600-page UN report co-authored by him on atrocities committed in the central African nation.
It is a nightmarish inventory of murder, rape and looting that took place in the DRC from 1993 until 2003 as it was torn apart by more than half a dozen plundering armies.
The report's most damaging element says that Rwandan Tutsi commanders and their rebel allies may have committed genocide.
"The systematic and widespread attacks described in this report ... reveal a number of damning elements that, if they were proven before a competent court, could be classified as crimes of genocide," stated the probe.
Rwanda dismissed the report as malicious and ridiculous, accusing the UN of seeking to bury its own failings.
'Unacceptable'
"It is immoral and unacceptable that the UN, an organisation that failed outright to prevent genocide in Rwanda ... now accuses the army that stopped the genocide of committing atrocities in the Congo," Ben Rutsinga, the Rwandan government spokesman, said.
France's Le Monde newspaper said Rwanda had threatened to withdraw peacekeepers from Sudan's Darfur region over the charges.
The UN has said the leaked report was only a draft version and experts say diplomats are debating whether to include the genocide accusation in the final copy of the document.
Cote's probe, a draft of which was obtained by the AFP news agency, is silent on the death toll though it found evidence suggesting tens of thousands of Hutus had been killed.
UN and other aid agencies said in the 1990s that 200,000 Hutus were unaccounted for.
The possibility of genocide forms only a part of the UN report.
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