11 October 2008
analysis
Washington, DC — The war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, site of the United Nations' largest peacekeeping operation, attracts little attention from the world's media. Conditions vary from place to place in that vast country. But violence continues at high levels in parts of the country, particularly North Kivu, and efforts to rebuild functional state security and oversight over the economy still face enormous obstacles.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains excerpts from a recent report from Amnesty International, focusing on the continuing crisis of war-related rape and violence against women and children in North Kivu. The Bulletin also includes links to other recent reports touching on issues of security, displacement, and accountability in the mining and logging industries.
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as links to additional background and current news, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin.php
For updates on United Nations operations in the DRC and related news, in French and English, see http://www.monuc.org
For a selection of books with background on the past and present of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, visit
http://www.africafocus.org/books/afbooks.php#conk1 or http://www.africafocus.org/books/afbooks_uk.php#conk1
Two that cover events in recent years, up to 2007, are The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?1842776894) and The Congo: Plunder and Resistance (http://www.africafocus.org/books/isbn.php?1842774859), both published by Zed Books.
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North Kivu: No End to the War Against Women and Children
Amnesty International
AI Index: AFR 62/005/2008
September 29, 2008
[Excerpts: For a press release and the full report, see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AFR62/013/2005]
Introduction
Months after a peace agreement to end conflict in North Kivu province, eastern DRC, civilians are still being killed, raped, abducted and tortured by armed group and government forces.
Amnesty International has found substantial evidence that armed groups in North Kivu have continued to commit crimes under international law, including unlawful killings, rape, torture, and the recruitment and use of child soldiers, even after the armed groups promised to immediately end these abuses in a 23 January 2008 "Act of Engagement". Government security forces have also unlawfully detained and in some cases tortured and ill-treated captured children, and continue to rape and sexually abuse women and girls.
Amnesty International welcomes the intensive national and international efforts that have been made to resolve the armed conflict in North Kivu, in particular the establishment of the Amani Programme for the security, pacification, stabilization and reconstruction of the Kivu provinces. If the peace process is to remain credible, however, human rights abuses committed by both state and non-state actors must end.
...
This report is based on eyewitness testimony collected in the province of North Kivu during February and March 2008.
Background
In August 2007 armed conflict erupted in the province of North Kivu. The renewed fighting, the worst since the official end of the DRC conflict in 2003, pitted the regular Congolese army (FARDC) against the CNDP armed political group, under the command of renegade general Laurent Nkunda. Also involved were mayi-mayi ethnic militia opposed to the CNDP, and the Rwandan FDLR, a mainly Rwandan Hutu armed insurgent group which contains remnants of forces allegedly responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The United Nations (UN) peace-keeping force in the DRC, MONUC, was unable to contain the fighting and at its height could only assure the security of major population centres. ...
Civilians bore the brunt of the violence, which was marked by serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by both the armed groups and government armed forces and which triggered a desperate humanitarian crisis. By the end of 2007, more than 500,000 people had fled their homes and sought shelter with host families or in camps for the internally displaced that sprang up across the province. The humanitarian and security situation in many sites, many of which are located close to military positions, is extremely poor.
The escalating violence in North Kivu, which again threatened regional stability, led to concerted international efforts to resolve the crisis. In November 2007, the governments of the DRC and Rwanda agreed, in the "Nairobi communiqu‚", to take joint measures to dismantle the FDLR. ... The Nairobi agreement was mediated by the UN, the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), and was followed in March 2008 by UN Security Council Resolution 1804, which demanded that the FDLR immediately lay down their arms and submit to repatriation to Rwanda.
In January 2008, after the failure of a government military offensive against the CNDP, a Conference on Peace, Security and Development for the Kivus was organized in Goma, the capital of North Kivu. The conference, which was again facilitated by representatives of the US, AU and EU, brought together representatives of the DRC government, the CNDP, PARECO and other Congolese armed groups (the FDLR was not invited to the conference) and Kivu civil society. The negotiations led to an "Act of Engagement" signed on 23 January by Congolese armed groups in the Kivus, including the CNDP and PARECO, in which they committed to an immediate cease-fire, to the progressive demobilisation of their forces, and to an immediate halt to violations of international humanitarian law, including "acts of violence... of all forms against the civilian population, particularly women and children..." ...
The Peace Conference also led to the creation of an ambitious government-led programme, known as the Amani Programme, for security, pacification, stabilization and reconstruction of the Kivus, which has the potential to resolve some of the underlying causes of instability in the Kivus. ...
In spite of the promise held by these initiatives, however, the situation in North Kivu has not fundamentally moved forward since January 2008. The province remains deeply insecure and the human rights situation continues to be appalling. Since the signing of the Act of Engagement, the cease-fire has been broken on hundreds of occasions, thousands of women and girls have been raped, hundreds of children recruited into the armed groups, often through abduction, and scores of civilians unlawfully killed. ... The Amani Programme is being vigorously promoted by its National Coordinator, Abb‚ Apollinaire Malu Malu, and his staff, but has not yet been able to deliver tangible results.
...
The UN peacekeeping mission to the DRC, MONUC, is the only force which is currently providing meaningful security for civilians in North Kivu. ... MONUC has made strenuous efforts to fulfil its protection mandate in North Kivu, including by the redeployment to the province of additional peace-keepers, establishing mobile bases and standing combat deployments in insecure areas. However, the force, despite reinforcement, is still relatively thinly spread and its protection and assistance activities are limited ,,,
The Continuing Horror of Rape and Other Forms of Sexual Violence
In North Kivu, members of armed groups and government security forces continue to rape and sexually abuse women and girls, and in a smaller number of cases, men and boys. Infant children and elderly women are among the victims, many of whom have suffered gang rape or have been raped on more than once. Rape has been committed in public and in front of family members, including children. Some women have been abducted and held as sexual slaves.
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