Washington, DC — Human rights group Amnesty International accused Democratic Republic of the Congo security forces of serious human rights violations, including extra-judicial executions, in a report released Wednesday.
"Despite historic national elections, deep political instability persists in the DRC, and respect for human rights has not advanced," Erwin van der Borght, director of Amnesty's Africa program, said. "Many security forces continue to serve narrow political interests and this lies at the root of the lack of public confidence felt by most Congolese."
Amnesty contends that two government security forces, Direction des Renseignements Généraux et Services Spéciaux de la police (DRGS), known as the "Special Services" police, and the Garde Républicaine (GR), the elite presidential guard controlled by President Joseph Kabila, have been responsible for most politically-motivated human rights violations.
The two forces have been accused of arbitrarily arresting supporters of Jean-Pierre Bemba, Kabila's main political rival, and then holding them incommunicado and torturing them. Van der Borght said they had targeted many people simply because they were of the same ethnic group as Bemba.
According to the report, Coquette Nsinga, a 25-year-old student and Bemba supporter, was detained by the DRGS on October 31, 2006, two days after the second round of last year's presidential election. She was beaten and raped, and held for eight months before being charged before a military tribunal with "incitement to commit acts contrary to duty and discipline". Her trial is still ongoing.
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Amnesty International also accused the GR of being involved in the execution of a large number of detainees at a military camp in Kinshasa during fighting in the city between Bemba's forces and government forces in March this year. More than 600 people died in the fighting, including civilians killed by indiscriminate fire from both sides.
"Amnesty International is concerned that far from protecting the people of the DRC, the state security services remain agents of torture and death," the report said.
Amnesty argues that two factors impede the development of respect for human rights: slow reforms in the security services and a culture which allows violations. To improve conditions, it calls for more emphasis on reform and an investigation into abuses.
"The international community should insist on robust DRC government action now to end impunity for human rights violations and bring the perpetrators to justice," Van der Borght said.
