AI warns DRC of mass murder
2007-09-11 10:19
London - Amnesty International said on Monday that fresh fighting in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo could escalate into mass murder and other abuses, adding to the misery of already beleaguered civilians.
The London-based human rights group said it had received reports of rape and the killing of civilians from people fleeing fighting between government forces and those loyal to former general Laurent Nkunda in the Nord-Kivu area.
Recruitment and the use of children by armed groups had continued, it added, going on to accuse the government in neighbouring Rwanda of turning a blind eye to support for war crimes suspect Nkunda.
Africa programme head Erwin van der Borght said: "Reports that the Rwandan government is, at the very least, conniving in the supply of manpower, arms and ammunition to an alleged war criminal like Laurent Nkunda are deeply worrying."
International human rights law
Kigali should "act immediately" to stop the recruitment on its territory of individuals, including children, as fighters for Nkunda's forces and comply with a United Nations arms embargo to ensure no military equipment crossed the border.
Amnesty called on all forces involved to end the fighting, respect international human rights law and allow humanitarian access. It said that UN peacekeepers should also protect civilians before helping the DRC government.
The group criticised the international community for not bringing Nkunda to justice sooner and tackling widespread human rights abuses in the vast central African country.
Nkunda claimed he was protecting Nord-Kivu's ethnic Tutsi population from attacks by insurgents from the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
He also claimed that the DRC government - whose foreign minister last week said it faced "full-fledged war" in Nord-Kivu - was not doing enough to dislodge the FDLR from the east.
'War criminals awarded'
Van der Borght said: "An international warrant for the arrest of Laurent Nkunda was issued nearly two years ago - if it had been acted on, we might not be seeing the terrible violations we are seeing today.
"There must now be clear international, DRC and Rwandan government commitment and collaboration to bring him to justice."
Amnesty said Kinshasa had "rewarded" other alleged war criminals with senior command positions in its army, making it difficult to ensure the impartiality of the military.
It said: "There can be little confidence that the government army will ever be capable of protecting civilians professionally and impartially as long as no action is taken to remove these individuals from their positions and bring them to justice.
"The international community, which is providing considerable financial and technical assistance to the country's security sector reform programme, should be insisting on this."
UN peacekeepers had called on dissident forces in eastern DRC to end their fighting and join the regular army after a ceasefire imposed on Thursday between the two sides.