HRW: Horrific crimes hit DRC
2007-10-24 10:14
Kinshasa - Amid ongoing violence in Democratic Republic of Congo's Nord-Kivu province, Human Rights Watch denounced "horrific" crimes perpetrated there against civilians, a report published on Tuesday reveals.
Titled "Renewed Crisis in North Kivu," the rights group's grim, 100-page study detailed murders, summary executions, forced recruitment of child soldiers, pillaging and barbaric rapes "committed by all the parties in the conflict" in the restive northeastern Congolese province abutting Rwanda.
HRW's senior DRC researcher Anneke Van Woudenberg said: "Efforts to resolve the conflict have not yet brought relief for the local population.
"Politicians need to take action, right now, if Congolese citizens are to be protected and justice delivered for the crimes of the past." Woudenberg's organisation outlined a series of recommendations to resolve the hostilities in its report.
370 000 people displaced
Home to previous rebellions that plunged DRC into war since the 1990s and hub of months of recent unrest, Nord-Kivu became the theatre of a bloody and confusing new round of clashes in August.
Heavy fighting in recent days uprooted thousands of local residents, with many fleeing to neighbouring Uganda, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees reported.
HRW said: "Horrific attacks on civilians - including murders, widespread rape and the forced recruitment and use of child soldiers - increased following political agreements that were supposed to bring these abuses to a halt." It was reported that clashes had displaced at least 370 000 people since 2006.
"Further combat, whether involving two or all three of the parties, is likely to generate more crimes against civilians," the report added.
Political dominance
The rights group accused Nkunda loyalists of establishing a parallel administration in parts of Nord-Kivu. Another rebel group, the Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) militia also exercised political dominance over large swathes of the province where it extorted, taxed and extracted resources, HRW said.
The report also accused the United Nations peacekeeping force with roughly 4 500 troops stationed in Nord-Kivu, of being "slow to respond" to crisis and make recommendations on means of speedier intervention.
And it criticised the Congolese government and the international community for failing to address the underlying causes of the conflict - notably "a struggle for control over one of the richest regions of the DRC".
"What is clear is that unless political will is found to address these core issues, it will be the people of North Kivu who will suffer the most," the rights group said.