Africa, Civil Society, Development & Aid, Food and Agriculture, Headlines, Human Rights

DR CONGO: Ugandan Rebels Add to Woes in the Northeast

Emmanuel Chaco

KINSHASA, Jan 16 2009 (IPS) - Reports from non-governmental organisations and the United Nations on the humanitarian situation in the north-eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) state that over 400 civilians were killed at the end of last month by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel faction with bases in that part of the country.

Refugees fleeing LRA attacks in DR Congo wait to register with UNHCR in southern Sudan. Credit:  Peter Martel/IRIN

Refugees fleeing LRA attacks in DR Congo wait to register with UNHCR in southern Sudan. Credit: Peter Martel/IRIN

Between Dec. 22 and 30, the LRA has led attacks against civilian populations. According to Father Richard Domba, the archbishop of Dungu-Doruma, “at least 150 people have been killed with machetes, axes and sticks in Faradje, 80 people in Duru and at least 200 others in Doruma and in villages surrounding the areas bordering Sudan, in north-eastern Congo.”

NGOs stress that women and children are amongst the victims of the atrocities carried out in Faradje, Duru, Gurba, Dungu and Doruma. These areas, rich in natural resources and minerals, in the district of Haut-Uélé, are situated 600 to 800km from Kisangani, the main town in the country’s eastern province.

The NGOs’ figures could be an under-estimate, given that a statement from Caritas, a Catholic humanitarian NGO, released by the UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC), states that “taking into account the isolation of the region and the lack of communication and transport infrastructure, the exact number of victims and of those affected could be much higher.”

A priest who is a member of Caritas told IPS that, “everyone lives in overwhelming fear and the death toll of 400-plus is tentative because it is difficult to find all the bodies.”

In its December 2008 report, the African Association for Human Rights, based in Congolese capital Kinshasa, stated that “the number of those killed and abducted is approximately 543.” Furthermore, ASADHO estimates that over 80,000 people have taken refuge in southern Sudan out of fear, abandoning their property in the process.


The LRA has denied these fresh accusations, made by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). But according to Christophe Illemassene, OCHA Public Information and Advocacy Manager, “the LRA is a barbaric and cruel group whose denials do not detract from what the international community knows of the abuses it is so often guilty of.”

With the presence of several LRA militias in the eastern DRC, the security and humanitarian situation in the region has detrioriated, especially given the renewed offensive in August 2008 by Laurent Nkunda’s National Congress for the Defence of the People (known by its French acronym, CNDP).

At the conclusion of its 163rd meeting at the end of December, the African Union’s Peace and Security Council raised its concern, demanding that “the international community take appropriate measures to bring to justice the alleged perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the eastern DRC.”

The council also urged the Congolese government and the CNDP to “hold open and constructive talks for the restoration of peace, security and stability in northern Kivu (in the east), thereby strictly upholding the integrity and sovereignty” of the Congo.

In an effort to crush the LRA, whose presence in north-eastern DRC is a serious threat to peace, security and stability throughout the Great Lakes region, the DRC, Uganda and Sudan launched joint military operations against the Ugandan rebels on Dec. 14.

At the conclusion of a national security council held in Kinshasa at the end of December, MONUC reaffirmed its mandate to “protect civilians, primarily through providing essential support to FARDC (DRC Armed Forces).” Leila Zerrougui, the UN Secretary General’s Deputy Special Representative for the DRC, says that “according to the military plan and following the request made by the FARDC head of staff, MONUC already flew in Congolese military personnel on December 26 – 96 soldiers to Dungu and Faradje and 165 servicemen to Doruma.”

Since 2005, there has been an arrest warrant for Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, issued by the International Criminal Court accusing him war crimes and crimes against humanity. However, he refuses to enter into negotiations with the Ugandan government while the ICC upholds the charges against him. Meanwhile, his army continues to carry out civilian massacres in Uganda, as well as in the neighbouring countries it is withdrawing from.

 
Republish | | Print |


twisted games online