july 24, 2000 - great lakes - central africa

["serv. informazioni Congosol" <congosol@neomedia.it>]

july 24, 2000 - great lakes - central africa
_______________________________________________________________________




South Kivu
___________


"We ask you to re-echo the cries of the people of this country:
The Congolese people want peace, and nothing but peace."

"Like all peoples of the world, the Congolese people aspire to peace,
development, and non-violent co-existence among nations."

"Peace must be enforced in the Democratic Republic of Congo."

"No price can be placed on human life."

"The African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO)
urgently calls on the international community to take more vigorous
measures to protect the civilian Congolese population."


_______________________________________________________________________

1.  Response of the people of Bukavu to Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney

2.  Letter on behalf of the people of East D.R.Congo

3.  From the People of South Kivu

4.  Petition of Persons Displaced by War

5.  Amnesty International

_______________________________________________________________________


1.      Response of the People of Bukavu


Bukavu, South Kivu
Democratic Republic of Congo
June 19, 2000

Honorable Cynthia McKinney
Member of Congress
United States of America

Object:  Our sincere gratitude

Dear Madame,
   The people of Kivu in particular who today are under occupation
by the armies of Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi, and the people of the
Congo in general, closely follow your commitment and all your efforts
to bring peace back to the Congo, and sincerely thank you.
   Your commitment to respect for International Law and the
sovereignty of the Congo strengthens us at a time when we have the
impression of being abandoned and sacrificed by the United Nations and
so-called democratic nations.
   With all our heart we thank you for all you are doing in the US
administration to bring the war in our country to an end.  We are
profoundly outraged by US implication in the war that is destroying and
plundering our country.  This same America that declares it works for
democracy, human rights and peace inflicts an unjust war and
unjustifiable genocide on us through its intermediary allies.
   Thank you for all you are doing.  We hope other members of
Congress will one day join you for the triumph of true democracy.

For the people of Kivu,

-  The Union of Congolese Federalists
-  The Network of Associations for the Defense of Human Rights in Kivu
-  Women's Groups for Peace and Development

_______________________________________________________________________

2.      On behalf of the people of East D.R.Congo:

   "... In this war the Congolese people are experiencing an
incredible oppression.  Aggressors and allies alike treat them as
though they are non-existent with no rights whatsoever.  The interests
of the Congolese people are marginalized in all official proposals.
The people of the Congo are ignored, humiliated to the extreme,
attacked, reduced to poverty and sacrificed on the altar of the "new
order of  African Renaissance".  This new order however ought to be
founded on the values of respect for human rights, good governance,
democracy and the well-being of the people.
   The Congolese people want peace and nothing but peace.  It is
in order to contribute to building this peace that we ask your
intervention.  We ask you to re-echo the cries of the people of this
country and to bring pressure on those who control the conflicts in the
Great Lakes Region of Africa from behind the scenes.  The situation we
are living is a flagrant injustice that demands action.  The Jubilee
year 2000 is a great opportunity for solidarity with the Congolese
people to free them from the slavery of oppression, to give back to
each person their rights, their land, their possessions;  in other
words, that each one may recover their God-given dignity as a person
saved by the Lord.
   It is certain that the action you take will permit justice to
be restored to the people of the Congo and avoid a new humanitarian
catastrophe that is otherwise inevitable in the region."
_______________________________________________________________________

3.      From the people of South Kivu

   Several local groups are steadily building peace and
reconciliation in the Goma-Bukavu-Uvira area.  The most influential
groups are the traditional Council of Elders that is made up of elders
from each of the ten major ethnic groups and have the confidence and
respect of the people of each ethnic group.  By serving as mediators
and negotiators they have successfully initiated inter-community
dialogue with ethnic group leaders, militias, rebels and military
leaders.   One immediate outcome is a rebuilding of trust among the
different factions and consequent reduction of tension.
   Other groups include Christian, Muslim and Independent
faith-based organizations who promote reconciliation through pastoral
letters and seminars.  Their focus is local communities, believers and
rebel leaders in order to promote reconciliation and reduce
inter-ethnic prejudice.  Non-Governmental Organizations for Development
and Civil Society work for the emergence of local initiatives for peace
through their national campaign for peace, humanitarian aid, and their
involvement in demobilization, advocacy and lobbying.  Women's Groups
are active in events of civil disobedience, advocacy, and have
organized or participated in several seminars on peace and
reconciliation in the Great Lakes region with women of neighboring
countries.  Their  particular focus is women and young girls.  All the
above groups are active in human rights monitoring.
   The people continue to support popular resistance and demand
the departure of the aggressor troops from Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda.
Since April there is continued desertion by Congolese soldiers and
police who refuse to serve the invaders under the RCD.  Some have
joined Congo nationalist Mayi-Mayi groups who defend territorial
integrity.
   The African Association for the Defense of Human Rights
(ASADHO) launched an urgent appeal denouncing persistent massive
violations of human rights and humanitarian law in South Kivu that
prove the incapacity of APR (ArmEe Patriotique Rwandais) and
RCD (Rassemblement Congolais pour la DEmocratie) to put an end to
crimes against humanity.
   ASADHO urgently called on the international community to take
more vigorous measures to protect the civilian Congolese population.
   For over 4 months the city of Bukavu and areas of South Kivu
are the scene of growing insecurity and unprecedented violence (armed
bandits, theft, rape, killings, systematic pillaging, disappearances,
arrests).  The people who only want peace see the resurgence of
oppression as a deliberate strategy to entrench repressive terrorism in
the region, a macabre plan similar to what took place in Kisangani.
        Perpetrators are identified as RCD rebels and Rwandan APR
military.  Attackers speak Kinyarwanda and Swahili, are often dressed
in military uniform, heavily armed and calmly use modern means of
communication in close proximity to RCD military positions.  The
widespread terrorism that goes on under the "helpless" eye of RCD and
APR is attributed to groups of Interahamwe and Mayi-Mayi by local
authority.  People concerned for peace challenge the truth of these
affirmations.

Background:   Since March 2000, Congolese officers are being
transferred to positions more than 100 kms away from Bukavu and
replaced by Rwandan commanders. There is a steady increase of Hutus
from 1994 Congo refugee camps who had returned to Rwanda after their
dispersion by the 1996 war.  People attacked in their homes by armed
groups affirm that several aggressors declared they had been in refugee
camps and vaunted their knowledge of the region to intimidate the
people.
   It is now strongly believed that these Hutu groups are no
longer Interahamwe from camps in the forest, but Hutus "imported" from
Rwanda and working from APR units.  This has been corroborated by the
observation of trucks filled with young Hutus coming from Rwanda,
including prisoners accused of genocide who are sent to fight in D.R.
Congo.  Members of the prisoners families are reported to be held
hostage in Rwanda prisons.
   Recurring attacks on social infrastructures (hospitals,
dispensaries, churches, etc.) show the determination to strangle a
people already crushed by war and foreign occupation.  RCD military do
not intervene or only arrive on the scene several hours after the
attacks.  The response of Rwandan military to the people is
intimidation.   The attacks have resulted in civilians fleeing; some
10,000 people have arrived in Bukavu. The ever-increasing number of
displaced people in Bukavu is putting an enormous strain on resources.
   In their report ASADHO denounced the displacement of local
population according to "a well thought out plan" in order to
destabilize people for precise military objectives.
   Sources report an upsurge in attacks and ambushes particularly
along the Uvira-Bukavu and Uvira-Baraka roads (corridor along the
eastern border with Rwanda and Burundi). In the Ruzizi plain area of
Uvira people have reportedly been killed over the past few months "in
mysterious circumstances".  Local sources said certain Mayi-Mayi,
Interahamwe and Burundian FDD rebels (Forces pour la DEfense de la
DEmocratie) were grouping together and meeting "little resistance" from
the RCD and its Rwandan allies who were supposed to be maintaining law
and order. They added that there were large movements of FDD and
Mayi-Mayi fighters from Tanzania, across Lake Tanganyika, to Fizi in
DRC.
   On July 14 Banyamulenge soldiers supported by Burundi military
attacked civilians in an area south of Uvira, an area under Burundi
occupation.  At present it is estimated that more than 150 persons were
killed; over 2000 have fled.   Cholera and starvation are claiming as
many victims as military attacks.
   The South Kivu governor has called on local youth to organize
self-defense militias, stressing that the situation in Kabare (15 kms
west of Bukavu) was of serious concern.  A program of military
formation called "local defense" has been launched in different places
in South Kivu.  Before leaving for Goma the governor told the people to
form into groups of 10 houses and that he would obtain arms to expose
Interahamwe infiltration.
   Urgent alerts predict further confrontations in Uvira between
the Banyamulenge and the Rwandan army.
   Rwandan troops have been seen moving toward Province Orientale
(north-central), raising fear that reinforcements for new conflicts at
Kisangani are in preparation.
   Local people:  "All these facts worry us.  They show us a
strategy that could even lead to the bombing of the city of Bukavu
under the pretext that it is under Interahamwe attack.  The real
objective prepared well in advance is to conquer more Congo territory
by force and duplicity.  Well known persons will "disappear" in the
bombing, the resistance will be destroyed, the desperate situation will
bring the people to their knees."
   ASADHO urges rapid deployment of an international commission to
the region, and appropriate coercive measures in accordance with
Chapter VII of the UN Charter.  An international tribunal is the only
judiciary mechanism to handle responsibility for war crimes and
crimes against humanity in South Kivu.

--   On July 19 Banyamulenge women held demonstrations in Uvira and
Bukavu against the governing  Rassemblement Congolais pour la
DEmocratie (RCD-Goma) and its allies, blaming them for "failing to
protect the local community from bizarre killings that have been going
since June".  The women also condemned the local authorities and people
from certain ethnic groups whom they said were "working hand in hand
with the Mayi- Mayi to flush out the Banyamulenge".  The demonstration
was peaceful and was to continue until the demands to put a stop to the
killings had been heard.
   On July 20 about 500 Banyamulenge women demonstrated for a
second day in Uvira, demanding an end to "abuses" by Mayi-Mayi militia
and the governing RCD-Goma.  The women surrounded the office of the
local RCD administrator demanding that he address them, but he failed
to show up.  They then marched to a building where RCD security chief
Bizima Karaha was due to hold a meeting, and stopped him from entering.
Karaha agreed to talk to them about their concerns. The women say they
want peace and an "end to ethnic conflict".  The conflict, which they
say is targeting the Banyamulenge, is taking away their husbands and
sons, "leaving us as widows bringing up orphans".

--   On July 9 humanitarian sources said that parts of North Kivu
have been rocked by clashes and over 100 people had been killed. The
sources did not say who was responsible for the attacks. Meanwhile, in
Beni (northeast area), a faction of the Ugandan rebel Allied Democratic
Forces (ADF) has reportedly been "causing havoc".  Renewed clashes over
the last three weeks resulted in the displacement of more than 104,185
people, including about 62,500 children.  Most of them are crammed in a
town northeast of Rutshuru, without shelter or assistance.

--   A group called Collectif Vigilance Kivu made up of over 60
local organizations in occupied East Congo published a report entitled:
The Context of War in D.R.Congo and the Abandonment of Youth.  The
following excerpts concerning the war context are taken from the
report:
   The West's position regarding the fighting in Congo is
"hypocritical because while it demands democracy from the Kinshasa
regime it ignores the total lack of democracy displayed by military
regimes in neighboring countries who have invaded Congo's territory."
 In their report the CVK supplies a map of the 10 armies operating in
this region, occupying foreign armies, rebels pro-occupying forces,
armed military pro-Kinshasa and mercenary soldiers:  "Most of these
troops are led by commanders who attend to their own interests, taking
advantage of their position in official armies to do private business,
particularly in the mineral mining area now practically under military
control".
   The report says Ugandan and Rwandan military "have taken
complete control of cobalt, gold and diamond mines and they also
exploit local business men who work under their protection...We are
witnessing an apparently planned implosion of Congo for the benefit of
foreign countries and business groups."
   The CVK accuses the United States:  "Strategic interests of
major powers are kindling local conflicts. The United States are in
front line directly or using neighboring countries (Uganda, Rwanda,
South Africa) in the name of the unleashed liberalism they want to
impose on a world scale.  Several mining companies which exploit the
Kivu mines have contact address in Kinshasa at the American Embassy
Trade Section."
   There are also "private interests which influence the troops
and manipulate attitudes opening the region to all sorts of
trafficking, ignoring completely the real needs of the people"
   The report denounces illegal arms trade: "Arms arrive from
Rumania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, countries about to enter NATO.  Weaponry
also comes from Russia, in the throes of modernizing its equipment.
The arms are delivered directly to Kivu by the same companies which
trade in diamonds and precious minerals".
_______________________________________________________________________

4.      Petition of Persons Displaced by War

July 20:  At least 24 million people of Democratic Republic of Congo's
population of 59 million have been affected by the country's ongoing
war, according to a report prepared by the UN Humanitarian Coordinator
in DRC.  As of the beginning of June, there were 1.3 million internally
displaced persons in 10 of the nation's 11 provinces.  Only 50 percent
of these displaced people were in easily accessible areas.  Most of the
people are scattered throughout the nation in the four zones controlled
by the government and three zones under aggressor backed rebel groups,
and had remained largely inaccessible over the past two years because
of sustained fighting. After the fighting resumed in violation of the
Lusaka Accord late last year large displacements ensued.
   The Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of Lubumbashi,
Katanga (Southeast D.R.Congo) has published the following petition
written by persons displaced by the war and who now are refugees in
Lubumbashi and surrounding areas.

Petition of persons displaced by war:

 "Peace must be demanded in the Democratic Republic of Congo".

To the UN Security Council, the European Union, the Community for
Economic Development of East Africa (SADC), the Organization of African
Unity (O.U.A.) and more particularly to the UN High Commissariats for
Human Rights and Refugees:

   Like all peoples of the world, the Congolese people aspire to
peace, development, and non-violent co-existence among nations.
   As Congolese people we are aware of our fate.  We strongly
condemn the politic of destabilization of States and peoples by planned
poverty, misery and genocide.   We are shocked to see the culpable
passivity and inertia of the great powers in general and the UN in
particular that support serious, repeated and deliberate violations of
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, and the fundamental
principles that govern international relations among States.
   We are persuaded that the war of aggression that has victimized
us since August 2, 1998 is unjust.  The pretext for war for the
Burundi-Uganda-Rwanda coalition is to "guarantee their security" along
the common border with our country. For the allies of the aggressors,
the Rassemblement Congolais pour la DEmocratie/Goma of Emile Ilunga,
RCD/ML-Bunia of Wamba dia Wamba and the Mouvement de LibEration du
Congo (M.L.C.) of Jean-Pierre Bemba, it is to "liberate the Congolese
people."
   A series of questions concerning these assertions preoccupy us
however.  We ask the aggressor countries Burundi, Uganda and Rwanda:
If you are seeking border security, how do you explain the presence of
armed troops, not invited by DRC, more than 100 kms away from Rwanda,
Uganda, and Burundi (in violation of international law regarding border
security)?
   How do you justify placing foreigners at the head of public
services in the occupied territories?  Why must Burundians, Ugandans,
and Rwandans be placed over Congolese throughout occupied territories?
Is it an occupation or a new colonization?
   Why are you destroying basic infrastructures by massacres?
Why do you burn villages, fields, possessions and even living persons?
Why are women being raped, buried alive, why are children and babies
being killed?
   Why do you support the aggressors' commerce and illicit traffic
of mineral resources (gold, diamonds) in the East DRC?  Why are
Rwandan, Ugandan, and Burundian aggressors destroying the flora and
fauna in occupied territories?
   Why are you demilitarizing uniquely the city of Kisangani?
What about the other occupied territories? How do you explain the
repeated clashes between the armies of Rwanda and Uganda on Congo
territory, in full view and knowledge of MONUC, UN, and OUA?
   We ask the allies of the aggressors (RCD/Goma, RCD/Bunia, MLC)
Why are the people not enthusiastic about the so-called RCD and MLC
political movements?  Why do they resist you whereas they did not
resist the first war of liberation?  And why do you use armed force
to seize power?
   The aggression of DRC repudiates basic principles that guide
relations between states according to the UN Charter and the Charter of
OAU, as well as other international juridical conventions of Human
Rights and International Humanitarian Law.  However no exemplary
sanctions have been imposed by these juridical groups.
   We note with bitterness that expressions such as Convention,
regulations governing international law, protective power,
international community, democracy, human rights and others are
indiscriminately evoked and applied according to the goals and
"interests" of certain nations in total disregard for the civilian
population.  In Africa regrettable examples of great powers who support
or overthrow a political leader to the detriment of the entire
population abound.
   How many people are sacrificed by this war of aggression
without the international community saying a single word - the UN
Security Council, the Organization of African Unity, etc.  Why do they
disregard the needs of the people?  Thousands of unarmed citizens are
killed, how many are tortured and reported disappeared without
the international community even taking notice.
   No price can be placed on human life.
   The armies of Rwanda and Uganda continue to violate the
cease-fire under the nose of that same MONUC and in scorn of the UN.
The UN seems to be prisoner of the aggressors to the detriment of the
people's peace and security.  Respect for the Lusaka Accords demands
use of force toward those aggressors who defy the UN and the
international community.
   We therefore ask the international community (UN, Security
Council, MONUC, European Union, OUA, SADC):
-   to order the immediate and unconditional withdrawal from D.R.Congo
territory of the armies of Rwanda,Uganda and Burundi.
-   that respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our
country be re-established; that this unprecedented war cease.
-    that African and European States, the United States, and Civil
Society use all their diplomatic and political capability to initiate
sanctions against the aggressors in order to establish peace in D.R.
Congo and in the Great Lakes Region.
-    that the principles of human rights and international humanitarian
law which they all promote be scrupulously respected; that the
violators be judged and punished by competent international courts.
-    that the strategy of "Overall Plan" that sentences people to death
and scorns basic principles of human rights and humanitarian law be
banned.
-    that the UN extend the mandate of the High Commissariat for
Refugees (UNHCR) in D.R.Congo to include displaced persons and other
refugees without discrimination based on race and/or nationality.

(signed)  80 displaced persons
_______________________________________________________________________

     5.       Amnesty International

   In a statement released on June 30, Amnesty International
appealed to Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Paul Kagame of
Rwanda to end atrocities by their troops in northeastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC). Ugandan troops are reported to be involved in
killings and other abuses against members of the Lendu ethnic group in
Kibali-Ituri province (northeast DRC under Uganda occupation and
declared "province"by Uganda).
   Ugandan soldiers and Hema armed groups are reportedly carrying
out a deliberate and calculated campaign to drive Lendu from their
homes in areas rich in gold and commercial wood.  Tens of thousands of
Lendu have fled their homes into forests where they have no access to
shelter, food or medical care. Many, particularly children, are
suffering from severe malnutrition and are exposed to major killer
diseases such as malaria, cholera and bubonic plague.
   Amnesty urged the United Nations to urgently send human rights
monitors to investigate reported human rights abuses by Ugandan troops
and their allies of the RCD-ML, Congolese Rally for Democracy -
Liberation Movement.

_______________________________________________________________________


Information published in great lakes - central africa is received from
different sources: documents and reports published in D.R.Congo, the
Great Lakes region and Europe;  reports of local human rights groups,
church groups, non-governmental organizations;  articles from
African and European publications; personal contacts and
correspondence.  Topics are chosen in response to specific requests
from the Great Lakes region, and are frequently compiled from several
sources.  In many instances individual attribution must be withheld.

Maureen Healy
P.O.Box 29185 - Washington. D.C. 20017
tel/fax:  301-927-5084
email:  healym@sprynet.com




========================================================
Servizio informazioni Congosol

The material contained in this communication may not be taken always to
reflect the views of the Service.
Willing to offer you these informations quickly, the Service makes the
choice of being not always able to verify them, and couldn't be held
responsible for the accuracy of the original sources.
We apologize to those who already received this document.
====================================================