AMNESTY: The Inter-Congolese Dialogue, an opportunity to puthuman rights on the agenda

[Congosol - servizio informazioni <congosol@neomedia.it>]

12 March 2002
AI Index AFR 62/003/2002 - News Service Nr. 44

Democratic Republic of Congo:
The Inter-Congolese Dialogue, an opportunity to put human rights on the agenda



Amnesty International called today in a memorandum to the parties in 
the ongoing peace talks on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), 
known as the Inter-Congolese Dialogue, in Sun City, South Africa, for 
a binding commitment that justice and human rights will be at the 
heart of all agreements reached.

"The Dialogue provides an opportunity not only to end the fighting in 
the DRC but also to set up a framework in which the rule of law can 
be established and in which human rights may be protected," it said.
'The dialogue is both about building a better future for the 
Congolese people and about righting the wrongs of the past. The 
success of the Dialogue should be measured against agreement to end 
impunity for human rights abuses committed by the country's nationals 
or foreign forces."

In the memorandum -- Democratic Republic of Congo: Memorandum to the 
Inter-Congolese Dialogue: Amnesty International's recommendations for 
a human rights agenda -- the organization stresses that there can be 
no lasting peace without justice and accountability for violations - 
past and present - of human rights and international humanitarian law.

For many decades, the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo 
(DRC) have suffered a seemingly unbreakable cycle of human rights 
abuses by agents of governments and armed political groups.
The late 1990s witnessed a catastrophic deterioration in the human 
rights situation and the perpetration of abuses on an unprecedented 
scale. The 1996-7 armed conflict which ousted President Mobutu and 
brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila to power resulted in hundreds of 
thousands of deaths, the majority of them unarmed civilians.
A subsequent armed conflict which broke out in August 1998 between 
armed opposition groups and the Government is estimated to have cost 
over two million lives so far, also mostly civilians.

"Most of the abuses, particularly extrajudicial executions and other 
deliberate and arbitrary killings, "disappearances", arbitrary 
arrests, unlawful detentions and torture, including rape, have 
continued largely because they were ordered or condoned by political 
or security force leaders with responsibility to prevent them. 
Perpetrators are rarely, if ever, brought to justice," Amnesty 
International said.

The peace talks in Sun City are primarily intended to bring an end to 
the armed conflict and to agree on a new political dispensation for 
the DRC. However, Amnesty International believes that no firm 
foundation can be built for the country's future peace and stability 
unless mechanisms are agreed upon to identify and bring to justice 
perpetrators of human rights abuses in the context of armed conflicts.

Amnesty International's recommendations include:

incorporating human rights protection in the Lusaka Cease-fire Agreement;

ending the use of, as well as demobilising and rehabilitating, child soldiers;

setting up bodies to investigate and to bring perpetrators of past 
human rights abuses to justice;

ensuring that those who have been involved in human rights abuses 
will not be allowed to have political or security responsibilities 
which they may use to commit further abuses;

reforming the judiciary and law enforcement to comply with 
international human rights protection standards;

establishing an independent body to investigate future human rights abuses;

abolishing the death penalty;

and establishing mechanisms to prevent human rights abuses, including 
unlawful killings, "disappearances", torture, arbitrary arrests, 
unlawful detentions, discrimination and refoulement.

"It takes a wholehearted commitment by those in the Inter-Congolese 
Dialogue to protect human rights. All those who seek to govern the 
Democratic Republic of Congo should now commit themselves publicly to 
making human rights a reality for all Congolese," Amnesty 
International said.




BACKGROUND

The Inter-Congolese Dialogue is a major component of a Cease-fire 
Agreement signed in July and August 1999 in Lusaka, the capital of 
Zambia, by parties to the armed conflict that started in August 1998.
The Agreement was a culmination of mediation efforts and pressure by 
foreign governments and inter-governmental organizations to end a war 
in which several Congolese armed political groups, supported by 
Burundian, Rwandese and Ugandan government forces, have been seeking 
to overthrow the DRC Government which itself is supported by the 
Angolan, Namibian and Zimbabwean government forces.

The Dialogue officially opened on 25 February, but substantive talks 
were delayed for one week as delegates wrangled over the eligibility 
of certain participants and the framework for discussions.
There are some 350 delegates participating in the Dialogue, 
representing armed political groups, the DRC government, civil 
society and the unarmed political opposition. The talks are scheduled 
to last for 45 days.

Amnesty International is seeking to ensure that the Dialogue will 
engender a break with a past characterized by widespread human rights 
abuses.



NB:
This report summarizes a 51-page document: "Democratic Republic of 
Congo: Memorandum to the Inter-Congolese Dialogue: Amnesty 
International's recommendations for a human rights agenda (AI Index: 
AFR 62/030/2001)" issued by Amnesty International in November 2001. 
Further details are available at http://www.amnesty.org

\ENDS






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