State Department War Crimes Chief Stephen Rapp’s cover-up of U.S. War Crimes in Rwanda Genocide

Daya Gamage – Foreign News Desk Asian Tribune Washington, DC. 29April

 

The April 28 report in The New York Times captioned ‘American Lawyer is Barred from Rwanda Tribunal Work’ caught the eye of this Online Daily’s Foreign News Desk which informed the readers that Peter Erlinder, a law professor in an American university, has been barred by the UN from working at the international tribunal for Rwanda based in the Tanzanian city of Arusha. He refused to travel to Arusa for fear of his life.
He said that he is a target of the Rwandan government and has even received threats while on lecture tours in the U.S.
Prof. Erlinder charges the current Paul Kahame regime of Rwanda of targeted assassinations of those who were accusing the Rwandan leader of genocide - 1990 through 1994 - in which one million people were killed. He and others who have given a long list of victims in many worldwide cities attributed those assassinations to the current Rwandan leadership of Paul Kagame.
One of the mysterious deaths known to the Asian Tribune network was a UN professional who worked to unearth the evidence of the Rwandan genocide – a Sri Lankan Shyamlal Rajapaksa who happened to be a first cousin of the present president of Sri Lanka Mahinda Rajapaksa. His killing in August 2009 in the Tanzanian city of Arusha where the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was headquartered is still a mystery.
Professor Peter Erlinder has come out with an array of evidence and interpretations of the direct culpability of the current Rwandan president Paul Kagame in the Rwandan genocide, how he and his colleagues were given military training in the U.S., how Kagame as the head of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a proxy force of the Pentagon according to Erlinder, invaded Rwanda to unleash a genocide with tacit approval of the United States, and in the following years how the United States took covert and overt steps to cover up its involvement in the Rwandan mass massacre.
It is here that Ambassador-at Large Stephen Rapp’s name emerge. Mr. Rapp is currently the head of the Office of War Crimes Issues of the U.S. Department of State, and in his previous position as the chief prosecutor of the Rwandan genocide, according to Peter Elinder, and many other investigators, Mr. Rapp was one of the main who was involved in the cover up of US involvement in the Rwandan Genocide.
The Asian Tribune readers may recall that Stephen Rapp in his capacity as the State Department’s War Crimes Issues chief who prepared and released a document in October 2009 with ambiguous evidence which accused Sri Lanka of violating international humanitarian laws during the final (Jan-May 2009) stage of the battle with separatist/terrorist Tamil Tigers (LTTE).
In October 1990, the Ugandan army and the Rwandan Patriotic Front/Army (RPF) led by Major General Paul Kagame invaded Rwanda. The guerrillas who violated international laws and committed massive war crimes were backed by Britain, Belgium, the United States and Israel, according to many investigators and researchers. By July 1994, the RPF completed its coup d'etat and consolidated its power in Rwanda.
On April 6, 1994, the governments of Rwanda and Burundi were decapitated when the plane carrying the two presidents and top military staff was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda's capital. The well-planned assassinations of Juvenal Habyarimana and Cyprien Ntaryamira sparked a massive escalation of warfare that is falsely portrayed as the result of meaningless tribal savagery. These assassinations were major war crimes, and the RPF and UPDF were responsible, but almost every attempt to honestly investigate the double presidential assassinations has been blocked by the U.S. and its allies.
A frequent contributor to a think tank called Global Research, Prof. Elinder outlined the United States endeavor in the cover up of its own culpability in the Rwandan genocide.
He wrote: “The July 9, 2009 New York Times reported that the Obama administration had selected Stephen Rapp to replace the Bush administration Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, Pierre Prosper. Rapp began his international career at the UN Security Council Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in 2001, while Carla Del Ponte was Chief Rwanda Prosecutor. Rapp’s nomination just a few months after Del Ponte’s of her memoir of her years as Chief UN Prosecutor, Madam Prosecutor: Confronting Humanity’s Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity was published in English.
“Del Ponte’s book describes in detail the systematic U.S.-initiated cover-up of crimes by the current Rwandan government, a U.S. ally, committed during the Rwanda Genocide, and how she was removed from her ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda) position in 2003 by U.S. Ambassador Prosper, himself, when she refused to cooperate with the U.S.-initiated “cover-up.”
According to Del Ponte, her ICTR Office had the evidence to prosecute Kagame for “touching-off” the Rwanda Genocide by ordering the assassination of Rwanda’s former President Juvenal, Habyarimana, long before 2003. She also details the dozens of massacre sites, involving thousands of victims, for which the current Rwandan President, Paul Kagame and his military, should be prosecuted. The well-publicized canard, that “the identity of the assassins of Habyarimana is unknown” is a bald-faced lie, well -known by ICTR Prosecutors, according to Ms. Del Ponte, writes Prof. Elinder in Global Research.
Two years after Del Ponte was removed from office, Stephen Rapp became “Chief” of ICTR Prosecutions with access to all of the evidence known to Ms. Del Ponte, and more that has been made public in the past few years. During his four years at the ICTR, Rapp like Del Ponte, also was in a position to prosecute Kagame and members of the current government of Rwanda but, not ONE member of Kagame’s military has been prosecuted at the ICTR, to date…and the “cover-up” revealed by Del Ponte, continues today. And, unlike, Ms. Del Ponte, who was fired by the U.S., Mr. Rapp was first rewarded with an appointment as Chief Prosecutor at the U.S.-funded Sierra Leone Tribunal and now, a coveted ambassadorship by the Obama administration as the chief of the Office of War Crimes Issues at the State Department.
Mr. Rapp, for reasons known and unknown to the Asian Tribune, used ambiguous and conflicting information and data to accuse Sri Lanka of violating International Humanitarian Laws (IHL) in a report released to the US Congress in October 2009.
Former Chief ICTR Prosecutor Del Ponte Details War Crimes “Cover-up”
According to Del Ponte, in May 2003 she was called to Washington D.C. by Prosper (ironically, also a former ICTR prosecutor with knowledge of Kagame’s crimes) who informed her that the U.S. would remove her UN post, if she carried through with her publicly announced plans to indict Kagame and members of his government and military. According to Del Ponte, when she refused to knuckle-under because “she worked for the UN, - not for the U.S” Prosper told her ICTR career was over. In October Del Ponte was replaced by a US-approved ICTR prosecutor, Hassan Abubacar Jallow, who elevated Rapp to “Chief of Prosecution” two years later.
ICTR Trials: More Evidence of Rwanda Crimes Cover-Up
Del Ponte’s revelations are not the only evidence that a U.S.-initiated “war crimes cover-up” at the ICTR is creating impunity for crimes committed by the Kagame and his military. On September 10, 1994 memo in evidence in the ICTR Military-1 Trial confirms that U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher was informed that Kagame’s troops were killing “10,000 civilians a month” in military-style, according to an investigation funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID). And, as early as January 1997, a team made up of Chief ICTR Investigative Prosecutor and former Australian Crown Prosecutor Michael Hourigan; former FBI Agent James Lyons; and former UN-Chief of Military Intelligence in Rwanda, Amadou Deme; reported Louise Arbour, Ms. Del Ponte’s predecessor, that Kagame should be prosecuted for assassinating the previous president. Arbour scuttled the investigation, suppressed the report and disbanded the investigative team.
Shortly, thereafter, Arbour was elevated to Canada’s Supreme Court and has sunsequently been chosen to head the International Crisis Group.
Louise Arbour as the head of the International Crisis Group released a report in May 2010 accusing Sri Lanka of war crimes said: “Evidence gathered by the International Crisis Group suggests that these months saw tens of thousands of Tamil civilian men, women, children and the elderly killed, countless more wounded, and hundreds of thousands deprived of adequate food and medical care, resulting in more deaths. This evidence also provides reasonable grounds to believe the Sri Lankan security forces committed war crimes with top government and military leaders potentially responsible.”
Former ICTR Prosecutor Rapp Complicit in Cover-up
But, even though Arbour suppressed the “Hourigan Report,” Del Ponte, Rapp and other ICTR prosecutors certainly knew about it, because ICTR judges had ordered Del Ponte’s Office to release the “Hourigan report” to a defense team as early as the year 2000, a year before Rapp began his ICTR work, and three years before Del Ponte was fired by Prosper.
Prof. Peter Elinder says “But….to date, not one indictment has been issued against Kagame by the ICTR Prosecutor.”
Consequences of the ICTR Cover-up of Kagame’s Crimes
The tragic consequence of the failure to prosecute Kagame at the ICTR, from 1994 to date, is that Kagame has been free to invade the Congo in 1996 and 1998, and to occupy part of the eastern Congo many-times larger than Rwanda, to this day. No less than four UN Security Council-commissioned Panel of Experts Report(s) on the Illegal Exploitation of the DR Congo (2001, 2002, 2003 and December 2008) have detailed the massive rape of the Congo’s resources that has brought vast riches to Kagame and his inner circle.
While Rapp was ICTR Senior Trial Attorney in 2003, Kagame was effectively elected President-for-Life with 95% of the vote, after banning opposition parties and jailing opponents, in “a climate of intimidation” according to EU observers.
“Chief of Prosecutions” Rapp Withheld Exculpatory Evidence
In February 2009, the ICTR issued its Judgment the Military-1 case, that main case at the ICTR, in which Mr. Rapp personally appeared for the Prosecution. Although massive violence did occur in Rwanda, the court certainly recognized that blaming only one side WAS a falsehood, when it acquitted all of the “architects of the killing machine” (as Mr. Rapp called the defendants in court) of conspiracy or planning to kill civilians. The highest ranking military-officer was acquitted of all charges.
And, although it is now clear from Ms. Del Ponte’s memoirs that Mr. Rapp had the evidence to clear the ICTR defendants of the assassination charges and only the losing side has been blamed for all crimes committed in Rwanda in 1994. Simply put, Mr. Rapp and other ICTR prosecutors have withheld evidence that would be beneficial to the defense, contrary to Tribunal Rules; have prosecuted defendants for crimes they knew were committed by Kagame’s forces; and, have created a system of “judicial impunity” that has permitted Kagame to kill millions in the eastern Congo.
It is in this context that Prof. Peter Elinder writing to Global Security questioned President Obama’s wisdom in appointing Stephen Rapp as the head of the Office of War Crimes Issue at the State Department in this manner: “This “inconvenient-African-truth,” raises an uncomfortable question regarding President Obama’s nomination of Mr. Rapp, in the first place: Are Obama and his advisors ignorant of the public record regarding Rapp’s complicity in the ICTR Cover-up….or do they just not give a damn?”
The U.S. Culpability in Rwanda Genocide
Aimable Mugara in a piece to OpEdNews put it this way: “In 1990, General Kagame who was the Chief of Military Intelligence of Uganda and head of the Rwandan Patriotic Forces (RPF) led a violent invasion of Rwanda from Uganda, with the approval and support (financial, military and political) of the United States government. This violent war changed the landscape of that region forever. By landscape, I also mean the number of mass graves that dot every of inch of that region now. The two final years of President Bush the father, during which his American government supported the murderous gang of General Kagame and Yoweri Museveni resulted in the deaths of many innocent Rwandan and Ugandan civilians. During those two years, there are thousands who lost their lives at the hands of General Kagame's soldiers and Yoweri Museveni's soldiers. But this was nothing compared to the more than 6 millions of civilians that would later die under Bill Clinton's 8 year reign, with American money, American weapons and American political support.”
In a September 30, 2010 New York Times article titled ‘Dispute Over U.N. Report Evokes Rwandan Déjà Vu’, it is mentioned how in the fall of 1994, a United Nations investigation discovered that General Kagame's forces had killed tens of thousand of innocent civilians that year. That under pressure from Bill Clinton's government, the United Nations was forced not to publish that report. In that New York Times article, they talk about how the 1994 UN report describes General Kagame's soldiers "rounding up civilians and methodically killing unarmed men, women and children."
“Kagame received his military education under the Pentagon’s Joint Combined Exchange Training (JCET) at the Command and General Staff College of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, beginning in 1990,” wrote John E. Peck of the Association of African Scholars (2002). “His sidekick, Lt. Col. Frank Rusagara, got his JCET schooling at the U.S. Naval Academy in Monterey, California. Both were dispatched to Rwanda in time to oversee the RPF’s takeover in 1994. Far from being an innocent bystander, the Washington Post revealed on July 12, 1998 that the United States not only gave Kagame $75 million in military assistance, but also sent Green Berets to train Kagame’s forces (as well as their Ugandan rebel allies) in low intensity conflict (LIC) tactics. Pentagon subcontractor Ronco, masquerading as a de-mining company, also smuggled more weapons to RPF fighters in flagrant violation of UN sanctions. All of this U.S. largesse was put to lethal effect in the ethnic bloodbath that is still going on.”
In 2009 published Edward S. Herman and David Peterson's investigative/research book The Politics of Genocide said: “The United States and its allies worked hard in the early 1990s to weaken the Rwandan government, forcing the abandonment of many of the economic and social gains from the social revolution of 1959, thereby making the Habyarimana government less popular, and helping to reinforce the Tutsi minority’s economic power.9 Eventually, the RPF was able to achieve a legal military presence inside Rwanda, thanks to a series of ceasefires and other agreements. These agreements led to the Arusha Peace Accords of August 1993, pressed upon the Rwandan government by the United States and its allies, called for the “integration” of the armed forces of Rwanda and the RPF, and for a “transitional,” power-sharing government until national elections could be held in 1995.10 These Peace Accords positioned the RPF for its bloody overthrow of a relatively democratic coalition government, and the takeover of the Rwandan state by a minority dictatorship.”
The U.S. State Department’s Office of War Crimes Issues chief Stephen Rapp knew this entire Rwandan episode, the U.S. interests in Paul Kagame, the UN concealment of the 1994 report at the behest of the Clinton administration, the U.S. military assistance to Kagame’s Rwandan Patriotic Front and the entire exercise of the ‘Rwandan cover up’ to conceal the U.S. culpability in the Rwandan genocide when he focused his attention elsewhere; Sri Lanka.
- Asian Tribune -

Another Kagame aide reveals boss’ secret killing spots

Lt.Aloys Ruyenzi

►Secret killing grounds in Nyungwe and Kami
►How RPA senior officers Col. Augustine Kiiza and Major Alex Ruzindana were assassinated
►How Kagame ordered Hutu mass murder and blamed the insurgents
►How Spanish religious leaders were killed

From The Newsline

President Paul Kagame made international headlines as a mass murderer after the UN report accused his forces of Hutu mass massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
And some of his former officers including Col. Patrick Karegeya and Major Alphonse Furuma have recently accused him of mass killings during the 1990-94 war, and for assassinating opposition politicians abroad. But the world has more to learn. Now, in an exclusive interview with The Newsline’s Charles Kabonero and Didas Gasana, Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi, a former RPA officer and close bodyguard of Kagame reveals the untold and horrendous story of Kagame’s secret killing grounds, torture chambers, and the systematic killings of critics. 
By newsline Team



 "The killing fields were established immediately after the RPA took power in Rwanda. It is run by the dreaded Directorate of Military Intelligence," the soft spoken officer calmly explains. "Victims are both soldiers and civilians whose death warrants have been signed by President Kagame. The victims are killed using bayonets, fire (burning them alive) and shooting for those trying to resist or escape," he adds.

 "The killing field is ever busy, receiving its victims from all over Rwanda, and elsewhere," Lt Ruyenzi, who says he was privy to operations of the RPA,  says and adds:  "The killing fields are tightly guarded by about a platoon of DMI commandos and Kagame’s Republican Guard commandos. The ordinary soldiers (men) are burnt with their uniforms on and the officers are burnt with their pips on. The victims arrive at the place with their hands in cuffs and their feet shackled, he says and claims that Kagame practically supervises activities at the murder spots.

 "Kagame regularly visits these killing fields to inspect their efficiency," he claims and adds that for instance, that in 1998, escorted by Jack Nziza (then Director of the DMI), Kagame visited Nyungwe killing spot, then under command of a one ‘Captain Fred’.

 Location

 According to Ruyenzi, Nyungwe killing field is between Gikongoro- Cyangugu towns, on a hill located about three kilometers inside the forest.

He says that there are three categories of victims killed at the spot, among them, members of the former army (Ex-FAR) like Col. Augustin Kiiza, the Interahamwe and former refugees from DRC and critics of Kagame’s regime like former RPA officer Major Alex Ruzindana.

 Ruyenzi says those who direct the killings include Brig. Gen. Jack Nziza, Col. Ephraim Rurangwa, Capt. Francis Mutiganda, Capt. Joseph Nzitatira, Capt. Batamuriza, 2Lt. Gilbert, W01 Abbas, (who was later killed) and Lt. Julien Rwangarambe.

Killings supervisors

 Signals used to announce victims

 Vehicles carrying category A (Ex FAR, Interahamwe and former refugees from DRC put on right hand indicators, as they approach roadblocks (three of them) to the killing field.

Those transporting category B victims (dissidents) put on left-hand indicators, as they approach roadblocks to the killing field whereas vehicles carrying category C Victims (the high level personnel) put on no indicators as they arrive

The roadblocks

 "There are three road blocks," the former officer explains.

The first one has 12 soldiers comprising staff from the Directorate of Military Intelligence and the Republican Guards. On receiving vehicles bringing in victims, he says, the soldiers communicate to their colleagues at the road blocks ahead, giving details about the category of victim coming in.

 The second has 12 soldiers, in two lines. Line one with 5 soldiers and line two, five meters behind the first one, has seven soldiers.

"Each soldier has a bayonet and two pistols to kill the victims. Line two is supposed to reinforce line one in case of any resistance and the pistols are used to reinforce the bayonets in case of any problem," Ruyenzi claims.

The third roadblock, he says, is the ‘burning site’ where dead bodies are destroyed by fire, using petrol.

"After the bodies are burnt, the ash is left to cool and is carried in gunny bags, loaded into a container on a lorry- a blue Mercedes Benz 1924, whose plate numbers are occasionally changed from GR and IT (and vice versa)," Lt. Ruyenzi says.

The GR…and IT… number plates belong officially to government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), respectively.

After that, Lt. Ruyenzi says the lorry transports ash from the ‘cremated’ bodies to the heavily-guarded (by DMI operatives) Ruriba brick factory in Kigali city, where the ashes are emptied into the river Nyabarongo and the empty bags are kept to perform the next task.

The exiled officer says those doing the killing, collection and disposal of the ashes, are exclusively Tutsi, and are from Congo or Burundi. They are highly vetted.

 In 1998, during the ‘war against insurgency’ in the DRCongo, many people from all over Rwanda were brought to the Nyungwe killing field in 30 minibuses and 10 pick-ups which had been ordered and bought for the express purpose of transporting RPA’s victims both in Rwanda and elsewhere, to their death at Nyungwe killing field, Lt. Ruyenzi alleges.

"They were ‘collected’ and ‘sorted’ according to the crime and category at Kami prison torture chambers, and later shackled and loaded onto minibuses, and escorted by pick-ups to Nyungwe killing field, where they were burnt alive to death using petrol," the former officer said.

 Ruyenzi says when 7^th battalion was deployed in areas of Rushashi, Tare, Mbogo and Rurindo in 1998, the Director of Schools at Rwankuba, the Bourgmestre and the Agriculture Officer of Commune Rushashi were murdered on the same night at Nyungwe killing ground by government operatives.

Ruyenzi, who said he didn’t recall the names of the deceased, further claimed that the RPF/A hurriedly blamed their death on Interahamwe insurgents.

 "Accusing the insurgents for death of people was Kagame’s trademark, and a strong public relations point. In the same year (1998), Kagame’s operatives killed civilians who were watching the World Cup tournament in the hotel called Pensz-Y, and again blamed their death on insurgency," Ruyenzi claims.

 Killing of religious leaders

 Hutus, critics and Interahamwe were not the only victims of Kagame’s killer squad, according to the former officer. Religious leaders were also targeted.

 He says prominent killings of religious leaders were carried out at Rwesero Seminary claiming the lives of seven Catholic priests who had taken refugee there.

 "Kagame personally oversaw the execution of their killings," Ruyenzi claims, before adding that on June 5, 1994 Kagame ordered the killing of three Catholic Bishops and other religious leaders at Kabgayi.

 Ruyenzi says the157^th Battalion then under the command of Fred Ibingira (now a Major General) was responsible for their death.

"The Battalion’s Intelligence Officer Wilson Gumisiriza (now a Brigadier) gave orders to then Sergeant Kwitegetse alias Burakari to command a section of soldiers which killed them," he says.

 He further asserts: "The Spanish Fr. Vallmajo was also killed in Byumba with other three Rwandan priests in April 1994 by DMI under the supervision of by then Lt. Col Jackson Rwahama, while Fr. Claude Simard from Canada was killed on October 17, 1994 by the RPA under Kagame’s orders."

 He adds: "Three Spanish employees of MEDICOS del MUNDO were also killed on January 18, 1997 in Ruhengeri by officers of the DMI namely: 2Lt. Evarist Karenzi, an intelligence officer of Gendarmerie in Ruhengeri and Capt. Majyambere Matayo, an Intelligence Officer of 408 Brigade in Ruhengeri."

 On 2^nd February 1997, Fr. Guy Pinard from Canada and Fr. Curick Vjechoslav of Croatia were also killed, while Fr. Deschamp from Canada was killed in Kigali in1998, Lt Ruyenzi claims. RDF spokesman, Lt. Col Jill Rutaremara would not pick our repeated phone calls to react to this damning story.

 Who is Lt. Ruyenzi?

  Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi was born in March 1, 1971 in Mbarara- Uganda, after his parents fled the persecution of Tutsi in Rwanda. In 1987, he joined the National Resistance Army one year after it captured state power in Uganda.

He told The Newsline that after military training and a six month intelligence course, he was posted to the 23^rd battalion then based in northern Uganda.

 "In 1989, I was called back at the Directorate of Military Intelligence headquarters to undertake another intelligence course called ‘intelligence and self defense’," Ruyenzi says.

 Ruyenzi says he was among the first batch of RPA fighters that invaded Rwanda in October 1990. "I was in 4^th battalion commanded by Captain (RIP) Bitamazire," He says and adds that in 1992 he was deployed to the High Command’s Missile Unit and later deployed under President Kagame’s close bodyguards as an Intelligence Officer.

After RPA took over in 1994, he says he was sent to Uganda for another six months course called ‘Intelligence and VIP Protection’.

In 1995 after the course, he resumed duty as an Intelligence Officer and close bodyguard to President Paul Kagame.

"In 1996, I was sent to DRC (Congo) on a special assignment," he says, but would not divulge the details.

He says he was later posted to Ruhengeri and Gisenyi "to follow and give detailed account of all military operations taking place then", against insurgents.

In June 1998, he claims he was accused of releasing Interahamwe militia in Nkamira, Gisenyi, leading to his woes with the Kigali government and subsequent arrest and detention in Kibungo Military Prison on June 8, 1999. He, however, brushes off the charges with bursting vitality, saying they are mere fabrications.

"In December 1999, I was released without charges and allowed to resume my duties as an escort/bodyguard to Paul Kagame," Ruyenzi says and adds that in 2004 he fled the country and has since obtained asylum in Norway. He was not comfortable discussing the reasons why he had to flee.

 Editor’s note: In our next edition The Newsline will publish the officer’s narratives regarding a number of RPA officers assassinated on orders of President Kagame, including Members of the High Command Muvunanyambo and Col. Charles Ngoga, and dissident politicians - deaths that still remain a mystery in Rwanda

Lt. Aloys Ruyenzi is a former Rwanda Defence Forces officer who claims he was among the first batch of RPA soldiers who attacked Rwanda in 1990.


And to Ruyenzi, news of the recently released UN report implicating the Rwandan soldiers in probable acts of genocide and mass murder in DRC make no news. He says the crimes in the report have been exposed time and again by different researchers but hastens to add that what most people don’t know is that President Kagame operates horrendous killing fields in Nyungwe Natural Forest and Kami, a secret military detention facility

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Congolese victims file class action against Canadian mining company

From CCIJ For immediate release: November 8, 2010
Montreal, Canada.  An association representing Congolese citizens filed a class action today in a Montreal court against Canadian company Anvil Mining Limited. It is alleged that the company, by providing logistical assistance, played a role in human rights abuses, including the massacre by the Congolese military of more than 70 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2004. The citizens have brought the claim through an association of relatives of victims and survivors which is supported by a coalition of Canadian, international and Congolese non-government organizations.
"This case is now in Canada because Anvil is a Canadian company, and must be held accountable for any role it played in what were clear and egregious violations of human rights," said Matt Eisenbrandt, Legal Coordinator of the Canadian Centre for International Justice.
"Every day is a struggle to survive and we feel abandoned," said one of the group members, Dickay Kunda, whose father was badly beaten and tortured while in military custody. Though released after six months, his father died in November 2009. "We have no option but to turn to the international community for justice."
The group, the Canadian Association against Impunity, alleges that in October 2004 Anvil provided trucks, drivers, and other logistical support to the Congolese military to help them counter an attempt by a small group of rebels to take over the town of Kilwa, a key port for Anvil's operations. In the course of this operation, serious human rights violations were reportedly perpetrated against the civilian population by the military. Anvil's vehicles transported Congolese soldiers, as well as civilians who were allegedly taken outside the town and executed by the military. The group also alleges that Anvil allowed soldiers to use planes leased by the company to reach Kilwa from Lubumbashi, the capital of Katanga province.
"Anvil's material support enabled the Congolese army to reach the remote town of Kilwa at top speed - where they then carried out widespread abuses against the civilian population," said Tricia Feeney, Director of UK-based Rights and Accountability in Development (RAID). Anvil Mining has denied any allegations of wrongdoing and asserts that its logistical support was requisitioned by the authorities.
The Canadian action follows a controversial military trial in the Congo. In 2006, a Congolese military prosecutor indicted nine Congolese soldiers for war crimes, and three expatriate former employees of Anvil for complicity in war crimes. Following numerous irregularities, in June 2007 the military tribunal acquitted all the defendants.
"It was profoundly disappointing that the heavily-politicised trial in Congo failed to deliver justice for the victims. We hope that this case will set a precedent and send a clear message to corporations that they cannot enjoy impunity if they take part in, or benefit from, violent crimes," said Seema Joshi, Legal Advisor at London-based Global Witness.
"We must continue to fight against impunity. The victims' families have never lost hope of seeing justice being done," said Emmanuel Umpula Nkumba, Executive Director of ACIDH, a Congolese advocacy group that has been supporting the victims.
A UN report published in August cited the Anvil case as a prime example of how justice is often not done in the Congo. Less than two weeks ago, the House of Commons in Canada defeated legislation that would have created a mechanism for individuals to complain about actions of Canadian companies overseas.
"It has been a long hard road to justice and we are not there yet", said Georges Kapiamba, Vice president of Congolese organisation ASADHO, and the main lawyer working with the families of the Kilwa victims and survivors in the Congo. "We sincerely hope the Canadian courts will give the victims the hearing they deserve."
The claimants are represented by the Montreal law firm Trudel and Johnston, which specializes in class actions.
The claim represents assertions that have not yet been proven in court. Anvil will have the opportunity to respond in these proceedings.
--Ends--

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• Militia commander Mayele arrested after mass rape of Congo villagers (guardian.co.uk)
• Congolese Women March Against Rape and Sexual Terrorism (womensrights.change.org)
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Paul Kagame wants to break democratic aspirations in Rwanda

  by therisingcontinent

Thursday 28^th, 2010, at 2.00 pm (Rwanda time), police forces enter FDU-Inkingi office and party officials’ houses in Kigali. They searched them thoroughly, apparently looking for additional clues to fabricate evidences against Victoire Ingabire, who is already in prison since October 14^th. In some cases, this was the second time the police had searched officials’ residences.
Without any warrant to search the properties, policemen took computers, documents, and everything they found hopefully to make their case against FDU-Inkingi leaders. FDU leaders in Kigali are trying to find alternative means to be able to communicate and operate within a very hostile environment created and led by Paul Kagame government and institutions.
The Socialist Party Imberakuri had experienced similar acts of illegal intrusion into private property in July 2010, when the police vandalized the party’s office in Nyamirambo. Surprisingly, even this added to persistent interference of Kagame’s institutions in trying to run the party by breaking it up into two factions, its Chairman Me Bernard Ntaganda now nearly made temporally disable and lying in King Faycal Hospital after intensive torture by the regime, has refused to become a Kagame’s stooge.
Apparently the objective of Kagame’s regime is to break up everything which could help support the idea of democracy in Rwanda. In that line, the prosecutor Martin Ngoga has renewed his attacks against Paul Rusesabagina accusing him of being a terrorist. Accusing anyone of terrorism lands in listening ears in the West, but not when you are yourself a genocidaire. The prosecutor forgets that the UN report on crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo is crystal clear on the role of his master Paul Kagame in documented acts of genocide against Hutus refugees and Hutu Congolese populations.
Fooling the world about offence of terrorism to get political opponents tortured and imprisoned won’t stand long since Paul Kagame is himself accused of similar if not worst crimes. He can pretend or be in denial, but it won take long for him to be caught with truth. Barack Obama may be currently preoccupied by his mid term US elections. But on his inauguration on January 20^th, 2009, he said,’ ‘To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills to the West – know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extent a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.’
Rwandans have suffered enough in the hands of Paul Kagame. We know he is clinging on power only because it is there he can legally avoid facing his crimes. But even Omar al-Bashir, though still President of Sudan, has been officially accused and summoned by a warrant by an International Criminal Court. Consequently, we should watch what is coming in the case of Rwanda and his president. There is in Rwanda paramount need for unity as a nation, real reconciliation, and equity in accessing opportunities, transparency and accountability before the population and good governance. And this is not about Victoire Ingabire, Deo Mushayidi, Me Bernard Ntaganda, Frank Habineza, and many others, or Hutus, Tutsis or Twas. Rwandans are hungry of democratic aspirations Paul Kagame cannot provide. The like of Victoire Ingabire leaders have started a revolution that Kagame’s mighty will not be able to stop.

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Des soldats parlant une langue inconnue attaquent Kikwit

Rwandan Soldiers in Kikwit Wikipedia

by Congo Collectif Sos Rdcongo

Kozanga koyeba ezali liwa liya ndambu
Le plan Kagamé-«Kabila»-Kabarebe en marche !

Rwandan Soldiers in DRC

Il y a des gens qui ne réagissent que lorsque le feu leur brûle la peau. Ils sont insensibles au phénomène annonciateur de la chaleur ! Et vous avez beau crier au feu pour les alerter, tant qu’ils n’ont pas encore subi les dégâts dévastateurs de la flamme sur leur corps, ils ne se soucient de rien. Même pas de la fumée qui sort d’une pièce de leur maison. Malheureusement, la plus part de nos compatriotes congolais sont dans cette catégorie-là. Des années durant, nous ne cessons de crier au loup dans la bergerie. Des années durant, nous ne cessons d’alerter nos compatriotes sur le vaste complot d’occupation progressive de notre pays la RDC. Aujourd’hui, le Nord et le Sud Kivu n’appartiennent plus aux Congolais. Que les « Saint Thomas » s’adressent aux centaines de millier de kivutiens chassés de leurs maisons et de leurs champs, et errant déjà comme des apatrides, vivant sous des tentes, sur la terre de leurs ancêtres. Il y a à peine quelques jours, nous avons signalé l’arrivée massive des troupes rwandaises qui furent transportées dès leur arrivée à l’aéroport de Ndjili vers Menkao, sur la route de Bandundu. Moins d’une semaine après, le camp militaire de Kikwit est attaqué. Des témoins oculaires affirment avoir vu et entendu des gens qui parlent « une langue inconnue » des locaux. Normalement, tout congolais sait identifier les autres langues nationales quand bien même il ne les pratique pas. Nous avons dénoncé le déploiement des troupes rwandaises du CNDP à l’Équateur il y a quelques jours. A l’Est du pays, on signale la reprise de service par des «rebelles congolais»…. Un scenario est en train d’être monté sous nos yeux pour mettre le pays à feu et à sang et justifier un grand massacre à l’échelle nationale. Un génocide !

Une occasion pour exterminer les peuples qui résistent à l’occupation de la RDC et pour exterminer les officiers congolais de ce qui reste encore de l’armée congolaise.Il y aura toujours des pantins et des marionnettes congolaises qui crieront à la manipulation. Ils sont probablement disposés à le faire jusqu’au dernier soupir du dernier résistant congolais. Car ils sont payés pour cela. Mais le peuple congolais, à l’image des étudiants et de la population de Kikwit, doit se mettre débout ! Bravo à la population de Kikwit et particulièrement aux étudiants qui n’ont pas attendu la riposte hypothétique des FARDC que « Kabila » a phagocyté, mais qui se sont saisis des machettes, des houes, des fourchettes… pour monter la garde de leur ville et braver l’ennemi. Ce geste de bravoure rappelle celui des kinois en août 1998 lorsqu’ils ont maté à mains nues les troupes rwandaises qui tentaient d’envahir la capitale après l’avoir assiégée.« Yes, we can!» Nous sommes capables quand nous voulons ! Oui, nous sommes capables de résister aux envahisseurs et aux occupants de notre beau et grand Congo! Ces gens-là ne parlent pas notre langue ; ils ne connaissent pas les rues et les avenues de nos villes, ni les sentiers de nos forêts! Ils portent seulement l’uniforme de notre armée, mais ils ne peuvent pas communiquer avec nous ! Ils sont venus pour occuper nos terres, mais cette terre sera un piège qui se refermera sur eux à jamais! Debout, Congolais ! N’attendez pas que le feu consume votre maison et vos enfants pour réagir. L’heure de la délivrance est là!
Paris, le 6 Novembre 2010
Candide OKEKE
L’OEIL DU PATRIOTE

l'armée rwandaise à kikwit

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Peace vs. Justice: Kate Cronin-Furman

I invited Kate Cronin-Furman, of Wronging Rights fame, to chime in on the recent release of the UN Mapping Report on the DRC. Kate is a PhD student a Columbia, where she's getting a joint degree in satire and political science, and has an avid interest in transitional justice (OK, the bit about satire isn't true.)

The UN Mapping Report came out a couple of weeks ago, with the much-tantrumed-about allegations of genocide intact. (Toned done a bit, but impressively extant.) Naturally, this has led a lot of people to conclude that what the DRC needs; more than security from the threat of violence, a competent police force, a functioning road network, protection of property rights, and access to clean water; is a mob of international lawyers traipsing about the place.

Whether or not you think the call for war crimes trials sounds totally reasonable or like so much crazy sauce depends on which side you're on in the great “No peace without justice” vs. “Does justice comes free with peace? Cause if not, I’ll just take my peace with a side of fries, please” debate.

If, like I do, you love peace, french fries, and justice, you may not know where to come down on this. The argument of the pro-trials folks (made recently by international justice A-lister Reed Brody here) is a viscerally compelling one; it makes a certain amount of intuitive sense that impunity breeds atrocity and that allowing war crimes to go unpunished will only result in more war crimes. For a lot of people, the theoretical appeal of this argument, coupled with the sense that it’s a moral imperative to punish guilty parties, is enough to justify a push for war crimes trials.

Me, I like my theories backed up by a bit of evidence. Unfortunately, in this case we don’t have any. International war crimes trials are a relatively recent phenomenon and we just don’t have the kind of data necessary to begin to draw informed conclusions about what benefits trials have and how they produce them. There is some evidence, however, that war crimes trials may exacerbate existing tensions and potentially trigger or prolong conflict. While the argument, mostly advanced by governments and diplomats in the region, that an accountability exercise would not be worth the instability it could produce might sound self-serving (after all, they weren’t the ones getting massacred), they may have a point. Consider, for example, the effect that the backlash to ICTY prosecutions had on the transitional process in Serbia.

In the absence of evidence, a highly plausible theoretical account of a deterrent effect might be enough to offset the potential risk of worsening the violence in the Eastern DRC. But the deterrent effect of criminal punishment is a contested concept even in domestic criminal law. In the international system, where we have nothing approaching the level of certainty of punishment and sentencing severity that arguably produces general deterrence in a domestic system, a reliable deterrent effect is that much less likely.

Without deterrence, the argument for pushing for immediate war crimes trials rests on the assumption that the moral imperative to punish the guilty demands punishing them instantly upon discovery of the crimes. Or rather, instantly upon publication of an official report detailing what we’ve all known for upwards of a decade. I’m just not sure that’s enough to justify the risk.

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Rwanda: Protect Rights and Safety of Opposition Leaders

SOURCE: Human Rights Watch

Victoire Ingabire Re-arrested, Bernard Ntaganda in Serious Condition

Victoire Ingabire.

© Getty Images

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The police should grant Ingabire access to visitors and should respect her rights to due process. If she is to be charged, it should be on the basis of solid evidence, not as a punishment for her criticisms of the government.

Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The Rwandan government should fully respect the rights of opposition party members and allow them to carry out their legitimate activities without fear for their safety, Human Rights Watch said today. 
Human Rights Watch issued its statement in response to the re-arrest of Victoire Ingabire, president of the opposition party FDU-Inkingi, and the transfer from prison to a hospital of Bernard Ntaganda, president of another opposition party, the PS-Imberakuri, both on October 14, 2010. Both parties have been critical of the Rwandan government and were prevented from participating in the presidential elections in August. 
Ntaganda was arrested on June 24 and has remained in detention awaiting trial. He had been on a hunger strike to protest his treatment in prison. On October 14, he was rushed from Kigali Central Prison to the Centre Hospitalier de Kigali (CHK), Kigali's main hospital.  His relatives and friends reported that he was in intensive care, but were not given specific information on his condition. Some of them were able to see him briefly in hospital and reported that he was very weak. That evening, he was transferred to King Faysal Hospital, also in Kigali.
"We are worried about Bernard Ntaganda's condition," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The authorities should ensure he has access to appropriate and prompt medical treatment and that family and friends are allowed to visit him.  They should also ensure that if his condition suggests evidence of abuse, for example that he has been ill-treated or attempts have been made to force feed him or retaliate against him for his hunger strike, this is immediately investigated."
In the days preceding Ntaganda's transfer to the hospital, friends had been refused permission to visit him in prison. On their most recent attempt to visit on October 13, prison officials reportedly told them that they would be able to see him on October 15 - by which time he had been transferred to the hospital.
The authorities should ensure that proper medical information about the condition of his health and the treatment he is receiving is available to his family, Human Rights Watch said.
The arrest of Victoire Ingabire came after police had surrounded her house for several days. Then on October 14, they came to her house and took her to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID), where she was questioned in the presence of her lawyer. She was then transferred to Kicukiro police station, where she remains. Colleagues who brought her food and water on the morning of October 15 were not allowed to see her. 
According to police statements, Ingabire's interrogation relates to testimony from a former commander of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces démocratiques pour la libération du Rwanda, FDLR). The FDLR is an armed group active in the Democratic Republic of Congo, some of whose members took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The commander, who was arrested on October 13, allegedly implicated Ingabire in activities to form a new armed group.
"The police should grant Ingabire access to visitors and should respect her rights to due process," Peligal said. "If she is to be charged, it should be on the basis of solid evidence, not as a punishment for her criticisms of the government."
Background
Members of the PS-Imberakuri and the FDU-Inkingi were subjected to persistent harassment and intimidation in the period leading up to presidential elections in August.  Neither party was able to field candidates in the elections, which the incumbent, Paul Kagame, won with 93 per cent of the vote.
On June 24, police arrested Ntaganda, raided his house and the party office, and took away documents and other belongings. Ntaganda was accused of several offenses, including endangering national security, and inciting ethnic divisions (in relation to his public statements criticizing government policies) and organizing demonstrations without official authorization. 
Ingabire was questioned by the police numerous times in the first half of the year. In March, police stopped her at Kigali airport and prevented her from leaving the country.  In April, she was arrested and brought before a court to face accusations of "genocide ideology," "divisionism," and collaboration with the FDLR. She was released on bail, with charges still pending, and is not allowed to travel outside the capital.
Several other members of the PS-Imberakuri and the FDU-Inkingi were arrested in June and July, some when they attempted to hold a demonstration on June 24.  Some were released; others remain in detention. Several were ill-treated by the police.  They were beaten and kicked, and were kept handcuffed to other prisoners, even while eating and going to the toilet.
Members of a third opposition party, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda, also received threats in the pre-election period. The party's vice-president, André Kagwa Rwisereka, was brutally murdered in July; his mutilated body was found outside the town of Butare. The circumstances of his death remain unclear. Police arrested a suspect but released him a few days later. No further judicial action has been taken.

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Justice Still Remote for Victims of Atrocities in DRC

SOURCE:Potent
London, Oct 13, 2010 (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks/All Africa Global Media via COMTEX) -- The authors of the UN "mapping report" detailing more than 600 "serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law" committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) between March 1993 and June 2003 see the landmark document as an important step in delivering justice to victims of the atrocities.
While the report made no claim to meet the evidentiary standards required in a courtroom, it has prompted widespread discussion about what should happen next regarding the alleged abuses attributed to troops from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Chad, Zimbabwe and Angola.
IRIN evaluates the options.
Congolese judicial system
Under DRC law only military courts can try international crimes, as the civil criminal code has no provisions relating to war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. Military judges have handed down some verdicts in war crimes cases, citing the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, but the system functions poorly and judges reportedly often succumb to political interference.
As the UN report points out, the civil system is barely equipped to deliver justice at any level. It lacks adequate funding personnel, transportation, training, professional development, witness protection and judicial independence.
While most countries spend 2-6 percent of their national budget on justice, the DRC spent an average of 0.6 percent a year between 2004 and 2009, according to the UN report.
The International Criminal Court (ICC)
The Hague-based court was established to hear cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed after July 2002. Some crimes committed in Ituri do fall within the ICC's mandate. However, most incidents in the report occurred from July 1996 to January 2000, during the first and second DRC wars, ruling out the ICC as a legal recourse. The court's Trust Fund for Victims, which provides reparations for war crimes' victims even without judicial verdicts, is also unlikely to help for the same reason. "The Trust Fund typically becomes involved once the ICC has substantively become involved in the situation concerned. It would not get involved in other crimes in Congo that pre-date the Rome Statute," said Carla Ferstman, the director of Redress, a human rights group working with victims of war crimes in DRC.
Three cases involving crimes allegedly committed in DRC are currently before the ICC, including that of Callixte Mbarushimana, a leader of a Rwandan rebel group who was arrested in Paris on October 11. He faces five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and persecution) and six counts of war crimes (attacks against the civilian population, destruction of property, murder, torture, rape and inhuman treatment).
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)
As with the ICC, the ICTR is also limited by its mandate. This includes trying crimes, including genocide committed in Rwanda, or by Rwandans in neighbouring countries, but only in 1994. The tribunal is also due to close next year. "The ICTR is overloaded and trying to close its doors," said Phil Clark, research fellow at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford.
The International Court of Justice, ICJ
The ICJ settles disputes between states. In 2005 in ruled in favour of DRC in a case brought against Uganda over the illegal exploitation of natural resources during the second war. Uganda has yet to pay the billions of dollars of reparations ordered by the court.
Both parties to a dispute must be willing participants in any ICJ case. While all UN member states are party to the Court, not all adhere to the principal of compulsory jurisdiction, i.e. of having to answer to charges brought by another state.
For example, a case the DRC hoped to bring against Rwanda was never heard by the ICJ.
Given Rwanda's blanket dismissal of the UN report, it (and other named states) are unlikely to agree to appear before the ICJ.
The recent rapprochement between Kinshasa and Kigali also reduces the chances of an inter-state court case.
New ad-hoc international tribunal
A request by DRC for the UN to establish an ad-hoc tribunal similar to the ICTR and International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia came to nought.
There is a need for a judicial mechanism, but the process has to come from the Congolese people
Generally set up outside the country where the crimes were committed, such courts have been criticized as slow and expensive in relation to the number of trials and too distant from the victims of the crimes being prosecuted.
"These crimes took place in Congo so it wouldn't be good if the whole process of justice took place outside," said Carina Tertsakian, the senior Rwanda researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).
Hybrid court
Crimes committed in Sierra Leone, East Timor and Kosovo are, or have been, tried in a family of international judicial entities known as hybrid courts - "hybrid" because they involve staff and apply legislation that is both international and domestic.
Like international tribunals their efficacy is affected by the need for international cooperation and judicial assistance by states and international organizations.
The UN plays a leading role in all existing hybrid courts.
Mixed chamber
HRW, as well as the report's authors, advocate a so-called "mixed chamber" embedded in the DRC justice system with local and international judges and prosecutors working together. Cheaper and quicker to set up than an international tribunal, it would apply Congolese laws and procedures, but would temporarily include non-Congolese staff.
The Bosnian war crimes chamber in Sarajevo could be the model. Tertsakian believes a mixed chamber would give Congolese a sense of "ownership" of the justice process which would also benefit from international involvement.
"We think there needs to be an international component to the process to strengthen and build up the capacity of the Congolese justice system and also provide the process with a degree of additional credibility and to combat political interference," she said.
"Any case that reaches the trial stage will be politically sensitive, and there is likely to be pressure from various quarters, and to guard against that it would be important to have some international personnel working alongside Congolese judges and prosecutors."
A mixed chamber, however, would struggle to arrest non-Congolese suspects. Both Rwanda and Angola forbid extradition of their nationals, meaning serious support from the African Union, regional governments and the international community would be essential to avoid the problems already being experienced by the ICC which is unable to execute the majority of its arrest warrants because of lack of cooperation from member states. (Unlike the tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, the ICC has no personnel with powers of arrest).
Photo: IRIN
The report focuses on atrocities committed by foreign troops in the DRC (file photo)
Universal jurisdiction
The principle of universal jurisdiction allows suspects of serious international crimes to be prosecuted by third party states.
Belgium, the Netherlands and Spain have in the past prosecuted people from DRC and Rwanda under the principle of universal jurisdiction.
While suspects' governments may be unable to halt such prosecutions, such cases are very likely to create diplomatic rows over purported infringements of sovereignty.
Truth and reconciliation commission
The UN report says more than 30 commissions have already been set up, in particular in Argentina, Chile, South Africa, Peru, Ghana, Morocco, El Salvador, Guatemala, East Timor and Sierra Leone.
However, a previous DRC truth commission with the ambitious mandate of examining all political, economic and social crimes committed between 1960 and 2003 never really got off the ground.
It collected no witness statements nor opened a single enquiry. Commissioners were drawn from the warring groups and some were involved in the crimes they should have been investigating.
The University of Oxford's Phil Clark is sceptical that another would work much better.
"I think there is an argument that there is a need for a truth commission, but it needs to be better organized and structured and it can't involve commissioners from the main protagonists in the conflict. My sense is horse may have bolted on that front," he said.
Nothing happens ever
The crimes outlined in the UN report have been known for many years and well documented by a variety of local and international human rights and civil society organizations. Some say the reasons nothing was done then - the size of the DRC, the sheer number of crimes committed, the countries involved, the devastation of DRC's infrastructure - still exist today and that no substantive action will be taken on the report.
Clark believes the "international community" has Congolese justice fatigue. "Unfortunately I am quite pessimistic on the justice side of things that we are going to see any accountability for the crimes that have been identified by the mapping report," he said.
"There is a sense that so much has been done for this region and the results to date have been fairly patchy so the idea of wading back into the Great Lakes with a new type of institution I think is going to be a fairly unattractive possibility for most global policymakers."
That's a view shared by Mauro De Lorenzo, fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He doubts the "international community" is willing to put at risk improving relations between DRC and its neighbours.
"It's hard to see people being enthusiastic about putting into jeopardy progress that has been made in the region," he said.
Nothing happens yet
De Lorenzo urges patience. "There's a time and place. We're just now having trials in Cambodia. It's not for us to rush and decide for the Congolese how they should do it," he said.
The International Centre for Transitional Justice's DRC head Sharanjeet Parmar agrees Congolese views are essential in determining the next steps. "There is a need for a judicial mechanism, but the process has to come from the Congolese people," she said.
Parmar, however, says some consensus is needed internationally and that doing nothing is not an option. "These are some of the worst atrocities seen on the continent in recent history, and if the international community can't work out the diplomatic and political intricacies to deliver on justice then that's a poor reflection on these international bodies we've invested decades in building."
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These news stories are produced by third-parties and are not reviewed or edited by Poten & Partners. They are collected and distributed as a convenience, subject to the Terms and Conditions described on our website, and provided without warranty of any kind. Any opinions expressed in these articles represent the views of third-party authors and should not be construed to reflect the opinions of Poten & Partners.

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DR Congo: ICC-Indicted War Criminal Involved in Assassinations of Opponents

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2010 8:18 AM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW) Tel: +1-212-216-1832 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              +1-212-216-1832      end_of_the_skype_highlighting Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Congolese Government Should Urgently Act to Arrest Bosco Ntaganda

Bosco Ntaganda

LONDON - October 13 - The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately arrest Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese army general sought on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. Since January 2010, Ntaganda has been implicated in the assassination of at least eight people, arbitrary arrests of another seven, and the abduction and disappearance of at least one more. Some of these incidents occurred in eastern Congo, others in neighboring Rwanda. Ntaganda, who lives and moves about openly in Goma, in eastern Congo, has also directly or indirectly threatened more than two dozen people whom he perceives as opposing him. Despite well documented evidence of his abuses, the Congolese government has not acted to arrest Ntaganda, whom it regards as essential to the "peace process" in eastern Congo.
"Ntaganda should be arrested and made to answer for his crimes, rather than being allowed to walk freely in Goma," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "He is a threat to the people of eastern Congo and is making a mockery of the Congolese government's policy of zero tolerance for human rights abuses."
The majority of those targeted by Ntaganda are family members or former supporters of the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, whom Ntaganda ousted from the leadership of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) rebel group in January 2009 with the help of military authorities from nearby Rwanda. After taking over the leadership of the CNDP, Ntaganda announced that he was ending the rebellion. He said he would integrate the rebel troops into the Congolese national army to carry out joint operations with Rwandan armed forces against the predominately Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Ntaganda secured a position for himself as a general in Congo's army. The Congolese government said it would not execute the ICC arrest warrant against him in the interest of maintaining peace, contending that Ntaganda is needed to keep the former CNDP troops integrated in the Congolese army.
Ntaganda's putsch, and the subsequent arrest and detention without charge of Nkunda in Rwanda, deeply divided the CNDP movement. A number of Nkunda supporters objected to Ntaganda's leadership, though they took up their new positions in the Congolese army. Other civilians and activists with no links to the CNDP who have exposed Ntaganda's human rights violations and called for his arrest have also been the targets of arbitrary arrests and intimidation by Ntaganda and his supporters.
Assassinations, Disappearances, and Arbitrary Arrests
The most recent assassination occurred on September 14, when Lt. Col. Antoine Balibuno, a well known and respected former member of Nkunda's inner circle, was shot dead in the center of Goma. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that, hours before his murder, Balibuno had been called to a meeting at a bar with Lt. Col Kabakule Kennedy and Lt. Col. John Asiki, two close supporters of Ntaganda. He reluctantly went to the meeting accompanied by close confidants.
At Kennedy and Asiki's insistence, Balibuno left the bar with them later in the evening and entered their vehicle. He phoned a friend from the vehicle shortly thereafter, leaving the phone line open. The friend could hear him on the phone asking those in the car why they were taking him to Ntaganda's house.
The friend on the other end of the phone told Human Rights Watch in an interview that Balibuno said, "You said we were going to Dallas [a nightclub in Goma], but now we're going to Bosco's house... This isn't what we agreed to. Now there's a jeep full of soldiers blocking the road. I don't understand. Are you going to kill me here?" Then the phone cut off. Minutes later, around 10 p.m., Balibuno was shot dead. A policeman who heard the shots and went to investigate found his body outside the old VIP restaurant in the center of Goma, with bullet wounds in his head, neck, and chest.
In the months prior to his assassination, Balibuno had repeatedly told Human Rights Watch and others that he had been threatened by Ntaganda for refusing to support Ntaganda's leadership of the CNDP. Less than a week before his assassination, Balibuno told Human Rights Watch that Ntaganda had instructed Kennedy to form a "commando unit" to carry out assassinations and kidnappings of those opposed to Ntaganda. The murder of Balibuno immediately raised tensions between the Nkunda and Ntaganda factions of the CNDP. People close to Balibuno received threatening phone calls, warning them that they would be next. Judicial officials told Human Rights Watch they were reluctant to follow up on the murder case, fearing reprisals from Ntaganda. No arrests have been made, despite clear leads as to who was involved in the murder.
"President Kabila claims that Ntaganda is necessary for the peace process, but Ntaganda's brutal targeting of opponents and blatant disregard for Congolese law and basic human rights is no way to achieve peace," Van Woudenberg said.
At least seven other people with family or other connections to Nkunda have been assassinated in the past four months. One of the assassinations documented by Human Rights Watch took place in Gisenyi, a town in Rwanda bordering Goma, in which Rwandan state agents may have assisted in the killing.
On June 20, a small group of men, including at least one known bodyguard of Ntaganda and individuals whom witnesses described as Rwandan security agents, forcefully entered the home of 77-year-old Denis Ntare Semadwinga, an influential former member of the CNDP with close ties to Nkunda. Semadwinga was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and his throat was slit. Despite repeated calls by neighbors and family members to the Rwandan police for help, no officers arrived for at least two hours.
Friends and family members say that Semadwinga was targeted because he had been opposed to Ntaganda's leadership of the CNDP. He had been called in for questioning by the Rwandan security services before his murder and questioned about his support for Nkunda. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch, Semadwinga may also have been in contact with Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, an opponent of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. In June 2010, Nyamwasa narrowly escaped a murder attempt in South Africa. Individuals in Rwanda suspected of having links with Nyamwasa have also received threats.
In addition to those assassinated, seven other civilians and army officers critical of Ntaganda have been arbitrarily arrested on Ntaganda's orders since January, according to interviews with victims and other credible reports received by Human Rights Watch. Most were detained at the military intelligence prison in Goma. In nearly all cases, Ntaganda dictated what the charges should be, those arrested told Human Rights Watch. Prison and judicial officials told the detainees that they were instructed to treat their cases differently, and not to follow due process, since the individuals were detained on the direct orders of Ntaganda.
In three cases, judicial authorities investigated the alleged charges but found no evidence that the men were connected to any offense. However, the judicial authorities informed the detainees they could not release them because of Ntaganda's involvement. In other cases, there were limited investigations, or none. Some detainees later paid a bribe for their release and fled into exile. Others were released after several weeks or months without the cases being transferred to judicial authorities.
Others with no connection to the CNDP or Nkunda, but who had criticized Ntaganda, have also been targeted. Sylvestre Bwira Kyahi, the civil society president of Masisi territory, was abducted in Goma on August 24, most likely on Ntaganda's order, and held for a week in an underground prison. Bwira had been in hiding since late July following a threatening phone call from Ntaganda's "secretary" about a public letter Bwira had written to the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, denouncing, among other things, abuses by troops under Ntaganda's command and calling for Ntaganda's arrest on the basis of the ICC arrest warrant.
In detention, Bwira was blindfolded, tied to a pillar, and repeatedly beaten. He was questioned by soldiers he identified as Tutsi and belonging to the CNDP, whose leadership is largely Tutsi, about why he opposed the group. Following pressure from civil society and human rights groups, Bwira was "provisionally released." Bwira told Human Rights Watch that before he was freed, the soldiers injected his leg with an unknown substance. Bwira is still receiving medical care for the complications caused by this injection and his treatment in detention.
Human Rights Watch received information about another four arbitrary arrests and disappearances in Gisenyi and Cyangugu, Rwandan towns bordering eastern Congo, in which members of the Rwandan security forces and possibly soldiers loyal to Ntaganda may have been involved. Those who disappeared include Sheikh Iddy Abbasi, a former supporter of Nkunda who was abducted outside his home in Gisenyi in March 2010 and has not been seen since.

"We urge the Rwandan authorities to investigate the killings and disappearances which occurred on Rwandan territory and bring to justice those responsible," Van Woudenberg said. A Record of Human Rights Violations
Ntaganda is sought on an arrest warrant from the ICC for the war crime of enlisting and conscripting children as soldiers and using them in hostilities in 2002 and 2003 in the Ituri district of eastern Congo. In addition to the war crimes that form the basis of the ICC arrest warrant, Ntaganda was also allegedly in command of combatants who arrested, tortured, or killed hundreds of civilians in Ituri between August 2002 and March 2003. United Nations peacekeepers have said that troops under Ntaganda's command were also responsible for killing a Kenyan UN peacekeeper in January 2004 and for kidnapping a Moroccan peacekeeper later that year.
More recently, in November 2008 in North Kivu, CNDP troops under Ntaganda's command killed an estimated 150 people in the town of Kiwanja, one of the worst massacres in North Kivu in the past two years. In 2009, after Ntaganda was made a general in the Congolese army, troops under his command deliberately killed at least 270 civilians in the area between Nyabiondo and Pinga, in western Masisi territory. In the first six months of 2010, Human Rights Watch documented 25 attacks on villages in the same area, resulting in the deaths of at least 105 civilians. The operations may in part have been motivated by an effort to gain control of the area's fertile farmland. Congolese army soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch said Ntaganda played a command role in these attacks.
The ICC has jurisdiction over these additional grave international crimes. Human Rights Watch has called on the ICC prosecutor to investigate these incidents and charge Ntaganda if the evidence permits.
On October 11, French authorities arrested Callixte Mbarushimana in France, the executive secretary of the Rwandan FDLR, the group against whom Ntaganda purports to be fighting. Mbarushimana was sought on an ICC arrest for serious crimes committed in eastern Congo in 2009.
"The failure to hold Ntaganda accountable for his past crimes has left him at liberty to continue to perpetrate atrocities," said Van Woudenberg. "Ending impunity for Ntaganda's crimes is essential for breaking the cycle of violence and ensuring that all sides to the conflict face justice for their brutal attacks on civilians."
Trouble for the UN Mission
The participation of Ntaganda in military operations in eastern Congo also causes significant problems for the UN stabilization mission in Congo, MONUSCO. On October 6, Reuters News Agency published an exclusive interview with Ntaganda in which he confirmed he played a leading role in military operations in eastern Congo, known as Amani Leo, backed by UN peacekeepers.
Ntaganda's confirmation of his role is backed up by internal army meeting notes, signed military orders, and confirmation from other army officers that Ntaganda gives them orders, all of which came to light in 2009. The Congolese government continues to deny that Ntaganda plays a role in operation Amani Leo.
Under MONUSCO's conditionality policy for support to Congolese army military operations, adopted in late 2009, and legal advice from the UN's own lawyers, MONUSCO may not support an operation in which an individual sought on an ICC arrest warrant plays a role.
The UN's Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) provided the following specific advice to the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo in April 2009: "There would also be significant legal obstacles to MONUC participating in the operation envisaged in the Directive if Bosco Ntaganda were to play a prominent role in that operation, whether as a commander of, or senior officer in, one or more of the FARDC units involved, or as a staff officer involved in the planning or execution of the operation or otherwise."
The UN Security Council is due to discuss the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo this week in New York.
"The UN mission should provide support to the Congolese government to arrest Ntaganda, as they have done in others cases of human rights abusers, and suspend their support of Amani Leo operations until this has been done," Van Woudenberg said. "Failure to do so places the UN peacekeepers in the untenable position of supporting a suspected war criminal wanted by the ICC."

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