Dissident General Invites UN to Investigate Abuse Allegations
The Rwandan News Agency reports...DR Congo dissident Gen. Laurent Nkunda has dismissed accusations by the UN Mission in the country (MONUC) that he has been forcefully recruiting children into his forces.
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We are scandalized by the denigrations and other untrue charges against the CNDP (Nkunda's party) on behalf of the MONUC which argued the recruitment of 200 students from the secondary school of Tongo
General Nkunda forces are also alleging that government forces - the FARDC - have been arbitrarily arresting 'innocent Congolese civilians because of their membership of an ethnic group' - in apparent reference to Tutsi civilians.
Nine people of Tutsi ethnic group were arrested months ago in Bunagana and transferred to the Makala Prison on December 9, 2007 without being judged nor heard, Nkunda alleges.
According to him, the organization has information suggesting that more than 31 people arrested at Kibumba in North-Kivu and are illegally jailed in prisons and dungeons in Kinshasa. We will forward to you the names of the prisoners the coming days, the statement to RNA said.
More at the link...
East Congo peace conference
GOMA, Congo (AP) — Hundreds of officials descended on this eastern outpost Thursday to begin preparations for upcoming peace talks even as fighting continued in the tangled forests of eastern Congo.
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Missing from the gathering was the warlord Laurent Nkunda, whose rebellion is at the heart of the spiraling conflict.
In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, his second-in-command said Nkunda had not yet been invited to the peace conference, which is scheduled to begin in Goma on Jan. 6.
"If we receive the invitation, we will be there — no trouble. We are here for peace and not for war," said Bwambale Kakolele, the rebel leader's military commander.
But he said the government was continuing to attack Nkunda's positions as officials rolled into this provincial capital to discuss peace.
"Even this morning these people ... have attacked our troops in Rugari," Kakolele said. "We do not understand."
Nkunda must have missed something thinking 'prep for peace talks' translates into a ceasefire :wry:
GOMA, Congo (Reuters) - Congo's authorities have postponed until January 6 a peace conference aimed at ending conflict in the east...
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...officials said the conference in the North Kivu provincial capital Goma would now begin in earnest on January 6 to allow more time for preparation and for invitations to be sent to participants, including rebel Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda.
President Joseph Kabila is under pressure from the United Nations and the United States to find a political solution to end years of fighting in the Kivus involving government troops, Tutsi insurgents, Rwandan Hutu rebels and Mai Mai militia.
MONUC Weekly press conference, 2 January 2008
Goma - Monuc Supporting the FARDC for Peace Conference Security
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...DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) battalions were transported by helicopter in the past week to North-Kivu to ensure the security of the Goma peace conference, envisaged for 6 January. The mission also supplied isolated FARDC units, and those wounded were evacuated to Goma.
One Nkunda colonel surrendered at Kitchanga mobile operational base with his wife, who has the rank of major, and all were sent to brassage on 26 December.
Sensitising and monitoring efforts continue to target the residual armed groups, whose 25 members have already been identified in Kwandroma.
...South Kivu, in order to improve the security of the population and to aid humanitarian support for those displaced, joint FARDC-MONUC patrols were intensified, and meetings are regularly held with the local authorities.
In parallel, the negotiations are very advanced to transport the Mayi-Mayi of the Zaboloni faction to brassage.
More at the link
surge in rape by fighters from all sides
Most rape victims say their attackers were armed groups of rebels or government soldiers.
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GOMA, Congo, Jan 3 (Reuters) - Intense fighting between government and militia forces in eastern Congo has led to a surge in rape by fighters from all sides, women and doctors say.
Renewed hostilities between the army and troops loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda have stoked a volatile crucible of violence in Congo's North Kivu province, where traditional Mai Mai fighters and Rwandan Hutu militia also roam.
Sexual violence has escalated as hundreds of thousands of people have been forced to flee the safety of their homes -- around 400,000 people since August, when Nkunda quit a peace deal, bringing North Kivu's displaced population to 800,000.
Congo's government has called a peace summit for Sunday, but there is little optimism the chronic fighting will end soon.
Smith Human Rights Mission Reinforces U.S. Support of Critical Kivus Peace Conference
Goma - U.S. Rep Chris Smith launching a four-day human rights mission that will focus on combating human trafficking, child soldiers and sexual violence while at the same time underscoring US commitment to critical peace negotiations due to convene on January 7, 2008.
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The US has both a humanitarian and a national security interest in helping them attain stability and security in this critical region of Africa. I’m here to reinforce American support for the peace conference and emphasize our long-term commitment to securing universal human rights as the most effective means to obtaining a genuine and lasting peace.
The US is expected to play a significant role in the January 7th conference scheduled to take place in the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma where insurgent fighting has intensified after the 2006 elections. Rebel forces as well as the government military have recently committed some of the worst human rights abuses in the world in this region of Congo. UN peacekeepers in the region have also come under fire for sexually abusing and trafficking Congolese women and young girls in 2004.
As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, Smith convened a hearing on the sex trafficking abuse issue in Congo and he remains concerned that the UN must continue to aggressively to address this abuse.
To my dismay and anger I have learned on this mission that the UN is planning on cutting back and downgrading their investigative effort to combat human trafficking by UN personnel, Smith said. That is unacceptable and I will be working to restore the anti-trafficking investigative positions here in Congo.
How much money is needed to be figuratively "re-booted"
Just how much cash is needed, since 2007's $22,631,483 still wasn't enough :confused:
Other Humanitarian Funding to Democratic Republic of Congo 2007
Table H: List of commitments/contributions and pledges to projects not listed in the Appeal as of 06-January-2008
Warlord's Delegation at Congo Talks
By EDDY ISANGO, Associated Press Writer
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GOMA, Congo (AP) -- One of Congo's fiercest warlords sent a delegation on Sunday to meet with members of the government on the first day of peace talks in the provincial outpost of Goma.
The delegation of 10 rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda arrived in Goma under the guard of U.N. troops. The rebels declared a cease-fire last week.
A spokesman for the delegation said its No. 1 concern is the continued presence in Congo of the extremist Hutu militia FDLR, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda.
U.N. Faults Congo Army for Violence
GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese government forces summarily executed civilians and members of a politician’s private militia and used excessive force during clashes with the militia last year, according to a preliminary report by United Nations human rights investigators.
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The United Nations panel had investigated clashes in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, in March between Congolese forces and security guards of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former warlord who was runner-up in 2006 presidential elections.
In a statement released Friday in Geneva, the United Nations human rights commissioner’s office said the government killed at least 300 people last March.
The Congo defense minister, Chikez Diemu, spoke for the government.
“There are means of dealing with such serious issues, and not through the media,” Mr. Diemu said from this far eastern city in North Kivu Province where officials were gathering for peace talks with another warlord.
Congolese officials said the clashes started when Mr. Bemba’s troops took over a part of Kinshasa. Mr. Bemba, who once controlled an army of 20,000 but had only a battalion of roughly 600 men at the time, said his men were defending him from an assassination attempt.
Negative Start to DR Congo Peace Conference
Hmmm, we actually got the rebels to attend (I seriously doubted they would), and the president backs out. What signal does that now send ?
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A roundtable Conference on Peace, Security and Development in the Kivus opened on Sunday at Université Libre des pays des Grands Lacs in Goma
without the presence of DR Congo President Joseph Kabila.
Being the prominent authority that initiated the conference, Kabila had been expected to attend Sunday's opening, at least to highlight the importance he accorded to it, but he surprisingly pulled out at the last minute. President Kabila's failure to attend has been interpreted by analysts as a sign that nothing tangible will come out of the ongoing conference.
More at the link...
Rebels Quit Talks After Arrest of Delegate
This comes a barely a surprise. Why would an otherwise known criminal attend peace talks :D
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...rebels suspended participation in peace talks taking place in the eastern town of Goma after one of their delegates was arrested by security officials.
Reliable sources say Major Seraphin Mirindi, the military spokesman for dissident forces loyal to General Laurent Nkunda, was arrested Wednesday afternoon outside the venue of the peace talks called by the Congolese government.
The arrest angered the CNDP delegates who immediately pulled out of the talks in protest over what they said was deliberate harassment by the Congolese government.
Wrong Man Row Leads to Rebel Talks Boycott
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Insurgents have walked out of a conference aimed at restoring peace and stability to the eastern Kivu provinces after one of their number was mistaken for a fugitive assassin of the late president Laurent Kabila and briefly arrested.
The conference only got off the ground on 9 January, after several days' delay caused by logisitical problems and rows over exactly who was entitled to attend.
"We have temporarily suspended our participation in this conference because we want official safety guarantees," head of the rebel delegation Kambasu Ngeve told IRIN.
UN-backed summit in DR Congo discusses amnesty
18 January 2008 – Delegates at the United Nations
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...backed conference have discussed the possibility of amnesty for certain belligerents, including dissident General Laurent Nkunda.
Participants also discussed the integration of Nkunda fighters into the brassage process, whereby ex-combatants from armed groups are retrained to form part of the national armed forces of the DRC (FARDC), as well as the need to respond to refugee concerns.
The conference is scheduled to conclude on 21 January.
Meanwhile, the UN Mission in the DRC, known as MONUC, reports that two days of violent clashes in Bunia between Government troops and the Ituri Patriotic Resistance Front militia has left two soldiers dead and another two wounded, while seven militiamen were captured.
Congo government, rebels to sign ceasefire Tuesday
KINSHASA, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Democratic Republic of Congo's government and warring rebel and militia factions will sign a deal on Tuesday to end fighting in the country's conflict-torn east...
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The agreement, which will include a ceasefire, was announced following more than two weeks of talks in Goma, capital of eastern North Kivu province, that brought together government officials, local leaders and rival armed factions.
"(A ceasefire) will be signed tomorrow at the closing ceremony," Vital Kamerhe, spokesman for the peace conference and head of Congo's lower house of parliament, told Reuters.
Under the deal to be signed, an immediate permanent ceasefire would be established between the government, the Mai Mai and Nkunda, diplomats and observers at the talks said.
Nkunda's fighters would pull back from advanced positions in North Kivu, many of which they have held since the failure of a government offensive in December. This would create space for a buffer zone to be patrolled by United Nations peacekeepers.
A technical commission would then be established to oversee the disarmament of the Nkunda rebels and Mai Mai fighters and their integration into the national army, or demobilisation.
The government would, in turn, promise to create a law granting amnesty to the Mai Mai and Nkunda rebels covering "insurgency and acts of war".
UN hails agreement to end violence in eastern DR Congo
UN News, 23 January 2008 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hailed the agreement reached today between the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and armed groups in the country’s war-torn east...
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Mr. Ban said in a
statement issued by his spokesperson that he “is very encouraged by the commitment of the armed groups of North and South Kivu to end all hostilities” reflected in the ‘Actes d’engagement’ signed by these groups and the Government.
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In a related development, the
UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of the DRC will soon sign an agreement worth $390 million for a good governance project.
The initiative, to run from this year until 2012, is a UNDP-led effort to promote stable and legitimate governance, as well as economic, judicial and security sector reform.