In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the NationalCongress for the Defense of the Congolese People (CNDP) rebel group loyal torenegade general Laurent Nkunda is reportedly provoking fights against othermilitia groups and causing instability in the restive North Kivu province.President Joseph Kabila's government is accusing the rebel group of going onrampage and executing civilians whom they claim to be members of other militiasin the area.
The government adds that actions of the CNDP rebels areundermining the cessation of hostilities agreement recently signed between thegovernment and other rebel groups in North Kivu. But the rebels deny theaccusation, blaming the government for the deaths of the civilians. AnnekeVan-Woudenberg is the senior researcher for Human Rights Watch in theDemocratic Republic of Congo. She tells reporter Peter Clottey that peace seemsto be elusive to most of the residents in North Kivu province.
"WhatHuman Rights Watch has published today is a report detailing a 10-dayinvestigation mission that we conducted in eastern Congo, and specifically inthe province of North Kivu. And what we found is that since the signing of theceasefire, six months ago, that the rape and the killing of civilians continue.Now, one of those groups are indeed the soldiers of Laurent Nkunda, a renegadegeneral who has been operating here in eastern Congo,"Van-Woudenberg pointed out.
Shesaid other military groups in the area are also involved in destabilizing thatpart of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
"Histroops (Nkunda) are not the only ones. Human Rights Watch also documentedserious killings by a coalition of three other armed groups. These areCongolese Hutu groups called the PARECO (Coalition of Congolese PatrioticResistance) and the Mai Mai, but also the Rwandan Hutu groups who have beenoperating here in the forest of eastern Congo for the past 14 years. So what wefound is an ongoing serious situation for the protection of civilians, and formost people there is no peace," she said.
Van-Woudenbergdescribes the abuse of human rights allegedly being committed by governmentforces also as unseemly.
"First of all these soldiersof the Congolese army are also involved in human rights abuses. They arelooting from the local population, and raping women and girls, but perhaps asimportantly, we have discovered that they also continue to support thiscoalition of armed groups including the Rwanda Hutu groups some of whomparticipated in the genocide in 1994. This is the group that the Congolesegovernment have claimed they will seek to disarm, a group that is supposed toreturn to Rwanda. But in fact we have found that the Congolese governmentcontinues to support them and their allies, which means that we seriouslyquestion the government's commitment to this process," Van-Woudenberg noted.
She said Human Rights Watchhas begun meetings with other armed groups and stakeholders to find a solutionto the problems documented in the report.
"Human Rights Watch havebeen meeting for the past two days with leaders from all of the armed groups aswell as from senior officers from the Congolese army, and other governmentofficials to tell them what we have documented in our investigations, andurging them to act on this. And we very much hope that they will take thisseriously," she said.
Van-Woudenberg said therewas need for an international effort to implement the peace process.
"But of course one of theother things we have been urging is for the international facilitators to thepeace process, which includes the United States, and the European Union, and wehave said to them, let's make central to this peace process the protection ofcivilians. And we are urging appointment of a special advisor on human rightsso that we can ensure that the protection of civilians and respect for humanrights is at the center of this peace process, and not a forgotten issue thatis never dealt with," Van-Woudenberg pointed out.