TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1

2. Background .................................................................................................................... 2
2.1 The main protagonists ...................................................................................... 3
2.2 Impact of the armed conflict ............................................................................ 5
2.3 International attempts to end the armed conflict .............................................. 6

3. Violations of the right to life in DRC government-controlled areas .............................. 8

3.1 Unlawful killings ............................................................................................. 8
3.2 Executions ordered by the Military Order Court ........................................... 10
3.3 “Disappearances” ........................................................................................... 13
3.4 Torture and other forms of ill-treatment ........................................................ 15

4. Violations of the right to life in areas under rebel and foreign forces .......................... 19
4.1 Unlawful killings ........................................................................................... 19
4.1.1 Killings by RCD and allied forces .................................................. 20
4.1.2 Killings by Burundi government forces ......................................... 22
4.1.3 Killings by the RPA ....................................................................... 24
4.2 UPDF accused of extrajudicial killings in Ituri intercommunal violence ...... 25
4.3 Death sentences and executions ordered by armed opposition leaders .......... 25
4.4 “Disappearances” and abductions by rebel and allied troops ........................ 26
4.5 Torture and other forms of ill-treatment ........................................................ 28

5. Abuses by mayi-mayi, interahamwe and allied armed groups .................................. 32

6. Arming and training the killer forces ........................................................................... 35

6.1 Arms for the DRC war ................................................................................... 35
6.2 Child combatants ........................................................................................... 40

7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 41

8. Recommendations ........................................................................................................ 42
8.1 To the United Nations Security Council ........................................................ 43
8.2 To Governments and armed groups with forces in the DRC ......................... 44
8.3 To foreign governments, OAU, SADC and EU ............................................ 45

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS ....................................................................................... 46

 Democratic Republic of Congo
Killing human decency
1. Introduction
Combatants participating in the on-going war in the Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) have unlawfully killed thousands of unarmed civilians and subjected many others
to torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Many people have
“disappeared” in the custody of the various forces which have unlawfully detained
hundreds of suspected or known supporters of their opponents. Seeking to save their
lives, at least 300,000 civilians have fled to neighbouring countries, while more than one
million have been internally displaced in conditions that have caused numerous deaths
from diseases, starvation and exposure. This is a snapshot of a catalogue of human rights
abuses and suffering that the people of the DRC have been subjected to since August
1998 by forces whose foreign and Congolese political and military leaders claim to be
fighting for security or sovereignty. In reality, many of the leaders are involved in a fight
for political and economic control of the DRC. Amnesty International has concluded that
these leaders are perpetrating, ordering or condoning atrocities on a large and systematic
scale, and deliberately violating people's individual and collective right to security and
sovereignty.

Amnesty International has received scores of testimonies and reports about

atrocities committed against unarmed civilians or captured combatants since the current
war started on 2 August 1998. To acquaint itself further with the human rights situation in
the DRC and prepare this report, Amnesty International sent delegates to the DRC and
neighbouring countries in late 1999 to gather information from survivors, witnesses and other
individuals or organizations with an interest in human rights. Several of the organization’s
delegates visited Tanzania and Zambia in September 1999 and interviewed Congolese
refugees, most of whom had fled from eastern DRC. Other Amnesty International delegates
visited parts of the DRC under government control in August and eastern DRC in November
1999 to gather information about the human rights situation and to hold talks with the
respective authorities there.

What stood out in the mass of information gathered by the delegates, as well as
reports received from local human rights defenders since the start of 1999, was the
appalling extent to which unarmed civilians have continued to be relentlessly deprived of
the right to life and to physical integrity. These abuses have been perpetrated in total
disregard of international humanitarian law and human rights treaties, to which the DRC
and other governments taking part in the conflict are party. In this report, Amnesty
International is seeking to highlight the manner and extent to which thousands of
unarmed civilians have been unlawfully killed and others, together with combatants,
executed after unfair trials. A large number of civilians and some combatants have been
subjected to torture, including women raped, and other forms of cruel, inhuman or

Amnesty International 31 May 2000 AI Index: AFR 62/07/00

degrading treatment. Others have been “disappeared” or abducted. Information contained
in this report covers mainly the period between the start of 1999 and early 2000.
Before and after the start of the on-going war, Amnesty International has
regularly made public some of the violations of international human rights and
humanitarian law in a number of reports, 1 Urgent Actions and news releases. 2 Other
human rights organizations inside and outside the DRC have done likewise. In most
cases, government and armed opposition leaders have justified, denied or played down
the severity of abuses by their forces, while condemning atrocities by their opponents.
They have also sought to publicly discredit human rights organizations and individuals
who have denounced these abuses. The impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators has only
served to sustain a cycle of atrocities by combatants against unarmed and defenceless
civilians, most of them women, children and the elderly.

Prominent Congolese and members of the civil society in the DRC are practically
unanimous in their condemnation of and appeals for an end to the armed conflict and
human rights abuses in the country. Many people, including human rights defenders,
journalists and other members of the civil society, have fallen victim to abuses by forces
of the belligerents because they have opposed or criticized human rights abuses and the
armed conflict. Amnesty International and numerous foreign human rights and other
organizations have added their voice to that of the people of the DRC. Amnesty
International is gravely concerned that leaders of the forces fighting in the DRC have
continued to ignore these appeals, particularly by the people of the DRC, while claiming
to be fighting for the cause of the Congolese people.

2. Background
The current war pits several armed opposition groups and foreign government forces against
the DRC Government which is itself supported by several foreign governments. The main
backers of President Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s government and his foreign and Congolese
armed opponents were all on the same side when they ousted former President Mobutu Sese
Seko in May 1997. They fell into opposing camps as President Kabila sought to eliminate the
influence of Rwandese and other foreign forces suspected of supporting his opponents inside
and outside the DRC security forces and government, and seeking his removal from power.
The governments of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda on their part accused President Kabila of
supporting their armed opponents based in the DRC. Both sides, and more so the armed
opposition, include political and military leaders who previously supported former President

1
See Amnesty International reports entitled DRC: War against unarmed civilians (AI Index:
AFR 62/36/98), published on 23 November 1998, and DRC: Government terrorises critics (AI Index: AFR
62/01/00), published on 10 January 2000.

2
See Amnesty International news releases entitled DRC: Amnesty International urges peace
negotiators to place the protection of DRC human rights defenders on the agenda (AFR 62/19/99),
published on 29 June 1999, and DRC: Massacres of civilians continue unabated in the east (AI Index:
AFR/04/00), published on 17 January 2000.

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DRC: Killing human decency 3

Mobutu and who were opposed to, but are now allies of, countries which helped to overthrow
Mobutu.

2.1 The main protagonists

DRC government forces known as the Forces armées congolaises (FAC), Congolese Armed
Forces, are supported by those of the governments of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Sudanese government aircraft are reported to have bombed suspected armed opposition
positions during 1999. Chad withdrew its forces in mid-1999 after it, together with the DRC
Government, signed a peace agreement with Uganda in April 1999. The two other parties to
the agreement, mediated by Libya, continued fighting. The DRC government has links with
armed groups, collectively known as mayi-mayi, 3 fighting Congolese armed groups and
foreign governments seeking to overthrow President Kabila. In September 1999, President
Kabila appointed several mayi-mayi commanders to senior military posts, including that of
the army Chief of Staff. An alliance also exists between the DRC Government and the former
Rwandese interahamwe militia and former Rwandese government forces. The Conseil
national pour la défense de la démocratie-Forces pour la défense de la démocratie
(CNDD-FDD), National Council for the Defence of Democracy-Forces for the Defence
of Democracy, a Burundian armed opposition group, and a Ugandan armed opposition
group known as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) also have combatants and bases in
the DRC.4

3
Mayi-mayi formally call themselves Forces d’auto-défense populaires (FAP), Popular
Self-Defence Forces.

4
The governments of Rwanda and Uganda say they are involved in the DRC war to pursue their
respective armed opponents based in the DRC or supported by the DRC Government.

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4 DRC: Killing human decency

The armed opposition is composed of two factions of the Rassemblement congolais

pour la démocratie (RCD), Congolese Rally for Democracy, and the Mouvement pour la
libération du Congo (MLC), Movement for the Liberation of Congo. The main foreign
government forces supporting the RCD and the MLC are the Burundian government forces,
the Rwandese Patriotic Army (RPA) and the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF). The
MLC, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba was formed in late 1998 with the direct assistance of the
Ugandan Government to overthrow President Kabila. Disagreements among RCD leaders led
to a split in early 1999, culminating in the formation of two factions. One faction loyal to the
Rwandese Government is known as RCD-Goma, led by Emile Ilunga. The second faction
loyal to the Ugandan Government was initially known as RCD-Kisangani and is now known
as RCD - Mouvement de libération (RCD-ML), RCD-Liberation Movement, led by Ernest
dia Wamba.5 Disagreements between Ugandan and Rwandese military commanders on
economic, military and political control over captured territory and the war strategy, as
well as their support for rival RCD factions, sparked off fighting between their forces in
Kisangani in mid-August 1999. Many soldiers and unarmed civilians were killed in the
fighting (see Section 4.1). Following an inquiry by Ugandan and Rwandese military
commanders the Ugandan and Rwandese authorities later agreed to “demilitarise”
Kisangani. The RCD-ML and UPDF transferred their headquarters from Kisangani to Bunia
in Orientale and to Gbadolite in Equateur province, respectively. However, tensions were
rising again in March and April 2000 as RCD-Goma with the RPA and the UPDF mutually
accused each other of amassing troops and weapons in Kisangani.

5
Also often referred to as RCD-Wamba

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DRC: Killing human decency 5

Rwandese
political, military and
economic control over
RCD-Goma has
remained a source of
discord within the
armed opposition
group and defections
from among the
RCD-Goma
leadership continued
into early 2000.
RCD-ML leadership
was also beset with
internal feuds, which
the Ugandan
Government was
seeking to resolve in
April and May 2000.
The RCD and their
allies have failed to
secure significant
local popular support,
in part because they
have carried out
widespread unlawful
killings and other
human rights abuses
against unarmed
civilians suspected of supporting the DRC Government and local armed groups.

2.2 Impact of the armed conflict

In areas under government control, much of the population is experiencing extreme

economic hardship. Hundreds of thousands of people who have fled from areas of armed
conflict are internally displaced in areas under government control, with little or even no
material help. Social services, including medical care, have effectively collapsed. The
government has imposed measures, particularly foreign currency and price controls
which have made it very difficult for most Congolese to earn money to pay for food and
medical services. Most government employees have rarely, if at all, been paid since
August 1998, and most private businesses have collapsed.

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6 DRC: Killing human decency

Burundian, Rwandese and Ugandan troops are thought to constitute as much as 50

per cent of the forces ranged against President Kabila. The armed opposition and allied
foreign forces have captured most of eastern, northern and central DRC from forces loyal to
the government. Ugandan, Rwandese and Burundian forces in the DRC, in conjunction
with the armed opposition groups they support, have set up administrative entities and
appointed officials in the areas they control. The administrative changes appear to have
exacerbated hostility towards the foreign forces, the armed groups they support and
sections of the population perceived as supporters of the occupation of the DRC by
foreign forces. In February 2000 the RPA is reported to have forcibly removed large
numbers of people from their villages in North-Kivu province and relocated them into
camps where they had in most cases no access to humanitarian assistance.

Large sections of the population in Kivu are hostile to the RCD-Goma’s decision
in 1999 to introduce a new “national” flag and to twin Bukavu with the Rwandese
capital, Kigali. In Uvira, entry and exit visas are reportedly issued by Burundian officials
and some administrative decisions are reportedly taken in or referred to Bujumbura, the
Burundian capital. Further north, intercommunal violence between members of the Lendu
and those of the Hema ethnic groups broke out in June 1999 at the same time as the
UPDF and RCD-ML formed a new province of Kibali-Ituri comprising the former Ituri
and Haut-Uéle districts, and appointed a new Hema governor loyal to the RCD-ML. The
governor appears to have had disagreements with the RCD-ML leadership, apparently
linked to the conflict between Hema and Lendu, and she later joined the MLC. A new
governor was subsequently appointed. Further animosity towards the armed opposition
groups and foreign forces has been caused by widespread impoverishment of the wider
society caused by the armed conflict, and non-payment of salaries to most Congolese
workers and combatants. At the same time, Congolese in the region have witnessed
exorbitant taxation and massive transfers from the DRC, particularly to Uganda and
Rwanda, of public and private property and natural resources, particularly minerals and
timber, by foreign forces and their business associates. On 20 April 2000 the UN
Secretary-General recommended to the UN Security Council to set up a panel of experts
to investigate the looting of DRC’s natural resources by belligerents.

Since early 1999 there have been increasingly frequent reports of internal
divisions within RCD-Goma, particularly between members of the Tutsi and those from
other ethnic groups. Some Congolese Tutsi, commonly known as Banyamulenge, have
clashed with Rwandese forces and dissociated themselves from the RCD-Goma. Some
Banyamulenge have formed a new group known as the Forces républicaines fédéralistes
(FRF), Federalist Republican Forces, which on 14 February 2000 called for a withdrawal
of Rwandese forces from the DRC. It also accused Rwandese forces of systematic looting
and arming members of other ethnic groups in South-Kivu. Talks on peaceful
co-existence between some Banyamulenge and members of other ethnic groups have
been reported.

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DRC: Killing human decency 7

Hostility towards armed opposition groups and their foreign backers has severely
strained relations between RCD-Goma and the Roman Catholic church in the DRC.
Many of the church’s leaders have made public their opposition to the war against
President Kabila and to human rights abuses against the population. Relations between
the Roman Catholic church and armed opposition groups supported by Rwanda have
been strained since the invasion of former Zaire in September 1996. The church has been
vociferous against the Rwandese invasion and human rights abuses by Rwandese forces
and their Congolese allies. This stance has been interpreted by some as the church’s
support for persecution of Tutsi.6 Roman Catholic church leaders in eastern DRC have
reportedly been targeted by members of RCD-Goma. Following the publication of a
Christmas 1999 letter to his followers in which he called for opposition to foreign
invasion of the DRC, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Bukavu, Emmanuel Kataliko,
was prevented by RCD-Goma from returning to Bukavu and was relegated to his home
town of Butembo in North-Kivu in February 2000. His predecessor, Archbishop
Christophe Munzihirwa, who was also opposed to the invasion of the former Zaire and
atrocities by Rwandese forces, was killed on 29 October 1996. Rwandese and allied
forces killed a number of priests and dozens of members of the religious community in
eastern DRC during 1996 and 1997.

2.3 International attempts to end the armed conflict

Although the international community has not taken any significant measures to prevent
human rights abuses or protect human rights in the DRC, the United Nations (UN), the
Organization of African Unity (OAU) and the European Union (EU) have called for an
end to the armed conflict in the DRC, while largely resisting DRC Government and civil
society pressure to condemn the invasion of its territory by Burundi, Uganda and
Rwanda. The Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) has remained largely
divided as a result of four of its member states’ involvement in the war. In April 1999 the
UN Security Council passed Resolution 1234 demanding an end to the conflict and for an
inquiry into violations of human rights and international humanitarian law once the
security situation permitted. These intergovernmental organizations supported mediation
between the main belligerents by Zambian President Frederic Chiluba. The mediation
culminated in the signing in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, of a cease-fire by the
governments of Angola, the DRC, Namibia, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe in July and
by the armed opposition groups in August 1999. The implementation of the cease-fire

6
Some Roman Catholic church leaders were supporters of the former Hutu-dominated Rwandese
Government and are accused of complicity in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Several Rwandese bishops
and other religious leaders in Rwanda have been killed or imprisoned by forces of the current
Tutsi-dominated Rwandese Government.

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8 DRC: Killing human decency

agreement, which includes cessation of hostilities, disarmament of armed groups not

party to the agreement, withdrawal of all foreign forces and a political dialogue and
settlement among Congolese leaders, was supposed to be completed within one year of
its signature. Although a facilitator for the DRC national dialogue, former Botswana
President Ketumile Masire, was appointed in December 1999, most other aspects of the
agreement remained unimplemented by the start of May 2000. All parties to the conflict
continued to violate the cease-fire in Katanga, Equateur, South-Kivu, Equateur and the
two Kasai provinces.

Amnesty International welcomes a recommendation in the cease-fire agreement

that members of the former Rwandese government forces (ex-FAR) and interahamwe
militia responsible for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda should be brought to justice.
However, the organization is concerned that the agreement failed to demand that other
forces responsible for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in
the DRC, particularly since 1996, should also be brought to justice. The cease-fire
agreement failed to be specific on measures to be taken to protect human rights.

Parties to the armed conflict set up a Joint Military Commission (JMC), as

required by the Lusaka agreement, to monitor the implementation of the cease-fire.
Amidst wrangling by the RCD factions about their representation on the JMC, fighting
continued as the belligerents mutually accused each other of violating the cease-fire. In
August 1999, the UN Security Council authorized the deployment of some 90 military
liaison officers to prepare for the deployment of a peacekeeping force known as the
Mission de l’Organisation des nations unies en République démocratique du Congo
(MONUC), United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The liaison officers visited the countries involved in the conflict, but had no tangible
effect on the fighting. In February 2000 the UN Security Council voted Resolution 1291
authorizing a deployment of an expanded MONUC peacekeeping force consisting of up
to 5,537 personnel. MONUC, which is required to cooperate with the JMC, was
mandated by the Security Council to monitor and facilitate the implementation of the
Lusaka agreement. The force is expected to include personnel responsible for human
rights and child protection. MONUC is specifically mandated to “facilitate humanitarian
assistance and human rights monitoring” and to “protect civilians under imminent threat
of physical violence”. The resolution did not state whether a full deployment of the
peacekeeping force would lead to a start of an investigation recommended by Security
Council Resolution 1234 in April 1999.

Fighting continued to be reported in mid-April despite a new plan to implement

the cease-fire agreed by a Political Committee composed of political representatives of
the warring parties at a meeting in Kampala, Uganda, at the start of April 2000. The plan
included an effective cease-fire starting on 14 April and establishment of a 30-kilometre
buffer zone between opposing troops. Concerned about the failure by belligerents to

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DRC: Killing human decency 9

implement the cease-fire agreement, in early May 2000 the UN Security Council sent
seven of its ambassadors to countries party to the war to discuss concrete ways to enforce
the cease-fire ahead of the deployment of the MONUC.

3. Violations of the right to life in DRC government-controlled areas

The DRC security forces have been responsible for numerous human rights violations in
areas under government control. Amnesty International has also received reports of
indiscriminate bombings by forces of the governments of Angola, Namibia and
Zimbabwe. The organization has received no other verifiable information about human
rights violations committed by ground troops from the three countries since the start of
1999. It is also unclear what action, if any, the foreign government forces may have taken
to prevent human rights violations by DRC Government forces. However, the military
and other support they have given to the DRC Government has facilitated the violations
that DRC government forces have perpetrated.

3.1 Unlawful killings

According to information available to Amnesty International, extrajudicial executions by

government forces have been far less widespread since the start of 1999 than in late 1998.
However, since the start of 1999 hundreds of unarmed civilians have been killed as a
result of direct or indiscriminate attacks by forces loyal to President Kabila in clear
violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. The killings also violate
international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
(African Charter).

Many of those reportedly killed unlawfully were accused by government

forces of supporting armed opposition groups and their allies. For example, in January
1999, government soldiers reportedly killed several hundred unarmed civilians in the
northwestern towns of Zongo and Libenge, which were under attack by MLC and UPDF
troops. Similar killings at a lesser scale in July 1999 were reported in Zongo, before MLC
and Ugandan troops captured it.

FAC commanders have allegedly ordered the summary execution of civilians

without any form of trial. For example, in March 1999 soldiers based at Bondo in
Orientale province, after fleeing from advancing MLC and Ugandan forces, killed
Zakule Peute, a local primary school teacher, because they found him in possession of a
hunting rifle. Before throwing him in a latrine and killing him, the soldiers reportedly slit
both sides of his mouth with a bayonet. The commander of the unit based at Bondo
reportedly ordered several other executions of people accused of violent crimes,

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10 DRC: Killing human decency

including murder. In another case, a man found bathing in a nearby river and his three
children were killed in April 1999 by soldiers at a place where a crocodile had killed a
soldier. The soldiers reportedly cut open his body, removed his heart and placed it in his
hands. Before they were routed by UPDF and MLC forces, government soldiers based at
Bondo reportedly carried out numerous rapes of married women and young girls.

After being defeated in battle by a combination of MLC and Ugandan forces in

July 1999, retreating FAC soldiers in Kodoro and Boso-Ngombo areas of Basankusu
territory, Equateur province, reportedly killed many unarmed civilians, including women
and children. Most of those killed were reportedly from the Ngombe ethnic group which
the government soldiers accused of supporting the MLC. The victims included Pius
Andapongo, a local chief of Boende-Moera, who was reportedly found by FAC soldiers
in possession of a letter in which he had allegedly asked the MLC to intervene and stop
human rights violations by the FAC in his area. The soldiers also reportedly raped many
women, including Claire Mokbulu who was raped by 12 soldiers at Djombo and a
12-year-old girl who was raped by two soldiers at Boso-Nduku.

In other cases, many civilians were reportedly killed when government aircraft
indiscriminately bombed areas in which there were high concentrations of unarmed
civilians. In January and May 1999, dozens of unarmed civilians were reportedly killed
when the air forces of the DRC Government, Zimbabwe, and reportedly Sudan, bombed
the towns of Goma, Uvira and Kisangani. Human rights groups based in Kisangani, the
capital of Orientale province, have reported that many of the targets in the city bombed
on 10 January 1999 in Kisangani were military positions and buildings inhabited by many
soldiers. The groups said that many of the civilians appeared to have been killed by
anti-aircraft fire from guns of Ugandan and other forces in the city. More than 30
civilians were reportedly killed when on 11 May government aircraft bombed civilian
residential areas in Goma. Reports that about 600 civilians were killed in August 1999
when Sudanese planes bombed the northwestern towns of Makanza and Boghonga could
not be confirmed by independent sources.

3.2 Executions ordered by the Military Order Court

More than 100 civilians and soldiers sentenced to death by the Cour d’ordre militaire
(COM), Military Order Court, have been executed since early 1999, after trials that fell
short of international standards. Such executions amount to the arbitrary deprivation of
the right to life in contravention of Article 6 of the ICCPR and Article 4 of the African
Charter. The COM had found many of those executed guilty of criminal offences,
including armed robbery and murder. Others were soldiers found guilty of cowardice,
desertion or other military offences. The COM has continued to impose death sentences
and dozens of defendants have been executed despite statements by the DRC

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DRC: Killing human decency 11

Government that it aspired to abolish the death penalty. 7 In a June 1999 letter to the UN
Secretary-General and in a meeting with Amnesty International in July and August 1999,
the Minister for Human Rights said that his government was making plans to abolish the
death penalty. However, the Minister said the abolition would occur sooner if the
government received material assistance to reform and equip the judiciary and the
penitentiary service.

Despite a declaration in December 1999 by the Minister for Human Rights that
the government was exercising a moratorium on executions, 19 people were executed in
a space of one week at the end of January and the start of February 2000. Most of the
victims had been found guilty of violent offences, such as murder and armed robbery.
These were the first executions since July 1999. In February 2000, Amnesty International
learned that 61 prisoners, including 19-year-old Kuna Diavanga, on death row at
Kinshasa’s central prison known as the Centre pénitentiaire et de réeducation de
Kinshasa (CPRK), Kinshasa Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre, were at risk of
imminent execution. Although most of the 61 prisoners appeared to have been convicted
on charges of violent criminal offences, at least one of them, 23-year-old Kasilibani
Kabamba, had been found guilty of treason. Amnesty International and several other
human rights organizations, as well as the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights
situation in the DRC, condemned the resumption of executions and appealed to the
government not to carry out further executions. The 61 prisoners had not been executed
by the start of May.

In April 2000 Amnesty International was pleased to learn that a number of

prisoners on death row had been among beneficiaries of a February 2000 Presidential
amnesty and had been released. Those released in March included Jacques Matandu
Tshiama, a former Mayor of Boma in Bas-Congo province, who was convicted on a
charge of treason for receiving money from an RCD commander. Those reportedly still
held included Nelly Malengo and Nono Mandako who were convicted on a charge of
possession of three 100 US dollar counterfeit notes.

Between February and July 1999 the DRC Government carried out a spate of
executions of people sentenced to death by the COM. On 20 February 1999 Kanza
Tumba, a soldier found guilty by the COM of killing his superior, was reportedly
executed at Kibomango military training centre, outside Kinshasa. At least 49 people
sentenced to death by the COM were executed in April and May 1999. For example, on
13 April, 11 people were publicly executed in Mbuji-Mayi, the capital of Kasai Orientale

7
At its 56th session in April 2000 the UN Commission on Human Rights passed a resolution
urging States that still maintain the death penalty to restrict the number of offences punishable by death and
to establish a moratorium on executions, with a view to abolishing the punishment.

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12 DRC: Killing human decency

province . A month later, 15 people were executed in Kinshasa. A further 23 prisoners

were executed in Kinshasa on 25 May 1999. Among those executed was Ntumba
Kalala, a soldier who had been found guilty of embezzling the pay of soldiers in
Equateur province. His mother-in-law was arrested and tortured in connection with the
embezzlement (see Section 3.4).

Some of those sentenced to death and executed are women. On 28 July 1999,
Agnes Dinagu Mukengenshayi was among 11 people publicly executed in Mbuji-Mayi.
In one case, a woman, Charlotte Ngoy, was saved from execution on 6 May 1999, only
minutes before she and 11 others were due for execution in Lubumbashi. She had been
found guilty of criminal association because she had lived with an armed robber. In
April, Amnesty International learned that she and some other prisoners on death row had
been released in connection with the February 2000 Presidential amnesty. Other women
on death row include Marie Mutuel Kasanga from Kalémie in northern Katanga
province, who in August 1999 was being held at Kasapa prison in Lubumbashi.

Some people have been sentenced to death by the COM and are at risk of
execution because they were found guilty of assisting Tutsi to escape from custody. For
example, Dave Davene and two other members of the security forces were sentenced to
death on 1 June 1999 because they apparently assisted Nyanza Nyamusensera, identified
by the authorities as a Rwandese Tutsi, to escape from detention in Lubumbashi in
November 1998. The COM found them guilty of treason.

Although the COM was set up in August 1997 to try soldiers accused of military
offences, it has also tried civilians accused of political and economic offences.
Opposition political leaders and journalists critical of the government or its policies have
also been tried by the COM. Although government opponents accused of non-violent
political offences have not been sentenced to death, some - including prisoners of
conscience - have been sentenced to as many as 15 years’ imprisonment. Trials by the
COM are fundamentally unfair and contravene international standards. The decree setting

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DRC: Killing human decency 13

up the court specifically denies defendants the right to appeal to a higher jurisdiction. The
COM’s sitting judges are serving military officers whose independence from the military
and government authorities, as well as their impartiality and competence, are in doubt. In
many cases, defendants have no access to legal counsel and, when they have, lawyers do
not have sufficient time to examine the evidence, interview witnesses and adequately
prepare a defence. Those convicted can only appeal to the President for clemency, but in
some cases the execution of those sentenced to death has taken place so soon after the
trial that it has been doubtful that the President had been able to consider appeals for
clemency. For example, on 15 January 2000 Kasongo, a 14-year-old child soldier, and
22-year-old Mumba were executed within 30 minutes of their trial. The COM found
them guilty of murdering a driver.

Many soldiers have been sentenced to death, and some have been executed after
the COM found them guilty of cowardice or desertion. For example a group of 27
soldiers, including Mike M’bo Shonda, were sentenced to death on 12 April 1999 after
they were found guilty of fleeing from the enemy (fuite devant l’ennemi). Their battalion
had been engaged in combat against RPA and RCD forces around Lubao and Cabinda in
the Kasai region. When they lost Lubao to their opponents on 26 January 1999, the
commander of the FAC battalion ordered the soldiers to withdraw. He and dozens of
other soldiers were arrested in February in Mbuji-Mayi. All but 27 of them were
reportedly released before the trial. In April 2000 Amnesty International learned that the
27 had been released at an unspecified date and reassigned to combat duties.
Dozens of civilians found guilty of economic offences have been sentenced to
death. The authorities have stated that those involved in economic crimes, including
illegal dealing in foreign currency, are guilty of undermining the war effort and therefore
treason. The Minister of Justice said in early 1999 that people found guilty of economic
crimes would be liable to the death penalty. For example, in August 1999 Tshinkob
Madika was on death row at Kasapa prison in Lubumbashi after the COM found him
guilty of offering counterfeit dollars to a money changer and sentenced him to death. He
denied the charge. On 19 October 1999, five defendants were sentenced to death in
Kinshasa after the COM found them guilty of treason by stealing fuel from the military.
They included Gaby Ngimbi Kiamba, a businessman, and Maroy Muzaliwa, a director
of fuel supplies at the military headquarters.

Foreign businessmen are among people sentenced to death for economic

offences. For example, two Lebanese businessmen were sentenced to death in January
2000 after they were found guilty of espionage and trafficking in the Congolese currency
known as the Franc congolais (FC). Official sources in Kinshasa claimed that the
businessmen admitted before the COM that they intended to sell the Congolese currency
to the armed opposition in eastern DRC, in exchange for US dollars. The Lebanese
Government appealed for clemency, and the Vatican-based Sant Egidio Community was

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14 DRC: Killing human decency

reported in mid-February to have asked for and obtained the commutation of the death
sentences imposed on the two Lebanese businessmen.

3.3 “Disappearances”

A number of people have “disappeared” after they were detained by members of the
security forces. Their relatives fear that those “disappeared” may have been killed
secretly. Most of those who have “disappeared” since the start of 1999 are members of
the security forces accused of complicity with the armed opposition. In contrast, most of
those who were “disappeared” by government forces at the end of 1998 were Tutsi and
others accused of supporting the RCD and their foreign backers.

Some of the people are thought to have “disappeared” because the authorities
would not inform the next of kin of their whereabouts. For example, former army general
Denis Lango Topkwi was thought by his relatives to have “disappeared” after his arrest
around 15 October 1997 from a military barracks in Kinshasa known as Camp Tshatshi
where he was being held. Amnesty International delegates found him in a prison in
Lubumbashi in August 1999. He was reportedly released in March 2000. However, the
whereabouts of many other former soldiers remain unknown. For example, former army
colonel Albert Mwimba Otamba “disappeared” after his arrest in November 1998. His
relatives learned from some sources that he may have been sentenced to death in
Lubumbashi and possibly executed. Amnesty International has been unable to confirm
this information. Another military detainee whose whereabouts remain unknown is Jules
Lumumba, a member of DRC’s first Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba’s family. He was
arrested around April 1999 after he was apparently accused of ordering his troops to
retreat after they reportedly ran out of ammunition near Kindu in eastern DRC. He was
reportedly first held at the Cité de l’OUA detention centre in Kinshasa. Fears for his
safety increased after another member of his family, Julien Lumumba, was reportedly
summarily executed by fellow soldiers at Lodja in Kasai Oriental province. François
Lumumba, son of former Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and leader of the Mouvement
national congolais - Lumumba (MNC-L), National Congolese Movement, an opposition
political party, was arrested in Kinshasa on 22 April 2000. After going on hunger strike to
protest against his detention he was released on 3 May.

In April 1999 Fifi Mwanza Nkuta reportedly “disappeared” after she had been
detained for nearly two months by the security service known as the Agence nationale de
renseignements (ANR), National Intelligence Agency, in Lubumbashi. Her
“disappearance” followed that of her husband, Yves Bangamba, a FAC soldier who was
arrested in October 1998 at Kalémie, Katanga province, just before the town fell to the
armed opposition. Accused of complicity with the armed opposition, he was reportedly
detained and then “disappeared” by the security services in Lubumbashi.

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DRC: Killing human decency 15

Jean Nkumu Wangala, a former police commander in Matadi, Bas-Congo

province, reportedly “disappeared” on 12 May 1999 after he was removed from a
detention centre of the COM. He had been arrested on 12 September 1998 and charged
with treason on suspicion of complicity with the armed opposition when Matadi was
occupied by forces seeking to overthrow President Kabila in August 1998. He was tried
and acquitted by the COM on 12 January 1999 but rearrested on the orders of the COM
President on 9 February. He had not been charged with a new offence.

People of Rwandese origin have “disappeared” after they were arrested on

suspicion of unsubstantiated links with Rwanda. They include Dr Richard
Munyanganzo Milugo who was arrested on 22 September 1998 at Moaza, Masi
Manimba territory, Kwilu district of Bandundu province. He was head of the Ecole
médicale (Medical School) in Bandundu. He “disappeared” after he was transferred by
soldiers to Kenge on 30 September. Nicodème Sibomana, a Hutu of Rwandese origin
working for the local Red Cross at the Poste de santé du Pont Wamba, “disappeared”
soon after his arrest around 22 September 1998 by soldiers from Kimbao.

Other “disappearances” have been reported in central and southeastern DRC. For
example, Serge Itala Luzengu, Aimé Ngoba Kitenge and Nicolas Bantu Mwamine (a
member of the Groupe spécial de sécurité présidentielle (GSSP), Special Presidential
Security Group, “disappeared” on 13 January 2000 after they were arrested in December
1999 by members of the national police in Lubumbashi. Their arrest was in connection
with an alleged sale of a military uniform by Nicolas Bantu Mwamine to Aimé Ngoba
Kitenge. They were held at a detention centre of the police’s criminal investigations
branch known as the Brigade spéciale de recherche et de surveillance (BSRS), Special
Investigations and Surveillance Brigade. Members of the BSRS beat the men with iron
bars and subjected them to electric shocks, causing them to bleed heavily. When their
relatives visited the BSRS on 13 January the victims had already been taken to an
unknown destination and the police refused to reveal their whereabouts. Amidst fears
that they could have been killed, the police ignored instructions by the COM in
Lubumbashi to produce the victims. In Kasai Oriental province, Leonard Mpombombo
Muanza “disappeared” after he was arrested in November 1999 by members of the
security forces on the Mbuji-Mayi to Tshilunda road. He was apparently arrested because
he was found with a jerrycan containing petrol while travelling to an area held by the
armed opposition.

3.4 Torture and other forms of ill-treatment

Many people who have been arrested before and since the start of 1999 have been
threatened with or subjected to violence, including torture, at the time of their arrest and
in custody by members of the security forces. Torture, including rape of women, as well

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16 DRC: Killing human decency

as inflicting pain to men’s genitals while in custody have been frequently reported.
Torture is prohibited by several human rights treaties ratified by the DRC, including the
UN Convention against Torture and other Forms of Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, and cannot be justified in any circumstances, including a
situation of war. Many of the political detainees and convicted prisoners, including some
under sentence of death, were released in December 1999 and March 2000 following
Presidential amnesties for political prisoners.

Conditions in many prisons and detention centres amounted to cruel, inhuman or

degrading treatment. During their visit to Katanga province in August 1999, Amnesty
International representatives described many of the detainees they saw at Boma prison
in Likasi as “walking skeletons”. The prison was very filthy and inmates received food
only once a week. Detainees held by the security services routinely use open containers
as toilets in humid and often congested cells.

The most notorious detention centre in Kinshasa is reputed to be the Groupe

Litho Moboti (GLM) building used by the GSSP. The GSSP is directly responsible to
President Kabila. A human rights investigator who visited the building in February 1999
told Amnesty International that although she was not allowed by the GSSP to see or meet
any detainees, it was filthy and stank of blood and human waste.

Soldiers accused of complicity with the armed opposition have been subjected to
severe torture. For example, Frédérique Bomwenda, a woman army lieutenant-colonel,
was tortured after she was arrested on 30 December 1998 in Bas-Congo where she had
been a commander of FAC troops. She was reportedly accused of contacts with former
President Mobutu Sese Seko’s Civil Guard commander, General Kpama Baramoto. She
was subsequently moved to the GLM building where she was kept naked and so severely
whipped that she was bleeding from all over her body. She was believed to be still held at
the GLM without charge or trial and deprived of visits in April 2000.

Another detention centre in Kinshasa where torture is reported to be routine

belongs to the military security service known as the Détection militaire des activités
anti-patrie (DEMIAP), Military Detection of Unpatriotic Activities, situated in the
Kintambo district. One of the people tortured there was Astrid Tshibwabwa, a
mother-in-law of Ntumba Kalala who was among 23 prisoners who were executed in
Kinshasa on 25 May 1999 (see Section 3.2 above). He had been found guilty of
embezzling the pay of soldiers in Equateur province. Before his execution, his
mother-in-law was arrested by the DEMIAP on 21 May. She was subjected to beatings to
force her to repay the money stolen by her son-in-law. Although she reportedly paid the
sum required by the authorities, she continued to be held incommunicado. It is unclear
whether she was still held by early 2000.

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DRC: Killing human decency 17

Some government officials have reportedly ordered and supervised the torture of
detainees. One such case was that of Kally Kalala Buadi, a civil servant in Mbuji-Mayi.
He was first arrested on 6 August 1999 at N’djili airport in Kinshasa, apparently on the
orders of a top government official in Mbuji-Mayi. The official was reportedly angered
by reports that Kally Kalala Buadi had alleged that the official had fled from Mbuji-Mayi
to escape a possible capture of Mbuji-Mayi by the armed opposition. Kally Kalala Buadi
was released after two days and ordered to return to Mbuji-Mayi. On arrival in
Mbuji-Mayi, Kally Kalala Buadi was redetained by the BSRS. During the first five days
of his detention, the government official who ordered his arrest reportedly ordered Kally
Kalala Buadi to be brought daily to his residence. The official’s relatives at the residence
subjected Kally Kalala Buadi to severe beatings, including with a sickle. Two lawyers
who tried to intervene were reportedly also detained. He was allegedly also beaten while
naked and tied to a tree. The torture was reportedly stopped after a sister of the official
intervened. By then Kally Kalala Buadi’s body was reportedly covered in wounds. He
was later released at an unspecified date.

Many of those detained and tortured at the GLM are people accused of links with
the armed opposition in eastern DRC. For example, Merikas Wetemwami Katembo, a
human rights defender, was tortured there after his arrest on 8 September 1999. He is a
member of a human rights group known as the Collectif des organisations des jeunes du
Sud-Kivu (COJESKI), Collective of South-Kivu Youth Organizations, who fled
persecution by the RCD in eastern DRC. A member of the GSSP who arrested Merikas
Wetemwami Katembo first took him to a police station in Gombe, where his shoes,
watch, money, an identity card for the displaced and other property were removed from
him. He was then thrown into a cell, punched, kicked and whipped, with his hands and
legs bound. On the evening of 8 September he was transferred to the GLM building and
held in an underground cell, where he was subjected daily to eight lashes in the morning,
afternoon and evening. His torturers also pulled his genitals. He was also forced to clean
offices and toilets. He was reportedly not given any food during the first five days of his
detention. He was released without charge on 17 September 1999.

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18 DRC: Killing human decency

Some women detainees have

often been subjected to torture in the
form of sexual abuse, particularly rape.
For example, Jeannine Bouchez
Mwayuma, a woman from Bukavu, was
reportedly arrested on 28 December
1998 and detained at the Conseil
national de sécurité (CNS), National
Security Council, in Kinshasa. She was
accused of having contacts with the
armed opposition. She was living in
Kinshasa to escape the fighting in
eastern DRC. During her detention at
the CNS she was whipped twice in the
morning and twice at night, and she was
also routinely threatened with death as
punishment for what the members of the
CNS said was “betraying the country”.
She was kept in a cell at the CNS until 6
January 1999 when a military officer
took her to the GLM where she was
severely beaten, including with metallic
piping. The officer and several other
soldiers took her to a hotel in Kinshasa’s
Kintambo district, where they interrogated and raped her. She was later transferred to the
DEMIAP detention centre, from where she was reportedly taken several times by a senior
military officer and raped in several Kinshasa hotels. On 16 February 1999 she was
transferred to the CPRK. On 17 February 1999 she appeared before the COM, on the
charge of “endangering the security of the state” (atteinte à la sûreté de l’Etat). Her trial
had not been completed when she was granted provisional release on 9 March 2000,
following a February 2000 presidential amnesty for people accused or found guilty of
political offences. The release note instructed her to remain in Kinshasa and report to the
COM every Monday and Friday, and not to appear at any port or airport.

Numerous women are reported to have been raped and threatened with violence,
including death, by government soldiers. Some of the rapes have been carried out by
soldiers at roadblocks. Such rapes were reported in early 1999 at roadblocks mounted
by soldiers at Kenge, Madimba and Luila in Bas-Congo province, on the
Kinshasa-Matadi road. It was reported that women were removed from vehicles and
raped while men were obliged to remain on board. At Kiri, in Bandundu province,
soldiers reportedly raped the wife and a daughter of a local government official.

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DRC: Killing human decency 19

Journalists accused of publishing articles critical of top government officials or

government policies have been among those subjected to torture at the time of their arrest
and while in custody. One such journalist is Freddy Loseke, editor of La Libre Afrique
newspaper, who was arrested in Kinshasa on 31 December 1999, following the
publication by his newspaper on 29 December 1999 of an article alleging that a military
commander was plotting to kill President Kabila. Freddy Loseke was taken to Kokolo
military barracks (Camp Kokolo) where he was repeatedly kicked by a military officer.
He was held there until 9 January 2000 when he was released. The military officer who
had ordered his arrest reportedly arrested more than 20 members of Loseke’s family to
force Loseke to resubmit himself for detention. Freddy Loseke was rearrested on 10
January and returned to Kokolo barracks. On arrival, soldiers kicked, punched and
whipped him. They then stripped him naked and threw him into a cell. He appeared
before the COM on 12 January and was reportedly charged with spreading false
information (propagation de faux bruits). For several days, food brought for him by his
relatives was reportedly eaten by the guards. By February, he was reportedly suffering
from a kidney illness, without access to medical care. He continued to be held
incommunicado at the barracks until 25 February when he was transferred to the CPRK
prison. A journalist who saw him in his cell at Kokolo barracks, two days before he was
transferred to the CPRK, said his body bore black markings caused by the beatings he
had received in custody. Freddy Loseke appeared before the COM on 3, 7 and 14 April.
When he reappeared on 3 May the prosecution reportedly amended the charge against
him to insulting behaviour towards the army (outrage à l’armèe), punishable on
conviction by up to 10 years’ imprisonment. He continued to be held at the CPRK

One other journalist severely ill-treated is Mayonde Kolongo of Le Défi africain

newspaper. He was severely ill-treated on the night of 23 to 24 May 1999 because he
asked a senior police officer to release him from unlawful custody. Mayonde Kolongo
was arrested on 22 May 1999 after a dispute with a bus ticket inspector who refused to
recognise his press card authorizing him to travel free of charge by public transport.
When he and the ticket inspector reported the matter to Mont Amba police station , a
police officer decided to detain Mayonde Kolongo. From his cell he saw and called a
senior police officer to intervene and get him released on 23 May. The senior police
officer instead ordered several policemen to beat Mayonde Kolongo. They reportedly
kicked and whipped him before returning him to his cell. Another police officer punched
him repeatedly and spat in his face. Mayonde Kolongo was released on 24 May 1999, but
no action was taken against the police officers responsible for his ill-treatment.

4. Violations of the right to life in areas under rebel and foreign

forces

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20 DRC: Killing human decency

In areas controlled by foreign government forces and Congolese armed opposition

groups, most of the human rights abuses are reported to have been committed by
members of the RCD. In practice, the RCD-Goma often operates and carries out abuses
jointly with the RPA and Burundian government forces in parts of the provinces of
North-Kivu, Katanga and Maniema, and in virtually the whole of South-Kivu province.
In parts of North-Kivu, Orientale and Equateur provinces RCD-ML and MLC operate
and at times perpetrate human rights abuses together with the UPDF. In some cases
victims and witnesses of human rights abuses have been able to identify the units
responsible for the abuses as belonging to Burundian, Rwandese and Ugandan
government forces. Given that the governments of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda have
most of the military and political control of the areas where their troops are deployed,
Amnesty International believes that they are responsible for the grave violations of
international humanitarian law and human rights that have occurred. However, this does
not in any way mitigate the responsibility of Congolese leaders of armed opposition
groups, or of those with links to the DRC Government. Mayi-mayi and other armed
groups opposed to forces seeking to overthrow President Kabila have also been
responsible for unlawful killings and other abuses.

4.1 Unlawful killings

Information received by Amnesty International since 2 August 1998, and more so since
early 1999, suggests that armed opposition groups and their allies from Burundi, Uganda
and Rwanda have carried out a larger scale and more widespread unlawful killings than
those perpetrated by DRC government forces and their allies. Thousands of unarmed
civilians have been victims of deliberate and arbitrary killings by the RCD, MLC, RPA,
UPDF and Burundian government forces in what amounts to a grave breach of Common
Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions which specifically prohibits the killing of persons
taking no active part in the hostilities. Most of the killings are reported to have occurred
during or soon after armed clashes between RCD and allied forces on one side and
mayi-mayi and allied armed groups from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda on the other.
Most of the victims appear to be women, children and the elderly who had not been able
to flee or who thought they would not be targeted by combatants.

4.1.1 Killings by RCD and allied forces

The year 1999 started with one of the largest massacres by the RCD and allied troops
from Rwanda and Burundi at Makobola in South-Kivu province. During 1999, Amnesty
International received testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the massacre, as well
as reports from local human rights defenders. The massacre, which lasted up to three
days from 30 December 1998, was reportedly preceded by an armed confrontation
between RCD and allied troops against mayi-mayi fighters. The mayi-mayi reportedly
killed a number of their opponents, including several RPA and RCD commanders. When

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DRC: Killing human decency 21

RCD and allied reinforcements arrived, the mayi-mayi had reportedly left the area. The
RCD, together with Rwandese and Burundian forces, then reportedly set on the local
population shooting at any local person they saw. Many sources reported that some
civilians were herded into houses and set on fire. The victims included Amisi Wenia, a
local Red Cross worker, and his wife, Nakamusenge Wenia who died at a hospital in
Uvira where she was being treated for burns after a house in which she was hiding was
set on fire by RCD and allied troops. A team sent by the RCD to investigate the massacre
claimed that only 23 people had been killed, while at the same time calling for another
investigation. No such investigation is known to have occurred. RCD leaders have
claimed that the security situation in the area has impeded any further investigation. Local
human rights groups have compiled lists of more than 800 alleged victims of the
Makobola massacre.

On 17 March 1999, members of the RCD reportedly killed at least 109 people at
Budaha in Burhinyi county (chefferie). The massacre followed several days of fighting in
nearby Mukungwe and neighbouring villages of Ngweshe county between members of
the RCD and mayi-mayi, during which many RCD combatants were reportedly killed.
Most of the victims, including Mushegero and Murhega Kalyabijumbi, were
reportedly buried in six mass graves, each containing up to 22 bodies. The killings at
Budaha were apparently in revenge for the losses the RCD suffered during the fighting.
Killings of smaller numbers of civilians had occurred in Burhinyi county earlier in March
1999. For example, on 12 March 1999 RCD combatants in Mulambi and Karhendezi
killed about 16 people, including Kashule Ntavingwa and his mother, Nakwishiga.

Since the war started, traditional leaders of ethnic groups opposed to the RCD
and its foreign backers have been targeted in eastern DRC. While some have gone into
hiding, others have been killed by RCD combatants or their backers. For example, at
Lukweti in Masisi territory, members of the RCD killed a son of a local chief and his
aide. He was reportedly suspected by RCD combatants of supporting the mayi-mayi and
interahamwe.

Numerous sources in eastern DRC have reported cases of people who have been
mutilated to death by members of the RCD and their allies. For example, on 30
September 1999 three people were mutilated to death at Kiomvu, Lwindi county, in
Mwenga territory of South-Kivu. The killers reportedly removed the heart of one of the
victims, Roger Kandondo, a driver of the CELPA mission at Kalambi.

Between 15 and 20 October 1999, RCD soldiers publicly killed at least 12

women - some of whom were buried alive after being tortured, including raped - accused
of witchcraft in Mwenga, South-Kivu. The victims included Everine Bitondo Lumini,
Christine Safi and Musombwa Mbilizi. After initially denying the incident, the RCD

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22 DRC: Killing human decency

claimed that the women had been lynched by civilians. The RCD arrested a local military
commander on the grounds that he failed to prevent the lynchings. The commander was
reportedly among several dozen detainees who escaped on 5 February 2000 from Bukavu
central prison. No further investigation or action is known to have occurred.

According to several human rights groups and other sources in eastern DRC, on
23 October 1999 RCD-Goma combatants shot dead at least 50 unarmed civilians, many
of them women traders, at Kahungwe market which is situated some 40 kilometres north
of Uvira in South-Kivu province. Before the killings occurred, RCD-Goma forces had
been involved in a clash with mayi-mayi combatants in the nearby Sange hills. Shortly
afterwards, retreating RCD-Goma forces arrived at Kahungwe and opened fire on people
in the market. Some of the market-goers were killed as they tried to flee in vehicles.
Female victims included Kabibi Malelera from Uvira and Riziki Kikeja from Sange.
Male victims included Kishule Ruhukumba from Sange. In a letter to a local
independent radio station, Maendeleo, the governor of South-Kivu claimed that only 16
civilians were killed in a cross-fire as RCD forces returned fire when they were attacked
by CNDD-FDD combatants. In November 1999, RCD-Goma officials told Amnesty
International that those killed were combatants. However, this claim was rejected by all
unofficial sources in South-Kivu interviewed by the organization’s representatives.

Several Roman Catholic priests have been killed by armed men believed to be
members or supporters of the RCD-Goma. For example, Roman Catholic priest Paul
Juakali was killed on 7 April 1999. Although the RCD denied being implicated in his
death, many sources in the region said he was shot on the orders of RCD commanders by
members of a militia, known as Forces d’auto-défense (FAD), Self-Defence Forces,
formed by and loyal to the RCD. On 22 November, Roman Catholic priest Georges
Kakuja and six other men were killed by armed men believed by people in the area to be
members of the RCD at Kalonge parish. Other sources suggested that Georges Kakuja
may have been killed by mayi-mayi combatants after an armed confrontation with the
RCD in the area. Sources in Uvira blamed the killing of Roman Catholic priest Remis
Pepe Kibuyu and two unarmed guards of Kiliba mission on 15 February 2000 on the
RCD. The killers reportedly set the mission on fire before they left. The killings were
reportedly in reprisal for an attack by mayi-mayi during which a number of RCD-Goma
combatants were killed and injured.

According to human rights and humanitarian organizations in Kisangani, as many

as 300 people, many of them civilians, were killed there in mid-August 1999 during
fighting between Ugandan and Rwandese government forces, with their respective RCD
factions. Although an inquiry into the fighting was reportedly carried out by Ugandan
and Rwandese military commanders, the inquiry is not known to have established the
identities of unarmed civilians unlawfully killed in the fighting. Hence, no action is

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DRC: Killing human decency 23

known to have been taken against those responsible for unlawful killings carried out by
the forces involved.

Many killings, particularly in Uvira territory of South-Kivu province have been

specifically attributed to Banyamulenge members of RCD-Goma. These killings have
often been carried out to avenge attacks by mayi-mayi. In many other cases such killings
by armed Banyamulenge have been followed by revenge killings of unarmed civilian
Banyamulenge by mayi-mayi. Killings by Banyamulenge include a massacre on 5 May
1999 of at least 27 members of the Bembe, Bafulero and Bavira ethnic groups in Kahuna
village. The killers reportedly burned houses in the village.

Comparatively fewer killings of unarmed civilians by the MLC have been

reported. Amnesty International has experienced communication difficulties with areas
MLC and Ugandan forces control. MLC soldiers at Djombo, headquarters of Gambalo
county in Basankusu territory, Equateur province, reportedly killed Pie-Roger Ibendu by
cutting his body to pieces, after they tied him to a tree. His killers reportedly grilled and
ate parts of his body in full view of the public, and threw his remains into a nearby river.
His name was reportedly on a list compiled by the MLC of people sought by the armed
group. It is unclear why he was targeted.

4.1.2 Killings by Burundi government forces

The extent of the involvement of Burundian government forces in the armed conflict and
atrocities in the DRC became clearer when Amnesty International delegates interviewed
dozens of Congolese refugees in Tanzania. Many of the refugees had fled from areas on
the northern and western shores of Lake Tanganyika where there were large
concentrations of Burundian soldiers fighting or hunting down mayi-mayi fighters and
members of the CNDD-FDD. Accounts by survivors and other witnesses of the killings
and other human rights abuses which occurred in the region suggest that hundreds of
unarmed civilians were killed by Burundian government forces during the first half of
1999. The forces carried out indiscriminate reprisal shootings and shelling against
unarmed civilians in villages on the shores of Lake Tanganyika.

Dozens of refugees in Tanzania who fled from the area around Lake Tanganyika
gave Amnesty International consistent accounts of killings of unarmed civilians between
March and July 1999. Combatants often opened fire on fleeing civilians. One refugee told
Amnesty International that he was in Boma village near Wimbi port on 15 April 1999
when RCD and allied troops surrounded the village and opened fire on a fleeing
population. Dozens of victims of the ensuing shootings included his sister known as Asa,
his mother Zaina, his grandmother Ntunduti and his sister-in-law Bora. The killings had

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24 DRC: Killing human decency

been preceded by fighting between mayi-mayi combatants who had fled the area when
the civilians were attacked. Survivors of the attack subsequently fled to Tanzania.

In March 1999, Burundian government soldiers reportedly burned alive at least

seven fishermen at Kazimia on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The fishermen had been
out fishing during the night when the soldiers were attacked by mayi-mayi. When the
men docked their boats the soldiers arrested and burned them alive. The victims included
Asende Kasinja and two others known as Choloko and Enala.

On 9 May 1999 Burundian government forces killed more than 60 civilians in

Karamba village on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. The forces reportedly used gunboats
and helicopters to attack the village which they apparently suspected of containing
mayi-mayi fighters. Those killed included Haruna Etungano, Pendezo Chuki (f) and
Sifa Lubanda (f).

In late July to early August 1999 Burundian government soldiers attacked the
villages of Bulunga and Buzimba, setting many houses on fire. Some of the victims were
lepers living in Buzimba. In one incident, soldiers in Katanga village beheaded four
traders, one of them known as Manueli, travelling from Baraka to Simbi to sell salt. The
wife and children of one of the traders killed subsequently fled to Tanzania. Around 10
August, Burundian government soldiers reportedly opened fire on Sebele market which
was being frequented by internally displaced people, killing at least 15 people, including
one woman identified as Musoka and a man known as Ekanga. Some of the injured,
including a woman known as Salama, were treated at Nemba hospital, where she and
other wounded victims later died from their injuries. The shooting reportedly occurred
after the displaced people disobeyed an order by a Fizi local official to return to their
homes, many of which had already been destroyed in previous attacks.

4.1.3 Killings by the RPA

Killings of hundreds or even thousands of unarmed civilians in parts of North-Kivu

dominated by Congolese members of the Hutu ethnic group have been reported since
1998. The killings, most of which have been carried out by members of the RPA, have
continued into the start of the year 2000. The victims are reportedly accused of being
members or supporters of the interahamwe militia. For example during March 1999 RPA
soldiers killed 16 young boys at Bukombo in Osso-Banyungu county of North-Kivu.
Members of the FAD militia loyal to the RPA and RCD-Goma in North-Kivu also killed
25 civilians at Lwibo in Bashali county, 17 civilians at Kaloba, 30 at Loashi, nine at
Nyamaboko in Katoyi and three at Kibachiro in Bashali county in Masisi territory. In

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DRC: Killing human decency 25

May, FAD militia reportedly killed 14 people, including 69-year-old Mukewa(f) at

Kalembe in Bashali county.

On 15 August 1999 RPA soldiers reportedly killed about 30 people, including

Katuta and Feza Mashariki(f), in the village of Kirambo, Katoyi county in Masisi. On
22 September, RPA soldiers reportedly killed as many as 74 worshippers in a church at
Kailenge in Wanianga county of Walikale territory. After the RPA left the area,
interahamwe fighters reportedly attacked the same village, killing at least 11 people,
including one Muloba.

Many killings have been reported around Kamituga mining area which is largely
controlled by the RPA. For example, on 3 December 1999 RPA soldiers from Kamituga
reportedly killed several dozen unarmed civilians at Kiomvu. The victims included Daudi
Mutenda, together with his wife, a younger brother and a daughter in-law, as well as
Yunus Sombola, a Methodist pastor.

Although most of the victims appear to be members of the Hutu ethnic group
accused of supporting the interahamwe, members of other ethnic groups, such as Hunde,
are also targeted for their alleged membership of or collaboration with the mayi-mayi. On
16 February 2000 RPA, together with RCD forces, looking for mayi-mayi combatants
killed more than eight unarmed civilians at Nyabyondo in Masisi territory. A source in
North-Kivu told Amnesty International that many local residents fled when the soldiers
approached Nyabyondo. Those who were killed, including Adolphe Kiti Mutoo,
Evariste Nyamanja and Baudouin Karafuru, had remained in the area hoping that they
would not be targeted as they had no connections with the mayi-mayi.

RPA soldiers based at Bihambwe reportedly killed as many as 30 young members

of the Hunde ethnic group at the headquarters of Masisi territory. The soldiers had
reportedly been in the area looking for interahamwe and mayi-mayi operating in
surrounding areas. On their return to Bihambwe, the same group of soldiers reportedly
killed a further 12 Hunde travelling to Masisi from Goma.

4.2 UPDF accused of extrajudicial killings in Ituri intercommunal violence

Units of the UPDF and RCD-ML reportedly took part in and carried out numerous
unlawful killings of civilians when intercommunal violence broke out in June 1999
between members of the Lendu and those of the Hema ethnic groups in Ituri district of
Orientale province. Long-standing tensions over land, political and economic power
between the elite from the two ethnic groups exploded into widespread violence in June
1999. Lendu reportedly accused wealthy Hema of using their economic power, political
influence and ethnic affinity with the UPDF to seize land, which Hema claimed they

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26 DRC: Killing human decency

had legally acquired from the government. In subsequent months, armed members of the
two ethnic groups attacked each other, with each claiming to be defenceless victims of a
“genocide”.

Sources in Ituri have reported that more than 1,000 Hema and Lendu were killed
during the first six months of the conflict. Other sources have estimated that between
5,000 and 7,000 people were killed. A large number of the victims were reported to be
women, the elderly and children, including babies.

Virtually all independent local sources and humanitarian organizations contacted

by Amnesty International have been unanimous on the involvement of the UPDF in the
killings. It has been reported that members of the UPDF took sides in the conflict
supporting the Hema. Wealthy Hema hired UPDF soldiers to guard their homes and
property, and to kill their Lendu opponents. In other cases some UPDF soldiers sold
military weapons and ammunition to Hema civilians for use to defend themselves or
attack their Lendu opponents. Medical and humanitarian sources reported that the impact
of UPDF involvement was visible from the types of injuries sustained by civilian
combatants and non-combatants. The sources said that the vast majority of victims with
gunshot wounds were Lendu, while Hema victims had almost always sustained injuries
from domestic or civilian weapons, such as spears, arrows and machetes. The number or
proportion of victims of attacks with military weapons remained unclear.

The Ugandan authorities have denied that their forces were involved in the
conflict, although they have claimed to be taking measures to end it. A UPDF officer who
was accused of supporting the Hema was reportedly replaced. In early 2000 local
attempts at reconciliation appeared to be paying off and the violence appeared to have
abated.

4.3 Death sentences and executions ordered by armed opposition leaders

The armed opposition groups have established military courts known as Conseil de
guerre opérationnel (CGO), Operational Court-Martial, which have sentenced people to
death after unfair trials. The numbers and frequency of death sentences imposed by the
military courts are unknown to Amnesty International. Reports from eastern DRC say
that executions mostly occur in secret and information is hard to obtain or confirm. Trials
by the military courts have been reported in Goma, Bukavu, Uvira, Kisangani and
Butembo. Those known to have been tried by the CGO are soldiers accused of crimes
such as murder, looting and armed robbery. Armed opposition leaders officially say that
ordinary courts are operational in the areas they control. However, in practice these
courts are rarely used or respected by the authorities. Theoretically, those convicted by
the CGO can appeal to a higher civilian jurisdiction but this is not known to have
occurred and civilian courts are virtually always ignored.

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DRC: Killing human decency 27

Amnesty International has received reports that seven soldiers, including Roger
Mutubenge, sentenced to death by the CGO in Uvira on 28 and 29 June 1999 may have
been executed a day later in the “Biens mal-acquis” quarter of Uvira. The court
sentenced six others to life imprisonment. Those allegedly executed included Bushiri
Katembo. The soldiers were reportedly found guilty of loss or sale of military weapons
and ammunition. On 22 March 2000 Jean-Claude Baritegera, an RCD-Goma
policeman, was executed in Goma after the COG found him guilty of killing his superior
during an argument over sharing money they had extorted from a woman. The offence
occurred on 15 March 2000 and the trial on 20 March. It is unclear whether he had legal
representation or whether he was allowed to appeal against his conviction or sentence.

RCD combatants, including children, are reported to have been summarily

executed, without formal charge or trial. An RCD soldier known as Kakule - accused of
armed robbery - was publicly executed on 8 June 1999 for armed robbery. He was
apparently executed without being formally charged with any offence or being tried. On
18 January 2000, Ndondo, a 15-year-old child soldier, was publicly executed in Goma.
He had been arrested on 16 January 2000 by members of the RCD-Goma military
security service known as “B2" after a woman accused him of stealing a radio. Before he
was executed, Ndondo was reportedly severely tortured while being held at the “B2"
detention centre.

An MLC commander in Bokakata, Equateur province, reportedly said in

December 1999 that he had personally executed two of his soldiers caught stealing. The
extent of such executions by the MLC is unclear.

4.4 “Disappearances” and abductions by rebel and allied troops

Many people have been arrested by members of the RCD and allied troops, including
many from Rwanda and Burundi. In some cases people who have been reported as
having been “disappeared” by foreign government forces or abducted by RCD forces
may only have temporarily fled their homes. For example, Amnesty International
established in November 1999 that one Moreau (identified as Moro in an Amnesty
International report published in November 1998) was alive and well at his hotel in
Bukavu. In the company of provincial authorities he denied ever having been subjected to
any human rights abuse by RCD and allied forces.

Sources in areas under armed opposition and foreign government control claim
that hundreds of people have been “disappeared” by foreign government forces or
abducted by armed opposition groups since August 1998. However, only in a few cases
has Amnesty International obtained information about specific individual victims. Many

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28 DRC: Killing human decency

of the victims, targeted for their known or suspected opposition to the Congolese armed
opposition groups or foreign government forces, are believed to have been killed or taken
to Rwanda by members of the Rwandese security forces.

In Baraka, South-Kivu, one Asumani was reportedly never seen again after he
was taken away in February 1999 by members of the RCD. He was abducted by members
of the RCD after he reportedly accused the RCD of killing people while at the same time
claiming to be liberating them from President Kabila.

Many other people have been abducted because they were accused of being
members of the interahamwe militia. For example, six people, including one identified as
Matondo and another known as Benoit, were abducted on 30 May 1999 by soldiers
travelling in a vehicle bearing number plates of the North-Kivu Governor’s office and
another belonging to the intelligence department of the RCD. The victims were all
removed from a bar in Goma at around 7.30 pm local time. In April 2000 a source in
Goma informed Amnesty International that Matondo had been released in Goma, but the
fate of the five others remained unknown. The fate of three others also abducted by
soldiers travelling in the same governor’s office vehicle remained unknown. The
victims, identified as Odette (f) who was pregnant, Mugabo and 12-year-old Pasi,
were part of a group of five members of a Congolese Hutu family in Goma. Only the two
others, 17-year-old Jeannette Safi and 14-year-old Jean-Sébastien Safari, were
accounted for, although they remained in hiding. Jeannette Safi was released after she
was severely tortured in custody. She was detained in a container at Goma airport, along
with other detainees. A military commander held a gun to her head when she refused to
have sex with him. Other soldiers held her while the commander raped her. While in the
container, she was also beaten and blindfolded. The commander released her the
following morning. Jean-Sébastien Safari was detained in a building previously used as
a medical clinic, along with a number of other detainees. He and several other detainees
reportedly escaped.

Many of those “disappeared” or abducted appear to have been targeted for their
suspected membership of or support for the mayi-mayi. For example, many men were
reportedly taken from Dine village near Lake Tanganyika after the RCD took control of
the area from the mayi-mayi in June 1999. Some of the victims were named as Pablo,
Wilange, Nduma and Asanga, all of them aged between 20 and 25 years.

Some victims have been abducted from medical centres where they were
undergoing treatment. For example, Adrien Ngendahayo, a Burundian national, has not
been seen since 13 August 1999 when he was removed from Uvira Hospital by soldiers
speaking Kinyarwanda (the national language of Rwanda).

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DRC: Killing human decency 29

Some people have not been seen after they were taken into custody in residences
of military commanders. For example, two Hutu believed to be Rwandese refugees have
not been seen since they and two others were arrested in Bukavu on 1 October 1999 and
detained in a private detention centre at the residence of a military commander. One of
the victims known as Mwamba reportedly escaped, while one Bosco was still in custody
in mid-November 1999. The whereabouts of the other two, Evariste and John remained
unknown.

Other Rwandese nationals who have “disappeared” after they were arrested in
eastern DRC include Roman Catholic priest Francois-Xavier Munyaburanga. He was
arrested on 20 January 2000 and detained at a private detention centre of a Rwandese
military commander in Bukavu. Sources in Bukavu who knew about the arrest said that
Francois-Xavier Munyaburanga’s whereabouts remained unknown by April. The
whereabouts of Mado Uwimana, a Rwandese refugee, also remain unknown since
mid-February 1999 when she was forcibly taken to Gisenyi in Rwanda by members of
the Rwandese security forces. She was first arrested in Goma in July 1999 and held in
military custody until she was released in December. In mid-February 2000 she was
reportedly transferred to military detention in Gisenyi. Sources in Gisenyi said in April
that her whereabouts could not be established. Hundreds of Rwandese, mostly Hutu, in
Rwanda have been “disappeared” by the Rwandese security forces in recent years.

Some of those abducted were removed from custody by military officials, amidst reports
that many of the victims were forcibly deployed to fight in the war. For example, the
whereabouts of Mapendano Mugisho, Ciruku Masirika, Mushagalusa Bahizire and
Fedac Kulondwa remain unknown since members of RCD-Goma’s 6th Brigade forcibly
removed them from Bukavu central prison at night in January 2000.

4.5 Torture and other forms of ill-treatment

Many of those arrested, usually arbitrarily, by the RCD and their allies were reportedly
subjected to beatings, and other forms of torture while in custody, especially in unofficial
or secret detention centres in violation of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions
which prohibits torture. Torture methods used by the RCD and their foreign allies include
hanging men by their genitals, prohibiting detainees from urinating or defecating, rape,
whipping and detention in water-logged pits. Some other victims had stones rubbed
against their genitals, while others were held naked. There have also been reports of
detainees being forced to sleep in a room with bodies of people who had died in custody.
Some detainees claimed to have been forced to lick blood off dead bodies.

One of the unofficial military detention centres most notorious for torture is
known as Chien méchant (Dangerous dog) in Goma. Members of the RCD and their

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30 DRC: Killing human decency

allies have also used truck containers and private houses as detention centres, where
torture, sometimes leading to death, has been reported. While the RCD rarely provides
any food to detainees, guards at detention centres reportedly demand payment from
detainees’ relatives to pass food on to the detainees. There have also been numerous
reports of detainees being beaten or kept in detention until they or their relatives pay as
much as US dollars 50 to be released.

Women detainees held in military and security service detention centres of the
RCD and its allies are reportedly often raped. Widespread rape is also reported in remote
areas where RCD and allied forces are deployed. Sources in the region say that in
addition to being a deliberate torture of women, rape of married women is used as a
weapon against their husbands suspected of collaborating with the mayi-mayi.

Some people have been tortured for voicing opposition to the war and calling on
the armed opposition to abide by the Lusaka cease-fire agreement. For example,
Jean-Bosco Rwesha, a Roman Catholic priest, was severely beaten by armed men
believed to be members of the RCD on 4 February 1999. The armed men removed his
clothes and kicked him as he lay on the ground. His torturers reportedly accused him of
being anti-RCD because during mass on 31 January 1999 he had demanded an end to
the war waged by the RCD and its backers against the DRC Government.

Francine Ngoy, a 22-year-old woman, was arrested in Goma on 27 May 1999

and repeatedly beaten by members of the RPA while being held at the Chien méchant
detention centre. She was accused of collaboration with President Kabila’s government.
Some of the 19 men and two women she found in the detention centre were reportedly
subjected to electric shocks. In October, she was transferred to Gisenyi, in northwestern
Rwanda, where she was held in military custody. She was released in November and
allowed to return to Goma. She was rearrested three days later and detained at the “B2"
military security service. A week later she was transferred to Gisenyi and held at the
“MILPOC” military detention centre until January 2000 when she was released. On her
return to Goma she continued to be harassed by RPA and RCD soldiers. She fled eastern
DRC in February.

Four people arrested in Butembo, North-Kivu, by RCD-ML on 29 August 1999

were subjected to severe torture by Ugandan soldiers. The victims, Ndume
Mukambilwa, Ilunga Tumba, Abubakar Kinyama and Daniel Makutubu, were
apparently arrested on suspicion of being responsible for the distribution of anti-RCD
tracts. On 1 September they were reportedly seen tied together and only dressed in
underwear in the rain and being rolled in the mud. They were also repeatedly beaten on
their fingers. Their fate is unknown to Amnesty International.

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DRC: Killing human decency 31

Some people accused of being in contact with mayi-mayi or interahamwe have

been detained and tortured. For example, in October 1999 Aristide Mugisho, Bahati
Mbwana, Cyiza Mweze and Mamy Mirimba were severely beaten and detained for
about one week in a container at Burhale by members of the RCD. The commander
responsible for their arrest reportedly took them out of the container several times and
subjected them to mock executions. They were apparently arrested because interahamwe
reportedly bought drinks from them.

Four men, including Byamungu Makubuli , a teacher at the Kyamate secondary

school, were severely tortured after they were arrested by members of RCD-Goma at
Katindigenda, near Sange in
South-Kivu, on the night of 24
September 1999. The arrests followed
a shoot-out between two RCD units
that had mistaken each other for
mayi-mayi fighters near Sange. The
RCD claimed they had been attacked
by mayi-mayi fighters and accused
local residents of links with mayi-mayi.
Byamungu Makubuli and the three
other men were then taken to a
container at Sange, with their upper
arms tied. They were hit with big
stones and wooden planks on the head.
Amnesty International delegates saw
scars on Byamungu Makubuli’s head in
November 1999. On 25 September
the victims were transferred to Uvira
and held there in a detention centre belonging to the 9th Brigade of the RCD-Goma.
While in custody they were questioned by RCD-Goma officials about the shooting. They
were released on 29 September.

People accused of non-political offences are among those who have been
severely tortured and even killed in custody. For example, Brigitte Birhakabulirwa
M’irenge died on 25 July 1999 from severe beatings and rape by members of
RCD-Goma at Burhale. She had been arrested the previous day, reportedly in place of her
RCD combatant boyfriend who had extorted money from a civilian. After the torture, she
was detained in the container where she was found dead the following day, apparently
from the effects of torture and insufficient air.

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32 DRC: Killing human decency

Several prominent men were arrested in mid-November 1999 and severely

tortured by members of the RCD-ML and the UPDF in Butembo. The victims included
Désiré Lumbu Lumbu, a former government minister and President of civil society
groups, and Kasereka Kihuvi, a businessman and vice-president of the Federation of
small businesses in Butembo. Their arrest appears to have been linked to a petition they
and 11 others signed in September 1999 criticizing the RCD-ML for the social and
political crisis in North-Kivu province. Their opposition to the RCD-ML also appears to
have been interpreted by the armed group and Ugandan forces as indicating complicity in
the killing on 14 November 1999 of a Ugandan army major in nearby Beni town. In
custody, the detainees were reportedly subjected to hundreds of whippings while being
detained in a pit. After their release on 30 November, Désiré Lumbu Lumbu died on 11
December from a brain haemorrhage believed to have been caused by torture. He had
also reportedly been blinded in one eye during torture. It was later reported that those
responsible for the torture were arrested. It is unclear whether the alleged torturers
remained in custody or whether the authorities took any further action.

Ugandan soldiers in Kisangani reportedly arrested and tortured two civilians,

Claude Ubindi and Lucien Omeyanga, and an RCD security official, Nicole Ndolo(f),
on 25 December 1999. The two businessmen were severely beaten because they reported
to a security official known as Freddy that a consignment of 36 bags containing an
equivalent of 600,000 US dollars in Congolese currency had been secretly flown into
Kisangani by UPDF soldiers and two foreign businessmen from Uganda. Nicole Ndolo,
who was pregnant, was beaten and arrested to force her to reveal the whereabouts of
Freddy who had seized one of the bags containing the money. Freddy reportedly fled to
Goma, while the three detainees were taken to a destination that the UPDF had not
revealed to their relatives by April 2000. There was speculation in Kisangani that they
may have been transferred to Uganda.

Rape of women in areas occupied by the armed opposition is reported to be

widespread. It is carried out by Congolese armed groups and soldiers from Burundi,
Rwanda and Uganda. Although this particular abuse is widely reported, most victims fail
to publicly admit it for fear of being stigmatized by society or rejected by their husbands.
Many husbands in the region have reportedly rejected their wives after they were raped.
Many women who have been unlawfully killed are reported to have been found
completely naked and bearing signs of having been raped. In Kindu and other parts of
Maniema province, rape by combatants was reported to be systematic, particularly
between November 1998 and mid-1999. Victims were reported to include female patients
at Kindu Hospital. The perpetrators were initially reported to be members of the RPA and
UPDF and subsequently Congolese members of the RCD. Some of the combatants
reportedly boasted that they had infected the women they raped with the HIV virus which
causes AIDS.

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DRC: Killing human decency 33

Some of the women are reported to have been gang-raped by members of the
RCD. For example, Mulubi Mateso was reportedly raped on 29 April 1999 by 10
members of the RCD who found her working in a garden at Makobola. The soldiers
reportedly left her for dead and she was subsequently taken to a health centre at Kibimba,
near Uvira, for treatment. Another woman, Anne-Marie Kisesa, was reportedly raped on
3 May 1999 by three members of the RCD at Kiliba. A fourth soldier whom she resisted
reportedly stabbed her in the chest.

Further information came to light in early 2000 about more women being
subjected to torture by members of RCD-Goma. For example, Willy Kabala, Félicité
and Francoise Nzibera were beaten and detained by members of RCD-Goma for several
hours on 16 January because they failed to reveal the whereabouts of members of a
women’s organization known as Promotion et appui aux initiatives féminines (PAIF),
Promotion and Support for Women’s Initiatives. The two members of PAIF, Jeanine
Mukanirwa and Immaculées Birhaheka, were themselves arrested because Birhaheka
had attended a civil society meeting in Kinshasa and were detained for one and two days,
respectively. Kalonji, a woman arrested after she was falsely accused of stealing money,
was subjected to 50 lashes which caused her to bleed from the anus. She was released
after 15 days in custody at the “B2" detention centre.

5. Abuses by mayi-mayi, interahamwe and allied armed groups

Armed groups opposed to the RCD and their foreign backers have deliberately killed and
abducted unarmed civilians. Numerous sources have reported that groups of mayi-mayi
fighters have been responsible for killings and torture, including rape, mainly of people
suspected of cooperating with the RCD and its foreign backers. The population in areas
where the mayi-mayi operate has also been subjected to extortion and looting. However,
Rwandese Hutu combatants, collectively known as interahamwe, appear to be the most
feared of the armed groups fighting the RCD and its foreign backers. The local
population holds the interahamwe, together with the RPA, responsible for exporting the
internal Rwandese conflict to the DRC. The same population generally considers the
mayi-mayi as its liberators from foreign and Tutsi domination.

At the start of April 1999 mayi-mayi reportedly killed several dozen Tutsi
civilians, stole cows and burned houses in Elumba village in Uvira territory. On 8 May
the mayi-mayi reportedly killed more than 30 people in Kagogo and Karingi villages.
Between 30 April and 1 May 1999, mayi-mayi reportedly killed several civilians in
Kashembwe village and abducted an unspecified number of girls for use as sex slaves.
Many houses in these villages were reportedly burned and property, including cows,
belonging to residents were looted by the mayi-mayi.

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34 DRC: Killing human decency

Between May and July 1999 many unarmed civilians were reportedly killed
during fighting between two mayi-mayi factions in areas around and north of the shores
of Lake Tanganyika. The fighting was apparently sparked off by disagreements on
territorial control and collection of “taxes” from the local population. During this period,
thousands of civilians, some of whom had fled from other parts of South-Kivu, crossed
the lake to Tanzania. The areas most affected were the Ubwari peninsula, Sebele, Talama
and Wimbi.

The mayi-mayi have reportedly killed many people accused of practising

witchcraft against their combatants or in favour of their opponents. For example, a man
known as Birondwe from Kabindula in Bavira county, Uvira territory, was reportedly
hanged on a cross and killed in June 1999 after the mayi-mayi accused him of providing
witchcraft to the RCD instead of the mayi-mayi. His killers reportedly removed and ate
his heart and liver. Others killed by mayi-mayi for alleged witchcraft include Bitondo
Kisama (f) and Kisambale, who was burned alive at Nyalukungu, Shabunda.

Mayi-mayi are reported to have killed many unarmed civilians they accused of
complicity with the RCD and its foreign backers. Those killed between January and June
1999 in Musenge village, Walikale territory, included Lutula-Songa and Nyalima
Omba. Some of the victims, such as Faida and Byanunda, were women accused by
mayi-mayi of witchcraft. In the village of Itibero, mayi-mayi killed Jérome Lukanda,
Riziki Shindano (f) and Juliane Lingima(f).

Many of the abuses, particularly killings, by mayi-mayi, have been against

members of the Tutsi ethnic group. The mayi-mayi accuse Tutsi of being undesirable
foreigners or supporting the invasion of the DRC by Rwanda. It is extremely dangerous
for Tutsi to live or travel in areas where mayi-mayi are prevalent. For example,
mayi-mayi attacked two Tutsi at Kahungwe market on 25 September, killing one known
as Mbirimbiri.

In February and March 2000 mayi-mayi reportedly killed more than 40 members
of the Tutsi ethnic group in several villages of Minembwe territory of South-Kivu.
When mayi-mayi combatants briefly captured Lemera town in South-Kivu from
RCD-Goma and allied foreign forces on 7 April they reportedly killed several dozen
civilians, most of them Tutsi. Members of the Vira, Bembe and Fulero ethnic groups
opposed to killings of Tutsi civilians were also targeted by the mayi-mayi during the
attacks. In March 2000 as many as 700 are reported to have fled from South-Kivu to
Burundi to escape attacks by mayi-mayi and allied armed groups.

On 24 October 1999, at least four women accused of providing accommodation

to RCD-Goma combatants were killed by mayi-mayi in Walungu, South-Kivu. The RCD
had reportedly been warned of the mayi-mayi attack and had left the area when the

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DRC: Killing human decency 35

mayi-mayi arrived in Walungu. The mayi-mayi reportedly cut the breasts of one of the
victims, Rose M’Munandi, and killed her with her daughter.

Mayi-mayi fighters are reported to have carried out numerous rapes of women,
although many of their members and leaders deny the abuse. Mayi-Mayi claim that the
witchcraft they use to render them invincible would be ineffective if they raped women.
However, Amnesty International has received numerous reports of women who have
been raped after their husbands were killed by the mayi-mayi; an act apparently intended
to punish and humiliate people suspected of supporting the RCD and its allies or of
failing to support the mayi-mayi. Mayi-mayi rapists reportedly leave behind married
women they rape while often forcing unmarried ones to become their sex slaves.

Mayi-mayi have killed other people who refused to join or support them. For
example, in March 1999 they killed Kingombwe Ngambwa and Mutandi Musambya,
local chiefs of Ngolole, in Kamituga.

The interahamwe in eastern DRC are reported to have perpetrated killings,

torture, including rape, and other human rights abuses in eastern DRC. The interahamwe
appear to target mostly Tutsi on the basis of their ethnic origin and perceived support for
the RPA and their RCD allies. For example, on 7 January 2000 interahamwe killed
Tharcisse Musema at Kahungu in Kabare territory of South-Kivu province.

Interahamwe have also targeted members of other ethnic groups they accuse of
supporting the RCD. In many other cases, unarmed civilians appear to have been attacked
by marauding gangs of interahamwe seeking food and property to survive. During
December 1999 interahamwe reportedly killed more than six people around Bunyakiri in
South-Kivu. On 22 December 1999 interahamwe tortured and mutilated to death
Cizungu Ntabenda at Nyamulwira-Rambo village in Bunyakiri. On 31 December,
another group of interahamwe stabbed Pilipili Kabundula at Kalonge. These killings led
many families to flee the area to Bukavu.

Amnesty International has received reports of torture and ill-treatment at the

offices of the CNDD-FDD in Lubumbashi, which is controlled by the DRC Government.
One Burundian national interviewed by Amnesty International claimed that he had been
held by the CNDD-FDD for one month in Lubumbashi. While in custody, members of
the CNDD-FDD repeatedly subjected him to beatings and death threats. The victim was
unlawfully detained and ill-treated because he refused to join the armed group.

6. Arming and training the killer forces

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36 DRC: Killing human decency

Amnesty International opposes and calls for an end to transfers of military, security and
police (MSP) equipment, weaponry, training and personnel likely to be used to commit
human rights abuses. All sides to the conflict in the DRC have received extensive
supplies of weapons and other military equipment which many of the combatants use to
perpetrate human rights abuses. Although the UN has called for an end to the armed
conflict in the DRC, it has conspicuously failed to call for or impose a halt to the supply
of weapons to governments involved in the war. The protagonist forces have used the
continuing flow of weapons to commit violations of international humanitarian law and
human rights.

Although a UN embargo is in place to prevent arms supplies to the former

Rwandese forces, this remains largely ineffective because these forces have continued to
obtain supplies directly from their allies in the DRC and indirectly by capturing weapons
from their opponents, including the RPA. A threat by the EU to suspend economic aid to
countries continuing the fighting has only largely been implemented against the DRC and
Zimbabwe. Amnesty International does not support or oppose economic embargoes.
However, the organization recommends that foreign donors should put in place and
implement mechanisms to ensure that the economic funds do not enable recipient
governments to use money they acquire from trade and other sources to buy weapons that
are used to commit human rights abuses. Furthermore, the governments fighting in the
DRC have transferred weapons and training to armed groups there.

6.1 Arms for the DRC war

In a report entitled Deadly alliances in Congolese forests (AI Index: AFR 62/33/97),
published on 3 December 1997, Amnesty International highlighted the role played by
various regional and foreign governments in the armed conflict which brought President
Kabila to power. Virtually the same sources of weapons and combatants have continued
playing the same roles since August 1998. Armed opposition groups and the
governments of the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda have also continued to recruit children as
soldiers.

The DRC Government has received support in personnel and weapons from the
governments of Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe, as well as Chad which pulled out of the
conflict in mid-1999. Many civilians in areas controlled by the armed opposition and
their backers are reported to have been killed during indiscriminate attacks or bombings
by helicopters, as well as MiG and Antonov bomber aircraft, belonging to the forces of
Zimbabwe, Namibia and Sudan. Arms received by governments supporting the DRC may
well end up in the DRC. In January 1999 the Swiss Government blocked a 1.5 million
US dollar deal for the supply of cluster bombs to Zimbabwe. At the start of March 2000,
the International Press Service (IPS) reported that a Chilean arms company had sold 66
cluster bombs to Zimbabwe in November 1999. It is not clear whether and where cluster

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DRC: Killing human decency 37

bombs have been used in the war in the DRC. The Zimbabwean Standard newspaper
reported in late 1998 that the Zimbabwean Government had imported helicopters,
including gunships, fighter and spotter planes worth 54 million US dollars. Some
helicopters were reportedly imported from the Russian Federation while F7 fighter planes
were from China. In January 2000 the British Government authorized an export to
Zimbabwe of Hawk fighter aircraft spare parts by British Aerospace. However, reacting
to political tensions and violence over land reform in Zimbabwe, in early May the British
Government announced a suspension of exports to Zimbabwe of arms, including spare
parts for Hawk aircraft, and police vehicles. In mid-April 2000 the London-based
Guardian newspaper reported Zimbabwe had used TransBalkan Cargo Service, an
Amsterdam-based company, to import arms from Bulgaria, for on-ward transfer to its
forces in the DRC. Zimbabwe was expected to use the same company to import more
arms from Slovakia.

Angola, Namibia and Zimbabwe have also reportedly trained thousands of DRC
government soldiers. For example, in October 1999 the FAC reportedly integrated an
infantry brigade, comprising 2,600 soldiers and 123 officers, trained by Zimbabwean and
Namibian experts. As many as 300 North-Korean military advisers were reported in
June 1999 to have arrived in the DRC. Amnesty International subsequently learned that
the military experts were training FAC soldiers in Katanga province. The DRC
Government initially denied the report, but on 26 April 2000 DRC government television
reported the passing out of members of the 10 th FAC Brigade trained by North-Korean
instructors, some of whom were shown in the report.

In late 1999 several sources in Tanzania and Zambia informed Amnesty

International that many DRC refugees had been secretly recruited by agents of the DRC
Government in refugee camps in Tanzania and sent to Zimbabwe for military training.
Amnesty International has no evidence that either the humanitarian agencies or the
Tanzanian authorities were aware of the recruitment. Some of the recruits were
reportedly told that they would be sent for training abroad. Several sources in the DRC
also alleged that Zimbabwe was providing weapons and funding to the CNDD-FDD and
other armed groups from the Great Lakes region to support the DRC government forces.
In February 2000 the Zambian Post newspaper reported that several Zambians, including
senior security officers, and three Congolese were arrested in connection with arms
supplies to a Burundian armed group.

Congolese state television reported in February 1999 that

the DRC Government had received a consignment of tanks, cannons and artillery
batteries. The source of the weapons was not revealed. In November 1999, the

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38 DRC: Killing human decency

Washington Post newspaper reported that Iran had sold scud missiles to the DRC
Government, but both the US and Iranian governments denied knowledge of the sale.

Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda have continued to acquire weapons and other
military equipment, which are likely to be used by their forces and their Congolese allies
in the DRC. The Ugandan and Rwandese governments have used private companies to
ferry troops and supplies to their armies in the DRC. For example, according to the
Ugandan state-owned New Vision newspaper, a Swiss company known as Aviation
Support and Trading Organization (AVISTO) was hired by the Ugandan Government to
run its C-130 Hercules aircraft which is used to transport its soldiers and their supplies to
the DRC. The Ugandan army has also reportedly hired aircraft belonging to
Ugandan-based private companies. The New Vision reported in July 1999 that the
Ugandan army had hired aircraft belonging to VR Promotions Ltd to transport military
supplies to the DRC. The London-based Guardian newspaper reported in April 2000 that
planes registered in Swaziland, belonging to Congolese companies, Planet Air and New
Goma Air, had been used to transport weapons, including AK47 assault rifles, from
Uganda and Rwanda to eastern DRC.

In February 1999, a Zambian newspaper reported the arrival on 14 January 1999

at the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam of a large consignment of military hardware for
Uganda. The consignment, aboard a North-Korean ship called MV Komalsan, reportedly
included six armoured tanks, 5,000 anti-tank missiles, 5,000 anti-aircraft missiles, 5,000
automatic machineguns, 1,000 grenade launchers, 2,000 boxes of ammunition and 1,000
pairs of boots. The North-Korean ambassador and the Ugandan High Commissioner to
Tanzania reportedly supervised the handling and clearing of the cargo. This shipment was
reported to have been preceded by two others at the end of 1998. The first consignment
of 62 T-55 tanks reportedly arrived at the port from Ukraine in November 1998, aboard a
Hong-Kong registered Bulgarian ship, the Lady Juliet. The second consignment of about
80 tons of portable missile mortars, suspected to have arrived from Russia or Ukraine,
arrived at Dar es Salaam port on 23 December 1998 aboard the Greek-registered MV
Domain vessel.

In May 1999, a Ugandan newspaper reported that Uganda and Rwanda had
obtained Mi-24 military helicopters from Belarus. The helicopter deal was reportedly
carried out through a British firm known as Consolidated Sales Limited and a Ugandan
bank. In August 1999 another Ugandan newspaper reported that Uganda had purchased
six MiG-21 fighter jets in 1998 through the Israeli Silvershadow Ltd arms dealing
company owned by a former Israeli army colonel. The jets, three of which had reportedly
been delivered by August 1999, were apparently obtained from Poland. The Jerusalem
Post newspaper reported in November 1999 that Israeli State-owned El Al airline
technicians had been hired by the Ugandan Government to modernise the warplanes.

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DRC: Killing human decency 39

In June 1999, Reuters news agency reported that during a visit to Egypt by the
then Rwandese Vice-President Paul Kagame 8 a resumption of military cooperation
between Egypt and Rwanda was announced, after Rwanda had repaid debts owed by the
former Rwandese Government. It was reported that the debts were for the supply of
artillery pieces, ammunition, bombs and grenades worth six million US dollars to the
former Rwandese Government. The Rwandese Foreign Minister reportedly told Reuters
that his country had just finished repaying the debt even though some of the weapons
were later used to exterminate minority Tutsi and opposition Hutu [in 1994]. It is unclear
whether Egypt has delivered weapons to Rwanda since June 1999. On 7 September 1999
State-owned Radio Rwanda announced that Vice-President Kagame inaugurated a
paramilitary commando training of 600 soldiers by Russian experts.

In October 1999 and March 2000 Ugandan newspapers reported that the security
forces in Ugandan intercepted and blocked the delivery of weapons consignments to
Burundi. The official reason reportedly given by the Ugandan authorities was that
Uganda sought to encourage the Burundian peace process. However, several sources said
that the Uganda action was a reprisal for the support Burundi reportedly gave to
Rwandese and allied forces during the August 1999 armed clash between the RPA and
the UPDF in Kisangani.

In addition to weapons, foreign forces in the DRC have also been training
members of the Congolese armed opposition groups they support. Since early 1999
sources in the DRC and Ugandan newspapers have reported that many new and old
members of the RCD factions have received military training and ideological
indoctrination (known as “political education”) in Uganda and Rwanda. In June 1999 a
Ugandan newspaper reported that 100 Congolese “vigilantes” to be used for monitoring
the Uganda-DRC border had completed their political and military training in Kasese,
Uganda. In July 1999 the UPDF were reportedly training some 2,100 RCD-ML recruits
in the Nyaleke forest near Beni in Orientale province. Others were reportedly being
trained at Isiro, Kisangani, Buta, Lisala and Bunia in the same province. In July 1999, a
Ugandan newspaper reported that the Ugandan Government had issued passports to
armed opposition leaders to facilitate their travel abroad.

To counter infiltration and attacks by mayi-mayi, interahamwe and other rival

armed groups, the RCD and their allies have since January 1999 recruited and armed
civilian militia known as Forces d’auto-défense (FAD), Self-Defence Forces. Some of
these FAD groups in North-Kivu province are composed of Congolese Hutu civilians,
including children. FAD recruits reportedly undergo three weeks’ training at Mushaki,

8
Major-General Paul Kagame became Rwanda’s new President on 17 April 2000, following the
resignation of President Pasteur Bizimungu on 23 March 2000.

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40 DRC: Killing human decency

about 30km from Goma. In South-Kivu members of a similar militia have been trained
at Kiziba, Kavumu and Katana. In some cases Hutu and Tutsi FAD militia have carried
out joint operations with RPA against the interahamwe, particularly in Masisi, Walikale
and Rutshuru territories. However, some Hutu members of the FAD have reportedly
joined interahamwe against the RCD and the RPA.

In mid-March 2000 a UN investigation into violations of UN economic sanctions

against an Angolan armed opposition group, the União Nacional para a Independência
Total de Angola (UNITA), National Union for the Total Independence of Angola,
reported that UNITA combatants, including anti-aircraft gunners, had been fighting
alongside the RCD and the RPA in eastern DRC. The report also said that Uganda had
provided refuelling facilities for UNITA planes. According to the report, following
contacts between then Rwandese Vice-President Kagame and UNITA leader, Jonas
Savimbi, RPA and allied troops trapped in southwestern DRC in August 1998 retreated
to UNITA-held areas in Angola, from where the troops were airlifted to Rwanda. Other
RPA troops reportedly stayed with UNITA. UNITA also reportedly used Rwanda as a
transit and dealing centre for smuggled diamonds and for refuelling planes. The
Rwandese and Ugandan governments denied involvement in busting UN sanctions.

Detainees held in Rwanda, including those accused of participation in the 1994

genocide in Rwanda, are among people taken to fight in the DRC. Such detainees were
removed from prisons in the préfectures bordering the DRC (Gisenyi, Kibuye and
Cyangugu) but also from central areas, such as Gitarama and Kigali. For example in late
1998, around 150 former government soldiers known as ex-FAR detained in Gitarama
“disappeared”. Amnesty International received credible reports that they had been sent
to the DRC; they were allegedly selected because in 1994 they had belonged to specially
trained units, which spearheaded killings during the genocide. Some former soldiers who
were “released” from Gisenyi prison in 1999 were also reportedly sent to the DRC.
Sources in the DRC have reported hundreds of RPA recruits being trained in there,
particularly near Kalémie in Katanga province.

6.2 Child combatants

Reacting to an offensive by armed opposition groups and forces from Rwanda, Uganda
and Burundi, the DRC Government recruited many children, some as young as 12 years
into the FAC. This new recruitment which began in August 1998 started at a time when
child protection and humanitarian organizations in the DRC were putting in place
programs for the demobilization and rehabilitation of child soldiers who had taken part in
the 1996-97 war. Amnesty International representatives learned that 20 per cent of more
than 2,000 FAC soldiers who fled into Zambia in March 1999 after they were defeated by
the armed opposition in northern Katanga province were children - some of them under
15 years old. All these children returned in early 1999 with the adult soldiers to the DRC

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DRC: Killing human decency 41

to rejoin the FAC. The FAC forces reportedly included about 300 members of the
CNDD-FDD, about half of whom were reportedly armed child combatants. The DRC
Government has said that it intends to demobilise all child soldiers and that, in any case,
children are no longer allowed to participate in combat duties. Many sources in the DRC
say that children continue to serve as combatants within the FAC and can still be seen
carrying military weapons in many parts of the country. Mayi-mayi militia, who are
increasingly getting military assistance from the FAC, also heavily recruit children.

Ugandan and Rwandese governments have escalated the recruitment in their

countries of fighters, including children, many of whom are reported to have been
deployed in the DRC. Recruitment of children in the armed forces contravenes the
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children, to which Rwanda and Uganda are
parties.

In Uganda, parents in the western district of Hoima told The Monitor newspaper
in November 1998 that children as young as 12 years had been secretly recruited by
officials of the Internal Security Organization (ISO) to join the army. People in the
district suspected that the children were being recruited to fight in the DRC or to replace
soldiers already deployed there.9 Local councillors reportedly complained that many of
those recruited were below 18 years and of questionable disciplinary record. One parent
claimed that two of his children who had been recruited were primary school pupils aged
12 and 13 years. A district ISO official reportedly said children had been recruited from
central Ugandan districts of Kiboga, Mubende and Mpigi.

Many children in Rwanda are among thousands of civilians who have been
recruited into the RPA and deployed to fight in the DRC. Amnesty International
representatives visiting eastern DRC in November 1999 saw several Rwandese
child-soldiers who only spoke Kinyarwanda, clad in RPA uniform, in South-Kivu. The
organization’s representatives believe many of the children were unlikely to be more than
12 years old.

Sources in Rwanda have frequently seen children being recruited. For example,
in the northwestern town of Gisenyi, at the end of July 1999, eye-witnesses described
seeing an RPA military truck driving around town in the early morning, stopping at every
group of young people and asking who wanted to become a soldier. A number of
children volunteered, including street children. The witnesses said some of them were as
young as 10 or 12 years old. The younger ones appeared to join voluntarily, while some
of the older ones refused. One of the eye-witnesses saw the same practice a second time

9
The Ugandan army is often reported to be overstretched as a result of insurgency, particularly
in northern and western Uganda.

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42 DRC: Killing human decency

in Gisenyi town; this time some of the newly-recruited children were now also in military
uniform on the truck, trying to persuade others to join them. On 18 August 1999,
several secondary school students, some younger than 18, were picked up and made to
board a military truck at Rubengera, about 20km from Kibuye. Some of the boys who
did not want to get on the truck were reportedly beaten with rifle butts. They were taken
to Gabiro, in the east, for military training; all their possessions were taken. An
estimated 300 boys were taken away on trucks in this way from Rubengera, around the
same period.

7. Conclusion
This report is the latest in a series published by Amnesty International about the
horrendous human rights situation in the DRC. Many local and international human
rights and humanitarian organizations have also denounced these abuses and appealed to
leaders of the forces implicated in the war to institute measures to protect unarmed
civilians and observe international humanitarian and human rights law. Some foreign
governments and intergovernmental organizations, such as the UN, have also expressed
concern at the violations of international humanitarian law. But the abuses have
continued unabated.

Amnesty International has concluded that there has been a blatant lack of will on
the part of the leaders of the governments and armed groups involved in the DRC war to
prevent human rights abuses and a total disregard for their obligations under international
law to prevent attacks on unarmed civilians. These leaders should be individually held
responsible and brought to justice for the abuses their forces have committed, if it can be
demonstrated that they have ordered, condoned or deliberately failed to prevent the
abuses. Violations of international humanitarian and human rights law which governs the
humane treatment of unarmed civilians in a war situation have continued unchecked
because the international community has failed to act. But it is not too late. The
international community should expect and demand that military and political leaders of
the forces in the DRC take effective action to prevent further human rights abuses and
bring those among their forces responsible for the abuses to justice. Short of such action,
the international community has an obligation to demand action against such leaders,
regardless of their regional or political position or security force rank.

8. Recommendations
Given that leaders of forces responsible for human rights abuses in the DRC have failed
to heed previous appeals by the international community, Amnesty International now
believes that the international community should step in to correct past wrongs and
prevent their recurrence. Thus, the organization is recommending to the protagonists and

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DRC: Killing human decency 43

the international community to commit themselves to ensuring that an international

investigation into allegations of serious human rights abuses takes place and to bringing
the perpetrators to justice. In Amnesty International’s view, this is the main way these
violations can be stopped and prevented in the future.

In August 1997 the UN Secretary-General set up a team known as the UN

Secretary-General’s Investigation Team (UNSGIT) to investigate violations of
international humanitarian law that had occurred in the DRC between 1993 and 1997.
The investigation was set up mainly to investigate allegations of large scale massacres in
late 1996 and early 1997 of Rwandese Hutu refugees by the RPA and its allies in the
DRC. The UNSGIT’s work was obstructed by the DRC Government, despite the
agreement of the government to the weak terms of reference.10 After August 1998, the
DRC Government blamed the obstruction on forces and allies of the Rwandese
Government. Although it was unable to complete its work, the UNSGIT concluded that,
on the basis of testimonies and evidence it obtained, combatants, including those loyal to
President Kabila and Rwandese government troops, had committed atrocities, which
could amount to genocide. The team recommended further investigation by an
independent body to identify the perpetrators. Through UN Security Council Resolution
1234 and UN Commission on Human Rights Resolution 1999/56 of April 1999, these
UN bodies have demanded and emphasized the importance of a full, independent and
impartial investigation into the violations of international humanitarian law and human
rights law, and a need to bring the perpetrators to justice. These resolutions must not be
forgotten and indeed the international community, including the bodies that unanimously
passed them, should ensure that they are fully implemented.

Amnesty International recommends that the UN Security Council sets up a new

commission of inquiry to fully investigate violations of international humanitarian and
human rights law in the DRC, including since August 1998. The commission of inquiry
should build on and take into account the findings and preliminary conclusions of the
UNSGIT. The investigation should start without delay, particularly but not exclusively in
areas where MONUC personnel will be deployed and from outside the DRC. The
MONUC should be required to facilitate and guarantee security for the investigators to
ensure that the investigation is quickly extended countrywide. The investigators should
also be given a mandate to interview witnesses and alleged perpetrators in countries with
forces or other personnel in the DRC. The commission’s mandate should include making

10
The UNSGIT’s terms of reference, which had been agreed between the UN Secretary-General
and the DRC Government, were watered down by the separate intervention of the then US Ambassador to
the UN Security Council, in an apparent effort to make them acceptable to the DRC Government and its
allies.

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44 DRC: Killing human decency

recommendations for action to bring alleged perpetrators of grave human rights abuses to
justice and to prevent a recurrence of similar human rights tragedies in the future.

8.1 To the United Nations Security Council

· Urgently set up an international commission of inquiry composed of experienced

investigators with a known reputation for their competence, independence and
impartiality to investigate violations of international humanitarian and human
rights law in the DRC since 1993. The commission should specifically follow up
on and complete the work of the UNSGIT;

· Provide adequate material and human resources for a full investigation and for
subsequent action, including bringing the perpetrators to justice, once the
investigation is completed and the perpetrators have been identified;

· Deploy the investigators to begin their work as soon as adequate arrangements

have been made to guarantee their security;

· Demand a binding commitment by governments and armed groups with forces in

the DRC to cooperate with and facilitate the investigation and to submit for trial
alleged perpetrators identified by the inquiry.

· Ensure that the MONUC has a responsibility for monitoring the human rights
situation in the DRC and publicly reports on its findings;

· Urgently demand an expansion of the office of the High Commissioner for

Human Rights in the DRC and that its personnel are closely involved in the
human rights protection aspect of the MONUC;

· Demand that UN member states prevent the transfer of military, security and
police (MSP) equipment, weaponry, personnel and training likely to be used for
human rights abuses to all state parties and non- governmental entities with
armed forces involved in the DRC conflict. Such a suspension, including of
related logistical and financial support, should be maintained until it can be
reasonably demonstrated that such transfers will not be used to commit human
rights abuses or violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

8.2 To Governments and armed groups with forces in the DRC

· Take immediate measures to prevent human rights abuses by forces under their
control and make it clear to any perpetrators that they will not be allowed to enjoy
impunity;

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DRC: Killing human decency 45

· Make a public commitment to cooperate fully with and facilitate an international

investigation into allegations of violations of international humanitarian law and
other international and regional human rights treaties during the armed conflict in
the DRC;

· Publicly undertake to ensure that commanders and combatants will give evidence
to the international investigation. Make a public and unequivocal commitment
that those identified as having a case to answer will be submitted for trial by a
court of law, with sufficient guarantees of a fair trial and without recourse to the
death penalty;

· Undertake to pay compensation determined by the courts to victims of human

rights abuses, particularly unlawful killings and torture, or their relatives,
committed by forces under your control;

· End the recruitment of any person under the age of 18 into the armed forces, as
required by the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of Children to which
Angola, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe are parties. Other governments which
have not yet ratified the Charter should urgently do so and adhere to it;

· Cooperate with and facilitate the MONUC function of monitoring and preventing
human right abuses in the DRC.

8.3 To foreign governments, OAU, SADC and EU

· Support Amnesty International’s call for the UN to set up an international

commission of inquiry to investigate violations of international humanitarian law
and other human rights treaties in the DRC, including since August 1998;

· Cooperate with, facilitate and provide resources required to carry out an

international inquiry established by the UN;

· Demand that all governments and armed groups, without exception, cooperate
fully with the inquiry and submit any alleged perpetrators for trial;

· As a minimum, prevent the transfer of military, security and police (MSP)

equipment, weaponry, personnel and training likely to be used for human rights
abuses to all state parties and non- governmental entities with armed forces
involved in the DRC conflict. Such a suspension, including of related logistical
and financial support, should be maintained until it can be reasonably

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46 DRC: Killing human decency

demonstrated that such transfers will not be used to commit human rights abuses
or violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.

GLOSSARY OF ACRONYMS

ANR: Agence national de renseignements

BSRS: Brigade spéciale de recherche et de surveillance
CELPA: Communauté des églises libres de pentecôte en Afrique
CNDD-FDD: Conseil national pour la défense de la démocratie - Forces pour la défense
de la démocratie
CNS: Conseil national de sécurité
CPRK: Centre pénitentiaire et de réeducation de Kinshasa
COJESKI: Collectif des organisations des jeunes du Sud-Kivu
COM: Cour d’ordre militaire
DEMIAP: Détection militaires des activités anti-patrie
DRC: Democratic Republic of Congo
EU: European Union
FAC: Forces armées congolaises
FAP: Forces d’auto-défense populaires
FRF: Forces républicaines fédéralistes
GLM: Groupe Litho Moboti
GSSP: Groupe spécial de sécurité présidentielle
JMC: Joint Military Council

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DRC: Killing human decency 47

ICCPR: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

MONUC: Mission de l’organisation des nations unies au Congo
MLC: Mouvement pour la libération du Congo
OAU Organization of African Unity
RCD: Rassamblement congolais pour la démocracie
RPA: Rwandese Patriotic Front
SADC: Southern Africa Development Community
UNITA: União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola
UPDF: Uganda Peoples Defence Forces

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