by M. Kya Musoke, Congo (RDC), September 1997
THEME = HUMAN RIGHTS
An overall look at the first part of President Kabila's administration (with the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL), does not present a completely negative picture. For example, acceptable limitations have been placed on the currency's devaluation; prices in the market are being held to reasonable levels even if there is not enough money in circulation; the military have removed their barriers on the roads, allowing truck drivers and traders to bring basic food stuffs and other essentials into Kinshasa. Organisation has improved at the airports and other entry points into the country.
But not everything is fine. The AFDL said they had come to "liberate" the people, but we cannot ignore the inhuman and degrading treatment inflicted on Congo's citizens by AFDL soldiers. This shocks national public opinion and scandalises international opinion.
Not a day goes by without both men and women being arbitrarily arrested, and worse, flogged in public. The blows are administered on sensitive parts of the body, especially the stomach. The victim's age determines the number of blows administered. So, generally speaking, older people receive more strokes.
The beatings are usually carried out in broad daylight, in public places (markets, along main roads, etc). It is clear that apart from wishing to inflict pain, the intention is to humiliate the victim. If the victim does not die from the beating, he/she suffers terribly because of inflamed abdominal muscles. This barbarous treatment (pain and humiliation), impugns the very dignity of the person.
Most people in Kinshasa are comparing present happenings to the days of slavery and the colonial era. That is why everyone asks: "How can Mr Kabila say he is Patrice Lumumba's "spiritual son"? After all, Lumumba was the one who took a stand against colonialism, because of the humiliating treatment meted out on the local population by the colonial authorities.
"What's happening now", people say, is "Neo- Colonialism", because Congo's citizens are being beaten and humiliated at will by their masters.
International opinion is quite prepared to give all its attention to human rights violations by the AFDL (focusing primarily on the massacres of Hutu refugees - massacres which the UN has not yet been able to fully investigate). But what about the daily tortures inflicted on many Congolese by this same AFDL?
Prisoners and especially political prisoners, are frequently tortured. Recently, young members of the Union for Development and Social Progress (UDPS) were subjected to electric shock "treatment". They had been arrested following the protest march organised by Etienne Tshisekedi's party.
There's nothing new about torture being used in Congo - it was a regular occurrence in the late president Mobutu's time. But when the AFDL soldiers get down to "business", there's no stopping them. A photograph being circulated in Kinshasa, gives a graphic portrayal of what's happening. The photo comes from Kitona military base in Lower-Congo Province, and shows a former Armed Forces of Zaire (FAZ) colonel, with hands and feet bound and his head in the dust, being stamped on by a Tutsi soldier. This took place after several former FAZ personnel mutinied as a protest against the savagery of the Tutsi soldiers guarding the camp.
People in Kinshasa are wondering what's happening to detainees held by the Court of First Instance (TGI). These detainees are people who during Mobutu's time, largely contributed to Congo's ruin, by their looting and incompetent handling of the country's affairs. But most people are extremely concerned about the ill-treatment now being meted out to them. Everybody was hoping that those who had grown "fat" off their ill-gotten gains, should have been first of all obliged to "pay" for their misdeeds and then to make a practical contribution towards nation-rebuilding. But nothing can justify the treatment they are now receiving and the conditions under which they are being held.
This kind of thing is contrary to our Bantu customs and traditions. The AFDL seems to ignore this.
People's rights are being continually violated by the new regime. Nothing is sacred. National reconciliation between the AFDL and the unarmed opposition is far from being achieved. Worse still, President Kabila's political programme seems to remain at the level of "pious intentions". The way things are going, the general elections, scheduled for April 1999, look like being put off indefinitely.
Mr Bizima Karaha is Congo's Foreign Affairs Minister. During a visit to the United States, he said: "Elections are not a priority for Congo's government".
And yet, during President Kabila's presidential investiture speech given on 29 May 1997, the new President had solemnly announced his political programme.
It must be admitted that the government's priority for national reconstruction, is to restore Congo's communications' system. It's an ambitious programme involving the entire population. The AFDL can't do the job alone. Everyone must lend a hand and most Congolese appreciate this. But it can only be achieved if individual liberties and human rights are respected, within a framework of justice and national reconciliation.
END