Text:
http://www.africanews.org/central/congo-kinshasa/stories/19981127_feat2.html
Source App: [Amnesty International reports human rights abuses in DRC - Netscape]
Amnesty International reports human rights abuses in DRC
November 27, 1998
Harare - Amnesty International has expressed shock about chilling acts of
brutality and massive human rights abuses perpetrated by warring factions in the
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Since the spreading Congo conflict erupted on August 2, war has had a devastating impact on civilians. Recently, serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws, including large-scale wanton massacres of unarmed civilians, "disappearances", torture, arbitrary arrests and detentions, and rape have been committed by coalitions on both sides of the conflict.
According to last week's report by Amnesty International, thousands of civilians in the vast Central African state have been killed, maimed or subjected to dehumanising conditions as the warring parties adopted cruel tactics to win the war of attrition which was spilling beyond the borders of the Great Lakes region.
"Civilians are paying the highest price in this war. Gross human rights violations have been perpetrated by combatants in reprisal for losses they suffered from their opponents. Attacks are mainly targeted at civilians who are not taking an active part in the war. We are concerned about recent reports of rape and other grisly forms of sexual violence," the report said.
What made the situation worse, said the report, was that the war has degenerated into an ethnic conflict in which people suspected of being of a certain tribe were massacred in cold blood. The prevailing state of paranoia and ethnic animosity was deteriorating amid fears tribally-motivated killings might increase to genocidal proportions.
"One must bear in mind that every hour a person is arrested, illegally detained, tortured or raped.." the report quoted a human rights activist in the Congo as saying.
Congolese Armed Forces (FAC) from President Laurent Kabila's party have been blamed for fanning violence by disseminating ethnic slurs and inciting civilians to massacre each other for political gains. Many of the statements made by government officials have characterised symphathisers of the rebel movement, Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) according to ethnicity. As a result, massacres targeted Tutsis and people with family or personal links with them, in most cases without evidence of connections with the RCD.
A senior official in Kabila's embattled government was quoted by foreign
monitoring of radio broadcasts as saying: "The enemy (Tutsis) is like a virus, a
mosquito and filth which must be crushed with great determination and resolve."
These statements have caused widespread killings in the DRC because people were now convinced that the problem in the Congo was not necessarily political but all about tribal hegemony.
Amnesty International said it considered incitement of tribal violence by government officials to be a major contributory factor in human rights abuses of people who were not actively involved in political hostilities.
Mass graves containing about 500 people have been discovered at Lutendele area, about 18 kilometres southwest of Kinshasa. FAC troops were believed to be responsible for the killings although Amnesty International has not been able to verify the information.
Zimbabwean and Angolan troops reportedly killed civilians in late August during indiscriminate shelling of Kinshasa's suburbs including some of the most populous districts, the report said.
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