drc: amnesty concerned over ituri

News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International
AI-index: AFR 62/009/2003 20/03/2003

The Ugandan authorities should bring suspected perpetrators of the serious
human rights abuses committed in Ituri to justice before Uganda's courts,
Amnesty International said today in a new report on the deteriorating
situation in Ituri province in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC).

"There must be no hiding place for those who are alleged to have committed
serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law in
Ituri or elsewhere in DRC", Amnesty International said. "Suspected
perpetrators, of whatever nationality, found on Ugandan territory or in
areas of the DRC under Ugandan control should be investigated and brought
to justice."

Amnesty International's report - Democratic Republic of Congo: On the
precipice: the deepening human rights and humanitarian crisis in Ituri
(View the full report online, visit:
http://click.topica.com/maaaV9AaaWMMQbb0imPb/ )- documents some of the
recent grave human rights abuses in Ituri, where an estimated 50,000 people
have died and more than 500,000 displaced since 1999 as a result of
fighting in the region. Much of the violence stems from armed conflict
between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups. This conflict has been
manipulated and exacerbated by leaders of armed political groups fighting
for political and economic control in the region.

Armed political groups and ethnic-based militias have committed unlawful
killings, acts of torture, including rape, and other serious human rights
abuses in Ituri, frequently on a mass scale. The majority of victims are
civilians targeted solely because of their ethnic identity. Such abuses
have accelerated in recent months. "Amnesty International calls on these
groups and militia to stop immediately unlawful killings and other human
rights abuses against civilians and combatants who have ceased to take part
in hostilities."

Robust international action needed to protect civilians
As the crisis in Ituri deepens, Amnesty International repeats its call to
the UN Security Council to urgently reinforce the MONUC (UN Organization
Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) presence in the region, to
implement its mandate to "protect civilians under imminent threat of
physical violence" and to help create conditions for the safe delivery of
humanitarian supplies, desperately needed by Ituri's civilian population.

Amnesty International also calls on the Ugandan People's Defence Forces
(UPDF) present in Ituri to fulfill the Ugandan government's obligations
under international human rights and humanitarian law to protect civilian
life in the region. The UPDF have themselves committed numerous human
rights violations in the province, including unlawful killings of unarmed
civilians. UPDF personnel have reportedly sold arms to warring ethnic
groups and have trained militias, including child soldiers. Repeated shifts
in Ugandan political backing to the rival armed political groups in Ituri
have also deepened and prolonged the crisis.

"Uganda has claimed to act for peace and reconciliation in the region, and
the UPDF has occasionally intervened to halt fighting between opposing
forces. However, the conduct of the UPDF and the Ugandan government
generally with regard to Ituri has been a major factor in the chaos and
violence that has engulfed the region, sowing further discord among ethnic
groups and contributing to the pervasive insecurity."

Justice essential to resolving the crisis
Alleged perpetrators of gross human rights abuses in Ituri have not been
brought to justice, although in some cases they have been publicly
identified. "Those committing and ordering these crimes have drawn power,
wealth and encouragement from their impunity, reinforcing the cycle of
lawlessness and violence in the region," Amnesty International said.

The organization urges the Ugandan government and the international
community to end this impunity by investigating abuses committed in Ituri
and bringing the alleged perpetrators, whether from armed political groups
or the UPDF, to justice. The Ugandan government is obliged under Article
146 of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 "to search for persons alleged
to have committed or to have ordered to be committed... grave breaches [of
the Convention] and... bring such persons, regardless of their nationality,
before its own courts". Such "grave breaches" include wilful killing,
torture or inhuman treatment.

Amnesty International also urges the UN Security Council to establish an
international commission of inquiry to investigate violations of
international humanitarian and human rights law in the DRC, including in
Ituri. The commission should also make recommendations for bringing
perpetrators of violations to justice, including before national courts.

A lengthening list of mass human rights abuses
Recently, five armed political groups and allied militia vying for control
of Ituri region have allegedly committed grave human rights abuses. These
include:

The Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie - Mouvement de libération
(RCD-ML), Congolese Rally for Democracy - Liberation Movement, often allied
to Lendu ethnic militias. Hundreds of civilians from the Hema and Bira
ethnic groups were reportedly unlawfully killed during an RCD-ML and Lendu
militia attack on the town of Nyankunde in September 2002.
The Mouvement pour la libération du Congo (MLC), Movement for the
Liberation of Congo.
The Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie - National (RCD-N),
Congolese Rally for Democracy - National.
Between October and December 2002 MLC and RCD-N forces reportedly committed
unlawful killings of more than 100 civilians and other serious human rights
abuses, including rape, in and around the town of Mambasa.
The Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), Union of Congolese Patriots
soldiers and allied Hema militia, were reportedly responsible for a spate
of unlawful killings of and acts of torture or ill-treatment against
non-Hema or prominent Hema who were suspected of dissidence during the
UPC's rule in Bunia and other towns, between August 2002 and March 2003.
The Front pour l'intégration et la paix en Ituri (FIPI), an offshoot of the
UPC and the latest armed political group to have emerged in February 2003
with Ugandan support.

The UPDF have also committed grave human rights abuses in Ituri. For
example, in February 2002 a UPDF unit was reported to have unlawfully
killed up to 80 mainly Lendu civilians in the region of Gety. In addition,
the UPDF have failed to protect civilians from killings and other human
rights abuses by armed political groups or militias, by not intervening or
intervening only tardily, despite the UPDF's clear military authority in
the areas where these abuses took place.

Background

Ituri has been under the direct or proxy control of the UPDF since the
outset of the current conflict in DRC in August 1998. The five armed
political groups operating in Ituri are all, in one respect or another,
protégés of the Ugandan government. Ugandan backing for the groups,
however, has shifted constantly, exacerbating instability in the region.

Time and again, the provincial capital, Bunia, and other key towns have
fallen under the control of different armed political groups. Most recently
on 6 March 2003, the UPC, which had taken Bunia with UPDF assistance from
the RCD-ML in August 2002, was itself forced out of Bunia by the UPDF. The
latest fighting for Bunia caused loss of civilian life and extensive damage
to property, including to offices of several humanitarian organizations
which were reportedly looted by combatants.

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View Amnesty International's report "On the precipice: the deepening human
rights and humanitarian crisis in Ituri" online, visit:
http://click.topica.com/maaaV9AaaWMMQbb0imPb/

All documents on the Democratic Republic of Congo at:
http://click.topica.com/maaaV9AaaWMMRbb0imPb/

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