drc: EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES THE 'BIGGEST SINGLE FACTOR' in perpetuating violence

EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES THE 'BIGGEST SINGLE FACTOR'
IN PERPETUATING VIOLENCE IN THE DRC

(Washington, DC) The international community must assume its moral and
legal responsibilities to help end the devastating conflict that continues
to plague the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Amnesty International
said in a report released today.

The report details the human cost of the conflict and underscores the
exploitation of the DRC's natural resources as the biggest single factor
perpetuating violence in the country. The northern and eastern regions of
the DRC, which are under the control of Congolese armed groups sponsored by
Rwanda and Uganda, are rich in many precious resources, including diamonds,
coltan, gold, and timber. While senior members of the Rwandese and Ugandan
armies and their Congolese allies have grown rich, the vast majority of the
local Congolese population faces poverty, insecurity, displacement,
abduction and death.

"For the last four and half years Rwanda, Uganda and their Congolese allies
have systematically plundered the eastern DRC's natural wealth on a vast
scale, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Congolese
civilians," said Amnesty International. "This has been possible only
because the international community has allowed the perpetrators to act
with almost complete impunity. It is only through concerted and robust
international action to end such impunity that further abuses will be
prevented."

Hundreds of thousands of Congolese civilians have been tortured and killed
during fighting to secure control of natural resources. Thousands of others
have died due to malnutrition and lack of access to humanitarian assistance
after being forced to flee their homes. Foreign forces have also
deliberately stoked inter-ethnic conflicts and mass killings in order to
promote their economic interests. Thousands of women have been raped.
Amnesty has confirmed reports that children as young as 12 have also been
forced into hard labor in the mines.

Amnesty International calls on the international community, in particular
through the auspices of the United Nations Security Council, to pressure
key protagonists in the conflict to condemn abuses by their own forces and
bring suspected perpetrators to justice. The organization also recommends
a strengthening of the mandate and deployment of the UN cease-fire
monitoring body MONUC and the full implementation of MONUC's mandate "to
protect civilians under imminent threat of physical violence."

The international community should also support and provide resources for
judicial mechanisms, such as an international commission of inquiry, aimed
at enforcing accountability for human rights abuses.

Amnesty International also recommends that governments take steps to ensure
that businesses active in the DRC do not cause or condone rights violations
of the communities in which they are operating, and that revenues generated
from commercial activities involving the DRC's natural resources contribute
to the progressive realization of the population's social and economic
rights.

Furthermore, governments should promote the adherence of the DRC and of
regional diamond transit countries to the international diamond
certification system agreed through the Kimberley Process. Governments
should also take practical steps to submit the trade in other natural
resources to similar international scrutiny, to ensure that the manner in
which those resources are exploited does not give rise to human rights
abuses.

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This message from Amnesty International is distributed through the
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA)

Nunu Kidane
Advocacy Network for Africa (ADNA)
Communications Facilitator for ADNA
Africa Action
1634 Eye Street, NW, #810,
Washington, DC 20006, USA.
Tel: (202) 546-7961 Fax: (202) 546-1545
www.africaaction.org