The Sudanese ambassador to the UN told reporters on Thursday (26 October 2006) that the head of the United Nations Mission in Sudan, Jan Pronk, who was expelled from the country for remarks in his personal web-blog, had not supported the Khartoum government. Responding to questions on Pronk's status, Sudanese Ambassador Abdalmahmood Abdalhaleem said, "He was a failure as far as we are concerned. He was not supportive, he was abusive, he became part of the problem rather than the solution."

In his briefing to the United Nations Security Council on Friday (27 October 2006), the UN’s top official in Sudan, Jan Pronk, highlighted the government’s gross violations of the Darfur Peace Agreement and stressed that Sudan was still looking for a military solution to the deepening crisis. Pronk added that his ongoing criticism of the Sudanese government’s decision to seek a military solution, having signed a ceasefire agreement, had prompted his expulsion from his position of UN Special Representative for the Secretary-General in Sudan.

Tension is rising in Cote d'Ivoire as opposition and government supporters threaten to oppose a new peace plan expected to be approved on Tuesday (31 October 2006) by the United Nations Security Council to reunite the divided country. A 12-month extension of President Laurent Gbagbo's mandate endorsed by the Security Council in October last year failed to result in long-awaited presidential elections, and the polls have been postponed again.

The government of the Central African Republic (CAR) has called on the international community to help it restore peace and order in its northern town of Birao. The town was captured by a rebel coalition calling itself the Union des Forces Démocratiques pour le Rassemblement on Monday (30 October 2006).

Talks aimed at ending two decades of fighting in northern Uganda, were given a boost on Wednesday (1 November 2006) with the signing of a revamped truce in Juba, south Sudan, officials said. The Ugandan government and the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) ended a week-long impasse when they penned the landmark agreement. Under the latest ceasefire, the LRA will return to two previously abandoned neutral sites in southern Sudan which they had fled fearing attacks from the Ugandan army.

There is a new wave of xenophobia that is slowly creeping into the East African region that if not nipped in the bud, could undermine the ongoing efforts at political federation, the much cherished goal of our region. The timing of this xenophobia is unfortunate. It has come at a time when the leaders of East Africa have just launched the fast-tracking of the political federation.

Another 2,000 people were displaced when the towns of Kibredehar and Musthale were inundated following heavy rains in the country's highlands. A United Nations humanitarian agency said last month that devastating flash floods in August had forced more than 135,000 Ethiopians to abandon their homes.

This guide is not intended to provide a comprehensive discussion of reparations and reconciliation, which are both highly complex and contested concepts. Instead, the goal of this guide is to highlight some of the key legal, political, technical, ethical and development issues raised by reconciliation and redress as they relate to forced migration, with a focus on conflict-induced displacement.

Niger's government has called off a threat to expel thousands of Arab refugees from neighbouring Chad. No reason was given for the move, announced in a government statement. "After studying this question and all its socio-economic implications, the government has decided to stop the expulsions," government spokesperson Mohamed Ben Omar said in a statement broadcast on state television.

Refugees from Senegal's southern Casamance region continue to arrive in Gambian villages along the border. Over 800 arrived across the border between Senegal and Gambia during the second half of October, bringing the total to more than 6,200 Senegalese refugees in Gambia.

Despite renewed attacks and displacement, the security situation in DRC improved in 2006 compared to previous years. The first round of presidential elections took place relatively peacefully in July 2006. Moreover, military operations to drive out militias with the support of peacekeeping troops have allowed the Congolese government to dominate large areas of eastern DRC, and permitted hundreds of thousands to return home.

A UNHCR team is heading to Liboi on the Kenya/Somali border Friday (27 October 2006) to arrange the transfer of some 2,000 Somali refugees reported to be waiting there after the shuttling to the Dadaab camps was suspended mid-October. The suspension was put in force after it was discovered that Kenyan nationals were fraudulently presenting themselves as refugees, and that refugees already registered at the Dadaab camps were posing as new refugees with the aim of receiving multiple registration cards and consequently more assistance.

Last week at the United Nations, the majority of the world’s governments took the first step towards a global Arms Trade Treaty to prevent international arms transfers that fuel conflict, poverty and serious human rights violations. The vote comes three years after the launch of a campaign, which has seen over a million people in 170 countries calling for a Treaty.

In reaction to a recent wave of protests against deteriorating social and economic conditions in the country, the Zimbabwean government has intensified its campaign to suppress peaceful dissent, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today (1 November 2006). The 28-page report, “‘You Will Be Thoroughly Beaten’: The Brutal Suppression of Dissent in Zimbabwe,” reveals the repressive tactics that the government has used against civil society activists in the past year.

Dieu–Donné Wedi Djamba considers the options of bringing lasting peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). He argues against the appointment to a high government position of the two militia leaders who committed atrocities during the civil war. He points out that such a move will not either bring unity nor peace in the DRC.

Reverend Bongani Finca argues that when states are drowning in conflict and there is a general breakdown of the rule of law, gross abuse of human rights occurs with a resultant loss of human life and other acts of injustice. [1]

Tina Rosenberg, the Pulitzer Prize winner, writes that “A country’s decisions about how to deal with its past should depend on many things: the type of dictatorship or war endured, the type of crimes committed, the level of societal complicity, the national political culture and history, the conditions necessary for dictatorship to occur, the abruptness of the transition, and the new democratic government power and resources”. [2]

It is against this background that the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) ought to be assessed. The DRC has just come out of a civil war that is reported to have killed more than three million people. That war left thousands of people displaced, and despicable atrocities were committed. However, a peace agreement was signed, in 2002, between the government, the rebels groups (MLC and RCD), the militia group (Mai Mai), civil society and the political opposition.

At the end of this transitional period, which started in July 2003 with the formula 1+4 (one President with four vice-presidents), Congolese people are focused on the second round of the presidential election which will see the incumbent Joseph Kabila opposing his challenger Jean-Pierre Bemba, and the provincial and local elections which will take place on the 29 October.

But while all the attention is focused on the elections, one of the decisions taken on 2 October 2006 by the transitional government in the name of the peace process threatens to undermine future justice in term of accountability for those responsible for grave human rights violations.

Indeed, in the name of peace, two Ituri ex-militia leaders, Peter Karim of Front des nationalistes et intégrationnistes (FNI) and Mathieu Ngudjolo of Mouvement des révolutionnaires congolais (MRC), both accused of killing, rape, and using child soldiers, have been appointed as colonels in the national army.

But the Peter Karim and Mathieu Ngudjolo cases are not the only ones in this regard. Several similar cases are to be counted. Indeed, last year four ex-militia leaders were appointed generals in the national army, as IRIN noticed. [3]

Are all these appointments helpful for peace and reconciliation in the DRC? Through this paper, I will analyze the consequences of these cases in terms of accountability for those responsible for grave human rights violations.

Accountability for those responsible of grave human rights violations.

The ICTJ recommended that the government stop appointing the ex-commander militia ‘suspected of participation in massacres and other war crimes’ to the national army and instead to prosecute them. [4]

To add his voice to this issue, Juan Mendez, the President of the International Center For Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and United Nations (UN) Secretary General special counsel, declared that if the DRC wants a lasting peace, the country should not appoint individuals into the army when there is irrefutable evidence that those individuals have committed grave atrocities. [5]

But in the case of the last appointment, Adolph Onusumba, the Congolese Defense Minister argues that the objective of these nominations is the pursuit of peace. [6] The term of peace has a broad meaning, but in the context of a post-conflict situation such as the DRC, the term peace raises a couple of questions:

What is peace? Does that mean peace for the woman who was raped? Does it mean peace for the man who saw his wife and/or daughter being raped? Where is peace for those who witnessed their families being slaughtered and their houses burnt to the ground?

For the victims of war in the DRC, ‘peace’ means positive peace, one in which justice is addressed, human rights are respected and people live without any fear (as opposed to a negative peace such as a ceasefire, which is negative because it stops the war but does not address other issues) [7]. And this ‘peace’ has to be based on the concept of justice. There is no peace without justice. But this justice has to be taken into the transitional justice perspective .

Describing transitional justice, Alex Boraine, chairperson of the ICTJ and former deputy chairperson of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) said: “…transitional justice offers a deeper, richer and broader vision of justice which seeks to confront perpetrators, address the needs of victims and assists in the start of a process of reconciliation and transformation.” [8]

Responding to the appointment of the two militia leaders, Joel Bisubu, deputy director of Justice-Plus, a Bunia-based human rights group, said that people who kill and massacre Congolese should not be rewarded with high positions. [9]

The Defense Minister argued that the recent appointment of the two militia leaders was made by the government as a strategy to pacify the troubled northern-east district of Ituri. [10]

If all these appointments are a strategy for the government to lure all these militia out of the bush, then it is welcomed. However, that does not mean that those who committed atrocities during the war should not be held accountable. In this regard, the Defense Minister has publicly stated that the government is determined to work with the International Criminal Court to help bring war criminals to book. [11]

If the objective, however, is to protect war criminals from facing the law, then this strategy has to be condemned. It will send the wrong message to the victims of the war. It will further undermine any reconciliation between victims and their perpetrators, for the victims will feel betrayed by the government.

Joseph Yav Katshung argues that accountability for human rights violations is an important instrument in breaking the cycle of violence and impunity and is an indispensable component of the process of healing the wounds. [12]

Reconciliation can begin when the need for reparation is acknowledged and acted upon. The response by former victims to these initiatives can increase the potential for greater stability and increase the chances for sustainable peace. [13]

Conclusion

The DRC is making herself ready for 29 October and the second round of presidential elections and local elections.

But this challenge is not the only one she faces. Among those challenges are the restoration of peace and reconciliation after the war, which is reported to have killed more than three million people and increased HIV/AIDS infections.

The aim of this paper was to attempt to explore the challenge facing the DRC of how a post-conflict government reconciles an ethnically divided country. Further, I have attempted to show that appointing militia leaders who committed atrocities during the civil war to high governmental offices will not bring unity, peace and reconciliation in the DRC.

• Dieu-Donné WEDI DJAMBA is a lawyer (Advocate)at the Lubumbashi Bar association/DRC; Assistant lecturer in the College of Law in Lubumbashi/DRC; Human Rights Activist; Writer; Currently fellow in Fellowship Programme in Transitional Justice co-organized by the International Centre for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in collaboration with the University of Cape Town(UCT) in Cape Town, South Africa. Tel:+243812485222 ; +27738362921 ; +27216862044 Email: [email][email protected] or [email][email protected]
• Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at www.pambazuka.org/

References

[1] Bongani Finca, ‘They treat the wounds of my people cheaply’, in transitional justice and human Security, (2006) pp56
[2] Tina Rosenberg ‘After word: Confronting the Painful Past’, in :Martin Meredith, coming to Terms: South Africa’s Search for Truth,1999,pp330
[3] IRIN:News:’Great Lakes: Le CITJ exige de poursuites judiciaries contre les ex-chefs de milice en RDC’,pp2
,Accessed 10-1-2006
[4] IRIN,op.cit.pp1
[5] IRIN,op cit pp 2
[6] IRIN,DRC:Two miltia leaders appointed army colonels,pp1 ,Accessed,2006-10-13
[7] Professor Jannie Malan used the terms “negative and positive peace” during the course session for the fellowship in Transitional Justice(2006) in Cape town/South Africa.
[8] Alex Boraine, ‘Definiting Transitional Justice:Tolerance in the search for justice and peace’, in transitional justice and human Security,(20006),pp22
[9] IRIN,op.cit pp1
[10] IRIN, ibid. pp1
[11] IRIN,op.cit.pp1
[12] Joseph Yav Katshung,’DRC:Healing the wounds of war through reparations’, in Pambazuka, pp1 ,Accessed,2006-08-26
[13] Alex Boraine,op.cit.pp30-31.

The Programme Director of CMI’s Conflict Resolution programme develops CMI’s role in conflict resolution, with particular emphasis on mediation, multi-track diplomacy and civil society. The Programme Director enhances CMI’s approaches and networks in the field of conflict resolution and develops CMI’s capability in supporting international community and regional organisations in conflict prevention, resolution and transformation approaches and policies.

Prominent academic Prof Adam Habib was last week denied entry into the US at New York's John F Kennedy airport. He told Business Day yesterday (24 October 2006) that he was still mystified as to why he had been refused entry into the US last Friday. Habib, who is executive director of the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) democracy and governance research programme and a political commentator, said he was at the airport for about 10 hours before being escorted by an armed guard on to a return flight to SA.

Heavily armed Ethiopian troops are reported to have reached the town of Balanbale in Galgadud region overnight in a presence of armed militias led by col. Abdi Qeybdid one of ousted warlords member of the defeated counter terrorism alliance by the Union of the Islamic courts.

Constitutionalism is steadily becoming the prevalent form of governance in Africa. But how does constitutionalism deal with the lingering effects of colonialism? And how does constitutional law deal with Islamic principles in the region? African Constitutionalism and the Role of Islam seeks to answer these questions.

The numbers of rape and attempted rape cases since independence to 2005, have more than doubled, making it the most serious form of crime currently being committed in Namibia, the Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) has said. Statistics taken from research the LAC is conducting on the 'Implementation of the Combating of Rape Act and Combating of Domestic Violence Act' indicate that rape cases recorded in 1991, which were 564, increased to 854 in 2000 and went up to 1 184 in 2005.