Congo: Resource Exploitation Exacerbates Civilian Suffering

(New York, April 20, 2001) Human Rights Watch urged the United Nations
Security Council today to take action against the looting of resources
by foreign troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo and address the
devastating human rights abuses being committed by the same
troops.

The international monitoring group also called for the U.N. to
establish a Commission of Experts to
investigate and determine
responsibility for grave violations of human rights and humanitarian
law in the DRC by all sides.

"While Ugandan commanders were plundering gold, looting timber,
exporting coffee, and controlling illicit trade monopolies in the Ituri
district, their troops were killing and otherwise abusing the local
population," said Alison Des Forges, Senior Advisor at the Africa
Division of Human Rights Watch. "Absent international pressure, the
situation can only get worse."

On April 16, a U.N. panel of experts on resource exploitation in the DRC
published a report concluding that the governments of Uganda, Rwanda,
and Burundi, whose troops occupy parts of eastern DRC, are profiting
from the conflict by looting gold and other precious minerals, diamonds,
timber, elephant tusks and tax revenues. The report also finds that
those foreign forces allied with the Congolese government - Zimbabwe,
Angola, and Namibia - are also profiting from the conflict.

"The panel of experts is certainly right in concluding that 'the only
loser in this huge business venture is the Congolese people," said
DesForges.

Human Rights Watch recently reported grave human rights abuses by
Ugandan troops and rebel forces allied with them in the northeastern
DRC. The report, "Uganda in Eastern DRC: Fueling Political and Ethnic
Strife," is available on the Human Rights Watch website:
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/congo.htm.

The illegal exploitation of resources has also exacerbated the suffering
of the population in the areas of the Kivu provinces occupied by Rwanda
and Burundi. The U.N. panel charges that Rwanda has used prisoners from
its jails to mine resources in eastern DRC, a practice on which Human
Rights Watch has also received testimonies. Human Rights Watch is still
investigating but has not published a report on this specific issue, as
may be inferred from the panel's comment.

Human Rights Watch called on the Security Council to extend the mandate
of the panel on the illegal exploitation of resources to allow it to
conduct follow-up investigations and to complement its investigations on
resource exploitation by governments allied with the Congolese
government.

For more information on human rights and the wars in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, please see:

Ugandan Occupation Worsens Congo's Problems (HRW Press Release, March
28, 2001) at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/03/drc0328.htm

Congo, Rwanda Responsible for Severe Abuses (HRW Press Release, February
1, 2001) at http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/01/congo-0131.htm

Congo: Civilian Killings (HRW Focus Page, last updated April 12, 2001)
at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/congo/