ZAIRE: UN Organisms Accuse Kabila’s Rebels

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, May 6 1997 (IPS) - The United Nations’ human rights institutions demanded a formal public commitment on International Human Rights Law from Laurent Desire Kabila’s rebel forces in Zaire, given the extensive violations reported.

A declaration distributed by the UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs accused Kabila’s groups, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL), of violating an agreement signed last November, where they undertook to protect human rights in the territory under their control.

The ADFL troops, fighting since last September to defeat Zaire’s dictator, Mobuto Sese Seku, were within 50 km of the capital, Kinshasa this Tuesday.

The human rights organisations said that in the eastern zone of the country – where the offensive started – the rebels are barring the refugees access to aid teams.

The obstacles included blocking a UN Human Rights Commission team from investigating reports of supposed massacres of Rwandan Hutu Refugees by the ADFL forces.

The UN declaration sustained the humanitarian tragedy in Zaire is taking place within the context of political change, bearing consequences which will seriously affect the transformation.

Given the background, all the parties involved must be encouraged to respect the international conventions and human rights law, as a contribution to the reconciliation process, said the document, for if this is not done the lives of the regional populations will continue to be threatened.

The intensification of the conflict in January this year stressed the difficulties human rights organisations are up against in offering assistance. The two warring parties claimed access to the region had been restricted for security reasons.

But the UN agencies’ worries about the territories under ADFL control only grew as the arguments on security were inconsistent.

The ADFL blocked the human rights groups access to the zone to ion order to achieve full impunity for its human rights abuses and violations of the International Human Rights Law, said the declaration.

The most serious events took place in recent weeks – for instance the limiting of aid to some 80,000 refugees southeast of Kisangani and the Zaireans of the region.

On April 21, a food store in Kasese was sacked, and a train carrying aid workers and supplies was attacked south of Lula.

A few days later, the Kasese and Biaro camps were attacked and some of the residents were killed. More than 55,000 refugees were dispersed.

On April 28, a hospital in Lwiro, north of Bukavu, was attacked – 50 children were kidnapped, and the staff caring for them were beaten. The children were later freed.

Access to roads west of Bukavu and Shabunda has always been problematic. The group is also seriously concerned for the Zaireans of the Masisi zone, where a great many crimes have been reported.

Another cause of worry to the human rights agencies was Sunday’s tragedy, when 3,000 refugees were moved by train from a settlement south of Kisangani. At least 91 people died from suffocation, and 43 more were wounded, 20 of them seriously.

As for the mission investigating the allegations of massacre, the UN representative in Geneva, Therese Gastaut, said Kabila’s rebels had still not authorised its entry into Goma.

This mission, headed by UN special rapporteur for Zaire, the Chilean Roberto Garreton, contains members of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team, who investigated the mass graves found in the region.

The ADFL objected to Garreton’s presence, because in a preliminary report, he had already stated the rebels were responsible for the alleged massacres.

The UN declaration called once again for the international community to put pressure on the ADFL to recognise and subscribe to the UN High Commission for Refugees mandate of protection for refugees.