Some of the Kenyans who were forcefully evicted from their homes in Rift Valley during the 2007/2008 post-election violence. They are pictured in a dated photo in a camp in Kiambu Central Kenya. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Aug 27 2014 (IPS)

Mary Wacu lived in the Rift Valley region for 10 years prior to the 2007/08 post-election violence that rocked Kenya after a disputed general election.

“My husband was shot with a poisoned arrow, and my children hacked to death. Everything was burnt to ashes, I barely escaped with my life,” she tells IPS.

According to human rights organisations, the violence in this East African nation left an estimated 1,500 people dead and resulted in the rape of 3,000 women and the displacement of 300,000 people.

From her shanty in the sprawling Kibera slums, in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, Wacu follows the proceedings of the cases for crimes against humanity levelled against President Uhuru Kenyatta, his deputy William Ruto and journalist Joshua Sang at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands.

But here in Kenya, like many who bore the brunt of the unprecedented violence, justice remains beyond Wacu’s reach. It is a scenario that is all too familiar in Africa’s conflict-prone countries like Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Against this backdrop, civil society organisations (CSOs) in Africa as well as international ones working on the continent, have opposed the recently-adopted Protocol on Amendments to the Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights by the African Union (AU) member heads of states in June.

The protocol extends criminal jurisdiction to the African Court, and offers immunity to serving heads of states and all senior government officials during their term of office for serious crimes. The African Court was established by African countries to ensure protection of human and peoples’ rights on the continent.

A source from Malawi attending the just-concluded meeting to promote ratification of AU treaties, which was held in Nairobi by the AU Office of the Legal Counsel on the 25 and 26 of August, explains to IPS that the amendments include an immunity provision for heads of states or governments and certain senior state officials for serious crimes against humanity.

The contentious article 46A categorically states that no charges shall be commenced or continued against any serving AU head of state or government, or anybody acting or entitled to act in such capacity.

“Lifting immunity for sitting officials for serious crimes committed is an assurance to African leaders that they are above the law,” the source says.

AU officials at the meeting, however, refused to comment to IPS on the protocol.

Malawi has taken the lead in mobilising other CSOs across Africa to tell their governments that the immunity provision is a blatant disrespect for human rights.

The source says that with a number of African leaders already under the radar of the ICC, “an immunity provision is offering African leaders the licence to abuse their people. It will further entrench dictatorship since many leaders will be afraid of being indicted when their term ends.”

The civil society community says that the African Court was moving in the right direction, until now.

Edigah Kavulavu, of the Kenyan Section of the International Commission of Jurists, tells IPS that the adopted protocol is the first legal instrument to extend a regional court’s authority to criminal jurisdiction “regional courts often deal with human rights issues, which are matters of a civil nature.”

He says that the African Court can now try cases of a criminal nature, including genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

He points out that the main bone of contention with the protocol is the immunity provision. Article 46A, Kavulavu says, is in breach of the principles that govern human rights.

“Through ICC and other regional courts such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone, these courts complement each other so that they can bridge the impunity gap,” he explains.

James Gondi of the Kenyans For Peace With Truth and Justice, a coalition of over 30 Kenyan and East African legal, human rights, and governance organisations, tells IPS that international criminal law and international justice demand that “those bearing greatest responsibility are often head of states, heads of military and high level elites who plan, finance and coordinate criminal acts [be held to account]. The amendment is meant to serve the interests of these three categories of people.”

The human rights lawyer further says that immunity negates the principles of transparency and accountability, respect for the rule of law and for humanity.

He says that the immunity provision is a display that African leaders are immune to the criminal justice system.

Gondi says that the objective of the criminal justice of which the African Court now has mandate is and should be to “deter future atrocities and to end impunity.”

The lawyer says that the regime of law has developed such that immunity for heads of state is lifted in many national and international laws where crimes committed are so heinous that the law cannot turn a blind eye.

African countries with national laws that rule out immunity for sitting officials for serious crimes include Benin, Kenya, Burkina Faso the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Africa.

Gondi says that while the general principle of the law is that “we cannot give immunity for crimes against humanity because they are so grave. The law is an issue of politics and politics are defined by impunity and political will.”

Moving forward, Gondi says that there must be a concerted international and regional effort to end impunity and the political will to drive these efforts, “citizens must also demand for accountability from their leaders.”

The Malawi source urged CSOs to lobby, protest and campaign to have their governments reject the adoption and continue with sustained campaigns.

Edited by: Nalisha Adams

Many Ivoirians fled the country’s violence in 2011. It was estimated that 100,000 people fled to neighbouring Liberia. Pictured here is a family who fled to Butuo, Liberia, in this photo dated 2011. Credit: Jessica McDiarmid/IPS

By Marc-Andre Boisvert
ABIDJAN, Côte d’Ivoire, Oct 31 2013 (IPS)

“We are sad. We want our president back,” Yao Amandine told IPS from a street corner in the Ivorian economic metropolis, Abidjan, after the International Criminal Court ruled against granting former Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo a conditional release on Tuesday. 

Gbagbo is accused of crimes against humanity for his alleged role in the 2010 to 2011 post-electoral crisis. More than 3,000 people died in the violence that followed Gbagbo’s refusal to concede victory to Allassane Ouattara, who was internationally recognised as the winner of the election.

But in June, the ICC said that the case against Gbagbo was not strong enough and asked chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to conduct further investigations and submit more evidence. The defence used the delay to ask for Gbagbo’s conditional release.

For weeks Gbagbo’s supporters in Côte d’Ivoire waited expectantly for his release. On the newsstand behind Amandine, newspaper headlines read: “Gbagbo packs his luggage” and “Gbagbo will be back soon.” But on Oct. 29, when news broke from The Hague that the former president would remain in detention pending a possible trial, many of his supporters become deflated.

“They have stolen our president from us, and they don’t want to give him back. [The prosecutor Fatou] Bensouda doesn’t have any proof. They have to release him,” Broue Jean told IPS as he stood next to Amandine.

In this West African nation the ICC proceedings have been greeted with a mix of incomprehension and frustration.

“It’s true that people do not understand what is happening,” Ali Ouattara, president of the Ivorian Coalition for the ICC, told IPS. “People need to understand that [these] decisions follow long-term proceedings in the court. They do not see the motives behind the decisions.”

He admitted that the ICC needed to provide constant communication with Ivoirians. However, he said he still believed that the international court offered the best opportunity for Ivoirians to achieve justice.

Here in Côte d’Ivoire, far from the ICC proceedings, justice seems to have been postponed for many.

Human rights groups continue to call for the end of the “selective justice” that is being meted out by local courts. In a report released in April titled “Turning Rhetoric Into Reality: Accountability for Serious International Crimes in Côte d’Ivoire,” Human Right Watch (HRW) said the government’s efforts to ensure justice for victims of the violence was uneven.

Since the crisis, more than 130 pro-Gbagbo supporters have faced trial, while only one Allassane Ouattara supporter was arrested and prosecuted.

Right groups say that this has led to a stalemate in the reconciliation process here. Amnesty International, HRW and the International Federation for Human Rights (IFHR) have demanded that justice be blind and called for Allassane Ouattara’s supporters to be also held responsible for their crimes.

But it seems that Gbagbo will be the first and possibly the sole Ivorian to be transferred to The Hague.

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire’s economic centre, was the scene of violent confrontations during the 2010 to 2011 post-electoral crisis between supporters of former President Laurent Gbagbo and current President Allassane Ouattara. Credit: Marc-André Boisvert/IPS

The ICC has also issued a warrant of arrest for Gbagbo’s wife and former First Lady Simone Gbagbo for charges related to her alleged involvement in the violence following the December 2010 election. But the Ivorian government refused to transfer her, arguing instead that it was now capable of prosecuting its own nationals.

The government is also yet to make a decision on another arrest warrant issued by the ICC.

On Sept. 23, Ivorian Minister of Justice Gnenema Coulibaly said that the ICC had provided a sealed arrest warrant for Charles Ble Goude, the former leader of the Young Patriots, a pro-Gbagbo, quasi-militia group. He is accused of crimes against humanity and rape that occurred during the violence from December 2010 to April 2011.

Last week, Ble Goude’s Ivorian legal team demanded that the government put him on trial in Côte d’Ivoire.

“We think Ivorian courts are capable,” Ble Goude’s lawyer Kouadio N’Dry Claver said during a press conference. “We ask that the government take the same courageous and salutary decision [as it did with former First Lady Simone] Gbagbo’s case.”

Whatever the government’s decision on Ble Goude’s transfer, it has already announced the impending closure of the bodies set up to deal with the post-electoral violence.

Government spokesperson Bruno Koné said last week that the mandate of the Special Investigation Cell, which was set up in 2011 to investigate crimes during the violence, would not be renewed once it ended this December. He said the country’s police services and courts would be able to take on the role.

“The unit [was] set up at a particular moment. Now, the situation is back to normal. There is no question about maintaining it,” Koné said. Since April, many of the unit’s judges and investigators have been transferred to other departments.

But Patrick Baudouin, a lawyer for IFHR, said during a press conference on Oct. 22 that the government had not provided “a logical argument about why they should stop the unit’s activities.”

The mandate of the Dialogue, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which was also set up two years ago, will also not be renewed when it ends. And IFHR is concerned that post-electoral crimes will remain unpunished. “A lot needs to be done on [President Allassane] Ouattara’s side. Ivory Coast has [experienced] too much suffering [to] proclaim impunity in all camps,” said Baudouin.

But president of the Collective of Victims in Ivory Coast, Issiaka Diaby, has faith in the system.

“Justice takes time,” he told IPS.

“I think that the refusal to grant conditional release to Laurent Gbagbo is a way to guarantee social peace and cohesion while justice is being rendered. We need this. Justice needs to be [served] not only for the 2010 to 2011 post-electoral crisis, but also for earlier events,” Diaby said.

A 2002 to 2007 civil war split the country in two as the Patriotic Movement of Ivory Coast attacked forces loyal to Gbagbo and took control of the north. But according to the April HRW report, “from 2003 onwards, political and military leaders on both sides implicated in overseeing atrocities retained their positions with complete impunity.”

“We have to end an entire decade of impunity. Unfortunately, we cannot request too much for now. If the minister says that we do not need the Special Investigative [Cell] anymore, great. We will follow on that. But we will maintain our vigilance to ensure that courts and investigators will really follow on,” Diaby said.

William Ruto addressing a crowd in Central Kenya, during an unexpected break in his trial that begun Sept. 10. He is confident that charges against him will be dropped. Credit: Miriam Gathigah/IPS

By Miriam Gathigah
NAIROBI, Sep 17 2013 (IPS)

As Kenya’s deputy president William Ruto and co-accused journalist Joshua Sang resumed their trial for crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday, Sept. 17, many in this East African nation were debating if the trial will continue to its end as four more witnesses withdrew from testifying on Sept. 15.

Javas Bigambo, a political analyst with Interthoughts Consulting, a consultancy on governance, leadership and policy, told IPS that that the progressive withdrawal of witnesses might lead to the collapse of the case sooner rather than later.

The start of Ruto’s trial on Sep. 10 was delayed due to the absence of a key prosecution witness from the Rift Valley Province. Ruto is facing charges of murder, and the forceful transfer and persecution of people during the violence that followed Kenya’s disputed 2007 presidential elections. An estimated 1,300 people were killed, 3,500 were wounded, and more than 600,000 people displaced from their homes during the conflict. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The first witness took the stand on Tuesday, but she gave her testimony as a number of other witnesses withdrew from the case. By the start of the trial last week, the prosecution witness list had dwindled to 20 names from the original 42. An additional four withdrew on Sept. 15, two days before the trial resumed.

Other witnesses were expected to testify how Ruto and Sang allegedly took advantage of the existing tensions and suspicions among the Kalenjin and the Kikuyu community to incite the post-election violence. Both accused are from the Kalenjin community.

ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda had been quoted in the media as saying that the fact that there were still prosecution witnesses to testify in the trial was a miracle as they had been intimidated.

But those affected by the violence have been watching events unfold with in a increasing concern that justice will not take its course. During the post-election violence Sally Musa was raped and her house in Nairobi’s Mathare slum was burnt down in early 2008.

“I have a five-year-old daughter from the [rape] and we are both HIV 
positive. At the beginning, people were talking about the victims but
 we have been forgotten,” Musa, who now lives in Kariobangi, another informal settlement in Nairobi, told IPS.

“The case is now Ruto against the ICC. And Kenyans 
are supporting Ruto or the ICC, but people died, we lost our homes. I became
 pregnant, no one is talking about that. My joy is not in seeing Ruto
 jailed, but in knowing that there is justice.”

Vincent Kimosop, chief executive officer of local NGO the International Institute of Legislative Affairs, told IPS that the adjournment and withdrawals of witnesses “are cause for alarm.”

“Perhaps the witness protection is faulty and the witnesses have been identified [by people beyond the ICC Office of the Prosecutor], in which case they [witnesses] would have cause to drop out of the cases. The prosecution must address this issue or they will soon have no witnesses to testify,” he said.

Kimosop added that the “profile of Ruto and Uhuru Kenyatta makes the work of the prosecutor difficult.”

Ruto’s aides, however, have accused the prosecution of coaching witnesses.

“We know that prosecutor Bensouda is relying on fabricated stories and the so-called witnesses are no longer willing to participate in this saga,” an official in the office of the deputy president told IPS on the condition of anonymity.

“It’s no secret that the prosecutor is relying on hearsay from partisan busybodies in civil society who are being used by opposition politicians to fabricate stories and coach so-called witnesses in order to settle political scores,” he added.

The official stressed, however, that Ruto would continue to co-operate with the ICC.

“He has always been willing to co-operate. But from what we saw during the opening of the trial, this case is going to crumble sooner than expected,” he said. “When the cases crumble, and they will, the prosecution will have blood on their hands for shortchanging victims of this violence by ignoring the real culprits of these crimes.”

Ruto is not without support. Tanzania, Eritrea, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda have written to the ICC asking the court to give Ruto time off from the trial to enable him to conduct his duties as deputy president.

On Sept. 10, a divided Parliament and Senate passed a motion to withdraw Kenya from the Rome Statute of the ICC. It will take one year for the withdrawal to take effect, and it will have no impact on the ongoing ICC cases.

“The ICC withdrawal will further alienate Kenya from the West. If the five billion dollars that China gave the government is anything to go by, the West is still the best partner,” political analyst Ken Wachira told IPS. “With no other partners, support from China alone will not be enough.”

But as the uncertainty about the continuation of the ICC case rages on, Kenyans are keenly following the live televised trial.

Many told IPS that they have taken leave from work to watch it. Even those in Kenya’s sprawling slums like Kibera and Mathare, where there is no electricity, have been watching. “We will watch the trial in local bars, this is bigger than a football match,” Collins Otieno, a Kibera resident, told IPS.

“Every other day we are told that a witness has dropped out. This case could collapse if the trend continues unless Bensouda can continue without witnesses,” he added.

Major donors to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) should withhold aid to both governments until they comply with prior agreements to pacify the DRC’s mineral-rich Kivu provinces, states a new report released Thursday by the International Crisis Group.

The report, “Eastern Congo: Why Stabilisation Failed“, argues that deploying a 4,000-strong neutral force along the border between the two countries – the solution promoted by the 12-state International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) – is unrealistic and unlikely to be effective.

“The Kivus do not need a new strategic approach; rather the peace agreements and stabilizing plans should no longer be empty promises,” says the report, which was written in French. “This requires co-ordinated and unequivocal pressure from the donors that pay the bills or the Rwandan and Congolese regimes.”

The report comes amidst continuing violence by a number of militias active in the Kivus, most notably the March 23 (M-23) Movement led by Bosco Ntaganda, a warlord in the eastern DRC who was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court in The Hague in 2006 for recruiting and deploying child soldiers earlier in the decade.

Despite his indictment, Ntaganda was inducted into the Congolese army as part of an effort to stabilise the eastern part of the country. In 2009 he was promoted to the rank of general.

Last April, however, after DRC President Joseph Kabila, under pressure from western donors, ordered his arrest, the Rwandan-born Ntanganda staged a mutiny which many analysts believe was instigated and supported by Rwanda.

Since then, the two countries have exchanged a war of words, and violence has intensified across the region. Hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting and nearly 500,000 people are believed to have fled their homes.

At the end of June, the United Nations Security Council released a report that detailed Rwandan support for the mutiny and M-23 Movement. It alleged that Kigali recruited and deployed Rwandans to join Ntaganda’s forces and transmitted key intelligence to the rebels.

Kigali has vehemently rejected allegations that it supports M-23, whose name refers to a 2009 peace agreement between the Kinshasa and the Rwanda-backed National Council for the Defence of the People.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame, a longtime favourite of the United States, who, according to various accounts, sought to delay the report’s release, has insisted that the mutiny was caused by Kinshasa’s failure to pay Ntaganda’s troops and that it had nothing to do with the rebels.

“I’ve never seen such a stupid story like that,” Kagame told TIME magazine in an interview in September. “They wanted Rwanda always to be seen as the culprit in the problems of Congo. Congo is a victim, always.…It doesn’t need a rational story, it doesn’t need facts or logic. It’s just how they want it.”

The Kivus have been in turmoil since the aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda against members of the Tutsi ethnic group. As Kagame’s Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriot Front (RPF) swept across the country, tens of thousands of Hutus, including army officers and militias that carried out the genocide, fled into eastern DRC, where their remnants have remained active.

More than five million people are believed to have died, most from starvation and disease, as a result of the fighting among some two dozen militias and the military intervention of eight of the DRC’s neighbours, including Rwanda, according to an International Rescue Committee study published in 2008.

The region is rich in minerals, including tin ore, gold, diamonds and tantalum, a rare metal used in cell phones and computer parts. Much of the fighting, including by M-23, has been for control over areas where these resources are mined.

At the urging of human rights and peace activists, the U.S. Congress last year passed legislation that requires U.S. companies to put forth their best efforts to avoid acquiring these minerals from the DRC. Although the move has apparently marginally reduced demand, Asian companies have reportedly moved to fill the vacuum.

In a report published last month, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused M-23 of committing war crimes, including summary executions, rape and forced recruitment of children. The New York-based group also charged that Rwanda has deployed military units in DRC to support M-23 and thus may also be liable for the crimes committed by the movement.

Yet Rwanda has pointed to atrocities committed in eastern Congo by Mai-Mai militias, particularly against the Banyamulenge, an ethnic group related to the Tutsis and mainly descended from Rwandan immigrants. Indeed, Thursday marked the anniversary of a notorious massacre in South Kivu of seven Banyamulenge humanitarian workers, which renewed a low-intensity conflict in the area. The Congolese government has not arrested the perpetrators.

The United States and members of the European Union (EU) have cut or suspended aid to Rwanda, where external assistance comprises 40 percent of its budget, to compel it to drop its support for M-23, although rights groups and others are calling for even more pressure.

Last week, the Enough Project, a Washington-based anti-genocide group, released a report arguing for the United States and other donors to base approval  World Bank support to Rwanda – 135 million dollars are pending – on Rwanda’s cutting support for and dismantling M-23.

“The U.S. should delay the vote on this package until these conditions are met,” said the authors, Aaron Hall and Sasha Lezhnev.

The ICG report stressed that donors should withhold aid to both governments, noting that the Mai-Mai groups were continuing to commit atrocities in rural areas with impunity.

International donors and African mediators, it said, should seek to resolve the ongoing crisis rather than merely managing it, as they have with the deployment of a 17,000-strong U.N. force whose ability to keep the peace has been severely limited given the vastness of the territory for which it is responsible.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week convened both Kabila and Kagame for a meeting at the United Nations during which she “emphasised the need for honest and sustained dialogue between both countries in pursuit of a political resolution to the crisis”, said a senior State Department official.

“She noted that any solution must include bringing M-23 leadership to justice and both countries committing to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the other,” the official added. No breakthrough was achieved, however, at the ICGLR meeting that took place the next day.

To move toward a resolution, the ICG called for the urgent negotiation of a ceasefire between the Congolese authorities and M-23 as well as for the consideration of an arms embargo against Rwanda.

Aid to Kigali should also remain suspended pending the release of a new report by the U.N. Group of experts, the group added, while donors should withhold funding for stabilisation and institutional support for Kinshasa as long as it fails to improve political dialogue, governance, and its army’s performance in the eastern part of the country. Ntaganda, it said, should be arrested and handed over to the ICC.

Painter Karim Traore, 40, puts the finishing touches on a gate at a newly refurbished university in Abidjan. Credit: Robbie Corey-Boulet/IPS

By Robbie Corey-Boulet
ABIDJAN, Sep 4 2012 (IPS)

Yacouba Coulibaly was pursuing a doctorate in education at Cocody University in Abidjan before Côte d’Ivoire’s post-election violence started in 2010. But his classes were routinely disrupted by armed members of a powerful student federation that wished to hold meetings instead.

Later, the country’s public universities were closed in 2011 at the end of the post-election violence and Coulibaly was unable to continue his studies.

But now he is one of an estimated 61,000 students who are expected to start classes soon in the new academic year, as the country’s five public universities reopened on Monday Sep. 3.

“I hope we will have a peaceful university, where people do not behave like we’ve seen in the past,” he told IPS.

“I don’t want my younger brothers and sisters to suffer this same way,” he said, referring to the West African nation’s future crop of students.

Coulibaly said that the reopening of the universities, marked by a ceremony on Monday at Cocody University (which has been renamed after the country’s founding president, Felix Houphouet-Boigny), would help the country develop.

“When you see a country without universities, there is something wrong. You cannot talk about development without universities,” he said.

Côte d’Ivoire’s President Alassane Ouattara is also hoping that large-scale investment in the education sector can help his country’s universities shed a legacy of violence and corruption that contributed to recent turmoil. But concerns persist that higher education could again be corrupted by politics.

Speaking at Monday’s ceremony, Ouattara pledged to nurture a university system that would rival the best in the world, and also vowed to implement reforms at the primary and secondary levels.

“As an economist, I am convinced that investment in universities brings the highest yield in development,” he said.

The president lamented the role universities played in the nation’s 2010 to 2011 post-election crisis. He said they had become places “of violence and corruption” during the administration of former President Laurent Gbagbo.

Ouattara defeated Gbagbo in the November 2010 election, but the incumbent refused to cede office, sparking violence that claimed at least 3,000 lives. Gbagbo, who has since been transferred to the International Criminal Court at The Hague, used to be a professor. He garnered strong support from university faculties and the Student Federation of Côte d’Ivoire (FESCI).

For years leading up to the violence, FESCI had become associated with extortion and racketeering, often resorting to violence. A 2008 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report implicated FESCI members in assault, extortion and rape, saying members targeted Gbagbo’s political opponents with impunity. HRW and other groups have also said FESCI members were involved in the 2010-2011 conflict.

Augustin Mian, FESCI’s secretary general, told IPS the group had been turned into a scapegoat for the country’s past problems, and claimed FESCI members have been targeted for abuse by pro-Ouattara forces since the conflict ended.

“We are protesting against the fact that people say we are militias,” he said. He added that the group would continue to advocate on behalf of students, and planned to protest a pending increase in registration fees.

Ouattara has defended the move to close the universities in the first place, which was unpopular with many Ivorians.

Rene Legre Houkou, president of the Ivorian Human Rights League, was among those who thought the decision wrong.

“For us, this decision stopped the normal process of teaching and training,” he told IPS.

“We thought that this violated the right to education, and we were worried that all of these students would be left doing nothing.”

Houkou said officials would face a number of challenges as the universities resumed classes, including finding replacements for the many professors who were allies of Gbagbo and are now in exile.

Meanwhile, students in Abidjan said they hoped the five university campuses – refurbished at a cost of roughly 210 million dollars – would be peaceful from now on.

Most students said they were just happy the existing universities were open again. Kone Pranhoro, a 30-year-old pursuing a PhD in economics, said it was “a good opportunity for the future generation.”

“We hope that politics will never be involved in the universities again,” he said.

Ishmael Beah, UNICEF Advocate for Children Affected by War, visits Central African Republic and talks to released child soldiers in Akroussoulback. Courtesy: Brian Sokol/UNICEF

By Kristin Palitza
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Aug 28 2012 (IPS)

The protection of children remains critical in the Central African Republic, where parents willingly give their children to armed groups in exchange for protection and services.

This is according to United Nations Children’s Fund(UNICEF) ambassador Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier from Sierra Leone, who spoke to IPS during his visit to South Africa.

Beah had just returned from a trip to CAR where he witnessed the release of 10 child soldiers in the conflict-ridden, northeastern town of N’dele by the rebel group the Convention of Patriots for Justice and Peace (CPJP).

The move comes after the CPJP signed a peace accord with the government on Aug. 25 – yet another small step towards ending years of violence in the country. The release of the children was the group’s show of commitment towards peace. However, more than 2,500 boys and girls are thought to still work for various armed groups in the Central African nation.

Seven years of civil war have led to food scarcity, a collapsed economy and limited access to healthcare and education. Despite its mineral wealth, CAR remains one of the world’s least-developed countries. In 2011, CAR ranked 179 out of 186 countries in the U.N. Human Development Index.

“In CAR, parents willingly give their children to armed groups in exchange for protection and services, even though it’s against the children’s human rights. That makes it very difficult to negotiate the release of children,” Beah told IPS.

One of the armed groups operating in CAR is the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), led by internationally hunted Joseph Kony. Two LRA leaders under Kony, Dominic Ongwen and Okot Odhiambo, who are sought by the International Criminal Court, are reportedly hiding in CAR.

The LRA has increased its attacks in the country since early 2012 and continues to abduct children as fighters.

Beah was himself forcibly recruited into Sierra Leone’s civil war, in which his parents and two brothers were killed, when he was 13. He fought alongside rebel groups for two years until he was removed from the army and placed in a rehabilitation home.

He now lives in New York, where he works as a human rights activist. His book “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” has been translated into 35 languages and was on the New York Times bestseller list for more than 50 weeks.

Excerpts of the interview follow:

Q: You witnessed the release of 10 child soldiers in CAR, one of the world’s poorest nations. What is life like there?

A: The government of CAR only has control over the capital city, Bangui. When you arrive in N’dele you understand how it is possible for an armed group to operate there; it is because the government is not providing social and economic services. Poverty is very stark, there are no resources or opportunities.

So it’s the armed group there, the CPJP, which provides some services. That’s why the group is very entrenched in the community. You see them walk around with weapons everywhere.

Q: Armed groups are part of the social fabric?

A: Yes, exactly. Still, the kids don’t want to fight. Once you take them away from the commanders, they tell you “I don’t want to do this.” But there are no alternatives beyond joining the armed group. The community relies on them. And the rebels have all the opportunities.

Q: How does a release operation happen?

A: The military doesn’t want to release the kids. They hide them. When you arrive at a military camp, the children who were identified are nowhere to be found. There are negotiations with the commanders until, slowly, they bring the kids out. After that, you have to leave immediately, because some of the children’s families live within the communities (and belong to the rebels).

The children are brought to a transit and rehabilitation centre in N’dele, where they receive psycho-social therapy as well as vocational training or are sent back to school.

Q: It sounds like a long, difficult process.

A: Yes. Added to that is that the rebels have weapons and ammunition, while you don’t have any protection. You rely on them keeping their promises. Everything about the situation is dangerous. When we landed in N’dele, the whole airport was surrounded by rebels with brand-new, sophisticated weapons, guarding the place. You are very exposed.

Q: What will happen to the rest of the estimated 2,500 child soldiers in CAR?

A: Right now, the rehabilitation centre takes care of 35 kids, and I witnessed the release of 10 more. Slowly, more and more are being released. All (three) rebel groups in the country have signed action plans to release children. But if nobody forces them, they will not do it.

Q: Visiting N’dele was to some degree a return to your past. How did that feel?

A: It brought up a lot of memories. I was driving in the car with the child soldiers who had just been released and could feel their uncertainty about being removed from what they know. I was in that same position (when I was a child soldier). I told them: “Things will be difficult, but you’re going to get through this.”

Once they understood that I had the same experience, there was a kinship that helped ease the situation a little. It’s such a daunting situation. You had this power of the weapon – some of them were lieutenants – and all of a sudden you’re just a child again, trying to figure out what to do with your life.

Q: How did they react when they heard your story?

A: They asked me questions repetitively. “Is it really possible to get through this? Can we actually have another life after this?” I was very honest with them. “It’s possible but it’s not easy. You’re going to be frustrated a lot. It’s not going to be as fast as you like.”

They are coming from an experience where they get things as fast as they like because they have a weapon. They understand these things when they come from someone like me.

Q: Are there viable alternatives for children in a poverty-stricken country like CAR?

A: There are viable alternatives, but they require long-term investment. If you want successful rehabilitation, you have to be willing to look beyond one year.

Q: What are the core demands of the CPJP and other armed groups?

A: During my visit, I talked to CPJP leader Abdoulaye Hissene. He said he started his group because of social-economic inequalities in the country. The official demand is for the government to provide services. Of course he is right, but he is using the argument to pursue his own, personal agenda. He is tapping into people’s needs, so they buy into his ideology. But then the only option he provides is armed struggle, which doesn’t solve people’s problems.

Q: What is Hissene’s hidden agenda?

A: He will not tell you, but from close observation you can tell that he wants to benefit from the natural resources in the area, the diamonds, the gold, and so on. In the end, all natural resource wealth goes to the armed groups or the government, but never reaches the people. That’s the problem.

Q: What presence does the LRA have in CAR?

A: The LRA is very strong in the southeast of the country. A lot of work needs to be done in that area to protect children. Since the beginning of this year, there have been frequent attacks and abductions (of children) by the LRA. Already, the government has no capacity to fight the armed groups in the country. Now there is this foreign group that has come in that is even stronger.

Q: Do you see any chance of the LRA agreeing to peace in CAR as well?

A: I am not sure. The LRA is very unpredictable. But what I do know is that many young people from this group would run away if they had a secure place to go to, instead of being arrested by authorities that try to get information out of them.

If there were a place that took them back as children and rehabilitated them, they would find a way to escape. You can’t just tell someone to put down a gun and then leave him out in the cold or throw him into prison. Structures need to be put into place for these children to leave. To get to the heart of the LRA or any other armed group you need to make sure that the candidates who can be recruited are not available.

Excerpt:

David Rudisha, far right, trained with Kenya’s top athletes in a strict regimen of pre-Olympic training before heading off to the games in London. Credit: Brian Ngugi/IPS

By Brian Ngugi
NAIROBI, Aug 11 2012 (IPS)

When Kenyan athlete David Lekuta Rudisha simultaneously became the first person ever to break the 1min 41sec mark in the 800m while also becoming the first person to set a world record at this year’s London Olympics on Thursday Aug. 9, he managed another first. He briefly united an ethnically divided nation.

Across this East African nation people gathered in homes, shopping malls, restaurants and pubs to witness Rudisha, locally nicknamed “King David”, confirm his status as the champion of the 800m with his winning time of 1min 40.91sec.

On the night of Rudisha’s win ethnic rifts melted, and it was not uncommon to see men and women from the Kalenjin and Kikuyu ethnic groups, the two main rival groups in the country’s 2007 post-election violence, dancing together in jubilation.

“I hope the sense of unity that was brought about by Rudisha’s win will trickle down to all aspects of our lives,” Samuria Pulley, a 32-year-old resident of Kibera slums in Nairobi, told IPS.

Barely five years ago Kenya found itself on the verge of destruction after post-election ethnic violence, triggered by a bungled general election in December 2007, saw neighbour turn against neighbour. Almost 1,200 people were killed and 600,000 displaced from their homes in the ensuing mass violence.

And tensions still remain as, according to Human Rights Watch, “victims of rape, assault, arson, and other crimes still await justice.”

“Police officers, who killed at least 405 people during the violence, injured over 500 more, and raped dozens of women and girls, enjoy absolute impunity,” the organisation said in a December 2011 report.

Four prominent Kenyans suspected of inciting the nationwide violence are yet to stand trial at the International Criminal Court.

The suspects, who face crimes against humanity, include former Higher Education Minister William Ruto, radio presenter Joshua Sang, current Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta, and former civil service boss Francis Muthaura. Their trials will only commence on Apr. 10 and 11, 2013.

Ethnic tensions remain raw and are festering across the country. The National Cohesion and Integration Commission, which was formed as part of reconciliation efforts after the 2007 violence to facilitate and promote the peaceful co-existence and integration of Kenyans, warned that violence could flare up again if this remains unchecked.

On May 8 the National Security and Intelligence Service informed the government that strong indicators of violence exist as an increase in tribal politics has fuelled ethnic hostilities, as campaigning for the March 2013 general election enters high gear.

But when Rudisha did what no one else has been able to do at the games, including the 100m and 200m gold medallist Usain Bolt, by setting a new world record – the country erupted in celebration.

Prior to Rudisha’s win, Kenyans were disappointed that their legendary middle-distance runners failed to win gold. Ezekiel Kemboi had been the country’s only gold medalist after winning the 3,000m steeplechase. But Kemboi’s victory did not automatically inspire unity among Kenyans the way Rudisha’s did, as he faces criminal charges.

Kemboi, who won Kenya’s first gold medal at the games, competed after being granted bail following his arrest for allegedly stabbing a woman on Jun. 27 in Eldoret, in Kenya’s Rift Valley province.

The woman claimed Kemboi stabbed her for allegedly refusing his sexual advances after a drinking bout. Kemboi denied the allegations.

“It is defeatist for an athlete to hope to inspire unity among Kenyans while his actions outside of the field are contrary to that,” 23-year-old Kenya Polytechnic University College student Wambui Kuria told IPS of Kemboi’s victory.

So it is no wonder that Rudisha’s run, which pushed not only him, but also the rest of the field to personal bests, inspired such elation and unity.

“I believe this unity is not false and I hope it persists beyond the Olympics,” Faith Kyomukama, a 24-year-old student at Daystar University, told IPS.

“Why would we discriminate against one another on the basis of tribe? We have shown that our unity can override these small differences,” added Kyomukama.

And social experts are hopeful that sport can be used to permanently bridge ethnic divisions in the country.

Dr. Gidraph Wairire, a sociology lecturer at the University of Nairobi, told IPS that sport could help Kenya permanently bridge ethnic divisions.

He said that sport produced, for both those participating and watching, a special “feel-good chemical”, which triggered a unifying bond among citizens.

“Once you see someone winning … at that point you can actually forget your differences as individuals in ethnic communities,” he said.

“In the case of Kenyan athletes, if this power of sport can be prioritised and tapped, Kenya would be able to bridge these ethnic divisions which in any case are equally triggered by minor differences,” he said. He added that these divisions were only superficial and not inherently permanent.

According to Dr. Joyce Nyairo, the resident representative of the Ford Foundation and an expert on Kenyan popular culture, Kenya can use sport to rewrite its national narrative and forge an even stronger national unity with great effectiveness.

Nyairo, who has written about ethnicity amongst the country’s 42 ethnic groups, said it was a pity that Kenya’s government failed to build policies around nation-building projects that involved sport.

She said that the impact sport had in inspiring unity surpassed any other reconciliation effort, and added that Rudisha’s victory had done just that.

“Our sense of who we are, of what we have in common with one another is marshalled and defended on the sports field just as it might be written in constitutions and debated in parliaments,” she told IPS.

Nyairo said that sport could help bridge existing ethnic divides in unimaginable ways.

“If we shield ourselves under our athletes’ stories, embrace them and learn from them, we will surely see the seamless contours that join Kenya over and above the rifts that threaten our appreciation of a common past and a common destiny,” she said.

It is a common destiny that many of the country’s athletes had hoped to inspire by participating in the Olympics.

“I am hoping that our victories will inspire long-lived unity beyond the ones Kenyans show when they cheer us,” the country’s Olympic women’s 800m silver medallist, Janeth Jepkosgei, told IPS prior to her departure to London.

Jepkosgei said that the post-election violence marked one of the saddest points in her life and added that Kenyans should realise that national unity was more important than ethnic pride.

“Some of my friends with whom I train are Cuban, American and also Ethiopian. I don’t see why my fellow Kenyans can’t de-tribalise their mindsets too and see that we are one,” she said. Jepkosgei has qualified for the women’s 800m final on Saturday, Aug. 11.

While the Kenyan athletics’ team head coach Julius Kirwa has been under fire for his team’s performance, he will be satisfied with having achieved one of his goals: “We want to see these games unite Kenyans beyond the track. That’s our wish,” he told IPS prior to departing for the games.

And now many Kenyans hope that the sense of unity shown on an August night can outlive a historical Olympic moment.

Non-governmental organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo province where Thomas Lubanga Dyilo used children as fighters in his militia in 2002 to 2003 have slammed his 14-year sentence as inadequate – and potentially dangerous.

The International Criminal Court sentenced Lubanga, a former leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots, to 14 years in prison for recruiting children during a bloody conflict in the northeastern DRC province of Ituri.

“Fourteen years is a joke. Taking into account the six years he has already spent in prison (since his arrest in 2006), he will serve only eight more,” Joël Bisubu, from the NGO Justice Plus, told IPS.

“For his victims – and their families – who agreed to testify in court, Lubanga’s return to DRC will spark fear of reprisals. It would be good for him to be tried for other crimes he committed in Ituri, in addition to the recruitment and use of minors as combat troops in his militia.”

Bisubu, a human rights defender, said he was worried by the idea that Lubanga could finish serving his sentence so soon. “Lubanga’s early return (to DRC) makes me afraid, since he could well return as a hero. Many people in his community feel that it was wrong that he was sent to the ICC in the first place, since in their view he fought to protect them.”

The conflict in the DRC’s north-eastern Ituri region, lasting from 1999 until 2007, initially involved the Lendu, a group made up principally of farmers who migrated from Sudan centuries ago, and the Hema: more recent arrivals in the area.
Fighting soon spread, however, to encompass other ethnic groups such as the Ngiti, generally perceived as loyal to the Lendu, and the Gegere, seen as supporting the Hema. The bloodshed claimed at least 60,000 lives.

Militias such as the Forces de Résistance Patriotique d’Ituri (Patriotic Resistance Forces of Ituri, or FRPI) and the Front Nationaliste et Intégrationniste (Nationalist and Integrationist Front, FNI) fought on one side, claiming to defend the Lendu and Ngiti – while the UPC took up the banner of Hema supremacy.

In 2004, the DRC government asked the ICC to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on its territory since July 2002. An arrest warrant for Lubanga was issued in 2006.

On Jul. 10, the ICC sentenced Lubanga to 14 years in prison rather than the 30 years asked for by the court’s prosecutor. “Lubanga must benefit from extenuating circumstances, notably for having agreed to cooperate with the court,” said Paul Madidi, the ICC’s spokesperson in DRC.

The Office of the Prosecutor responded to the sentencing with a press statement. “By sentencing Thomas Lubanga Dyilo to 14 years in prison for the crimes of enlisting, conscripting and using children under the age of 15 to participate actively in hostilities, International Criminal Court judges have sent a clear message to perpetrators of crimes: you will not go unpunished.”

But the Prosecutor’s Office also said it was studying the judgement in detail and waiting to hear the judges’ decision on reparations before deciding whether or not to appeal.

“Fear over Lubanga’s eventual return is very much a concern for our members and their families,” said Emilie Buza, from the NGO Forum of Mothers of Ituri (FOMI), a group which includes many direct victims of abuses committed by the FPLC.

“In 2003, we decided to come together to defend the interests of mothers in Ituri and we set up our NGO to defend the rights of victims of grave violations of human rights in court,” she said.

“We have produced many investigative reports which we have sent to the ICC and the United Nations. They all bear our names.”

Franck Mulenda, a lawyer for a group of victims whose identities throughout the lengthy trial have, for their safety, remained protected by code names, said the sentence is not that important.

“At this point, what interests the victims who have been involved in the case is not the length of the sentence handed down by the court, but rather the decision on reparations that will be handed down in a few days,” said the lawyer.

The United Nations, which remains politically deadlocked over the drawn-out crisis in Syria, has hit another roadblock, this time over humanitarian assistance to the thousands of men, women and children caught up in the 11-month-old conflict.

Despite repeated efforts, Valerie Amos, U.N. under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, has failed to get approval for a proposed visit to Syria.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad has continued to stall – virtually refusing to cooperate with the United Nations.

“I am deeply disappointed that I have not been able to visit Syria, despite my repeated requests to meet Syrian officials at the highest level to discuss the humanitarian situation and the need for unhindered access to the people affected by the violence,” Amos said Wednesday.

The Syrian government has not only remained silent over the U.N. offer to facilitate food and medical supplies but also turned down a request by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for a pause in hostilities to evacuate the wounded.

U.N. spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters Wednesday that Amos was ready to go “at a moment’s notice” but that the Syrian government has failed to agree on a date.

“She hasn’t got the green light yet,” he said.

According to the United Nations, over 7,500 have been killed, mostly civilians, and including members of the Syrian security forces.

“Every day that we are not able to reach people, especially in the towns where there is heavy fighting, prolongs their suffering,” Amos said.

The United Nations and its partners stand ready to help humanitarian aid reach people in desperate need in Syria, she added, pointing out this should be one of the highest priorities in the ongoing conflict.

A meeting of Western and Arab leaders in Tunis last week called for a U.N. peacekeeping mission in Syria.

But this proposal is considered a non-starter since it has to be approved by the 15-member Security Council where Russia and China have already exercised their vetoes to protect the Assad regime.

Both countries rejected a Security Council resolution last month critical of the Syrian government which was accused of committing atrocities against civilians.

Speaking in Tunis last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted as saying, “It’s quite distressing to see two permanent members of the Security Council using their veto when people are being murdered: women, children and brave young men.”

“It’s just despicable. And I ask, whose side are they on?” she said.

Clinton also told a U.S. Senate hearing Wednesday “there would be an argument to be made” that Assad was a “war criminal” in the context of a definition by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Navi Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said Wednesday that Syria should be referred to the ICC.

Addressing an “urgent debate” of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Pillay said there were massive campaigns of arrest by the Syrian military and security forces and an escalation of violence in the country.

“Blockades have made it impossible for the injured to reach hospitals or for supplies of food, water and medical supplies to reach residents,” she said.

Pillay also referred to reports of increased armed attacks by anti- government fighters.

The Syrian government has provided the U.N. Human Rights office with casualty figures which put the total number of people killed in the violence – civilians, soldiers and police officers – between March of last year and mid January 2012 at more than 3,800, she said.

But the U.N. Human Rights office believes the actual numbers maybe many more, she noted.

“What is urgently needed today is for the killings to stop. Those committing atrocities in Syria have to understand that the international community will not stand by and watch this carnage and that their decisions and the actions they take today ultimately will not go unpunished.”

Pillay said she believed the situation of Syria should be referred to the ICC. The prosecutor of the ICC is able to initiate an investigation on the basis of a referral from a state party to the court or from the U.N. Security Council.

Pillay also called on the Syrian authorities to cooperate with international mechanisms, particularly the newly appointed special envoy, Kofi Annan. The former U.N. secretary-general was appointed jointly by the United Nations and the League of Arab States.

Syrian Ambassador Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui told the Human Rights Council it was the desire of some to use the Council “for slander and libel”. The real aim of the meeting was to cover up the murder and violence of armed groups directed against innocent civilians, he added.

“The Syrian government was aware that the quality of services had regressed but armed groups have targeted state infrastructure including educational and health institutions,” he said.

The international community, he said, should stop enticing and exciting sectarian violence.

The action by the Human Rights Council would fuel the flames of terrorism and prolong the crisis, he declared.

(END)