Mutiny, rebellion or a new occupation by foreign forces of eastern Congo? This is the question that analysts of the Great Lakes region continuously ask themselves.

On 26 May 2004, the city of Bukavu did not sleep, but awoke to gunshots. Over the following two weeks the city and surrounding areas became the theatre of very violent fighting between regular armed forces and forces of the dissidents of the 10th military region commanded by Colonel Jules Mutebusi. Mutebusi was suspended in April by the Congolese military hierarchy and supported by 3-4 battalions led by another former officer of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie - RCD), General Lauraent Nkunda.

These events, which killed about one hundred people and wounded many others, and led to the fall of Bukavu into rebel hands on 2 June, were reminiscent of the Kabila epic of October 1996, and that of the RCD in August 1998. This story resembles past events, but does it repeat them?

It resembles them because of the similarity of the context: several Congolese dissidents, the military and logistical support of Rwanda, followed by the rapid capture of Congolese cities without resistance and Rwanda denying its involvement.

The events in Bukavu and its surrounding areas were accompanied by a series of grave human rights abuses and war crimes. Besides the killings, there was systematic rape of women, children, even babies. The organisation Human Rights Watch documented dozens of cases of rape, including four three-year old girls. The question that many people forget to ask themselves is why is history repeating itself? Why has the Congo seemingly not learnt its lessons from past events?

It was 2 August 1998 when an armed group called the RCD, supported by Rwanda, took the city of Bukavu. It started with the execution of dozens of military people loyal to Kinshasa at the Kavumu aerodrome and the group then continued quickly on to Goma, then Kisangani, then Kindu, etc while other columns attacked the Inga roadblock and occupied the Kitona military base, in Bas-Congo province. They created their headquarters in Goma.

The government of Laurent Kabila, which had not yet succeeded in setting up an army during its 13-month reign, was on the verge of falling and called upon Angola, then Namibia, Chad and Zimbabwe.

In the following months, Jean Pierre Bemba declared another rebellion in the North - the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (le Mouvement pour la libération du Congo - MLC) - with the support of Uganda.

Internal difficulties led the RCD president Ernest Wamba dia Wamba and the former president of the RCD 'assembly' Mbusa Nyamwisi to create the RCD-Kisangani (which later became the RCD-ML), based in Kisangani, also with Ugandan support.

The methods of the belligerents were simple: killings, destruction, torture and rape.

It was over the next four years that probably the most devastating war for humanity would continue. It involved the governmental forces supported by Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Chad; the RCD supported by Rwanda and Burundi; and the RCD-ML and the MLC supported by Uganda.

This long war, which some analysts called the "African World War" caused more than three million deaths and more than two million refugees and internally displaced people. Systematic massacres were committed in villages such as Mkaobola, Kasika, Burhinyi, Shabunda and Kisangani. In some places, these massacres bordered on genocide. In Kasika, for example, RCD troops supported by Rwanda decimated approximately 1500 civilians, that is almost 10% of the members of the Banyindu ethnic group, at 18,000 people, one of the smallest of the 300 ethnic groups in Congo. The RCD's efforts eliminated customary chiefs, religious leaders, human rights activists, etc. The people responsible for some of these crimes are known and their abuses documented, but they have never been punished.

The MLC committed massive human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including cannibalism against the Mbuti (pygmy) groups in the Mambasa district of Eastern Province. The RCD-ML, the armed resistance Mai-Mai (or Mayi-Mayi) as well as other armed groups also all committed several human rights abuses, such as rape, killings, pillage, etc.

In addition to these violations, the belligerents engaged in economic exploitation of Congo's riches: wood and minerals. The fauna was also systematically destroyed. Forced labour was used to the profit of armed groups.

On 22 July 2002 in Pretoria, the parties to the conflict signed peace accords, which paved the way for the end of this devastating war. The agreement allowed for power sharing amongst the different factions, offering positions of responsibility in the new transitional institutions, curiously in relation to the level of involvement in crimes, implying that crimes can pay. When the transitional institutions were put in place in Kinshasa, the RCD, MLC, RCD-ML, Mayi-Mayi, non-armed political opposition and civil society shared power. Besides the civil society and the non-armed political opposition, one could talk of power sharing amongst criminals.

However, a group of largely Rwandophone officers in eastern Congo, as well as certain nominated parliamentarians and senators refused to join the transitional institutions in Kinshasa, despite the efforts of the new government. They established themselves in the city of Goma, capital of the province of North Kivu bordering Rwanda, where the governor, Eugene Serufuli had already allegedly set up a militia under the cover of the organisation called "All for Peace and Development" (Tous pour la paix et le dévéloppement - TPD). Neither the RCD nor the government seemed to have full control over the governor of Goma or the group of officers in question. These officers had something in common: blood on their hands and impunity.

The events of May and June 2004 benefited from disorder: an army not yet unified and consequently no unified command of the eastern region; the absence of a legitimate territorial administration; massive human rights violations; and generalised insecurity in the eastern part of the country.

These officers seemed to have profited from the situation to organise themselves. Significant stores of arms were found in the possession of the officers and security agents close to the RCD in February 2004. The next month, Colonel Mutebusi, then second commander of the 10th military region (South Kivu), led a mutiny against the head commander, General Prosper Nyabiolwa, for having arrested and transferred to Kinshasa Major Kasongo for indiscipline. The General escaped and fled to Kinshasa, while three of his bodyguards were killed, allegedly by Mutebusi's men.

The RCD, which has always been supposed to administer this part of Congo while awaiting the establishment of a new territorial administration, came to the defence of the mutineers and threatened to leave the transitional government if Major Kasongo was not freed, thus forcing the government's hand. Investigation of the arms cache was never pursued. Mutebusi was suspended but never punished. Impunity!

Following this, Mutebsi started another mutiny on 26 May 2004. He attacked the positions of the regular army and the situation degenerated until the intervention of the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission (MONUC). The city of Bukavu was divided in two (Mutebusi controlled the part bordering Rwanda and the regular army controlled the rest of the city) for a week.

But, from Goma, General Laurent Nkunda headed towards Bukavu with his 2 000 men to reinforce Mutebsi. He is believed to have been supported by troops from the Rwandan army. He raised the spectre of genocide against the Banyamulenge in Bukavu, a thesis which he later rejected when retreating. This argument was also rejected by MONUC, human rights organisations based in the region, the Banyamulenge organisation "Shikama", Commander Masunzu - a Munyamulenge leading an armed group in the high plains of Itombwe.

There were, however, serious human rights violations committed on all sides. Civilians were killed and rape appeared to be systematically used by the mutineers as a weapon of war. In the IDAP, Muhungu, Ndendere and Bugabo areas, door-to-door rape was practiced, leading some to believe it was a punitive action by the mutineers.

When, on 2 June, Laurent Nkunda took the city, two new groups appeared, who allied themselves with the two opposing parties. Mr Odilon Kurhengamuzinmu, commander of the militia called Mudundu 40 (M40), which during the last three years had changed alliance between Kinshasa and Rwanda on several occasions, this time associated himself with Mutebusi. A dissident faction of M40 led by Foka Mike allied itself with the regular army.

Under the occupation of the mutineers from 2 to 8 June 2004, the city of Bukavu was the scene of flagrant human rights violations. In addition to approximately 100 dead, the local organisation "Justice for all" (Justice pour tous) has compiled a non-exhaustive list of 617 women and girls raped, 18 stores pillaged, 254 people wounded by bullets, 60 vehicles stolen, 12 depots of manufactured goods and food stores pillaged and the Cooperative of business people (Coopérative d'hommes d'affaires - COOPERA) burnt. The central bank and commercial bank were looted of all their reserves by the mutineers.

Rwanda's involvement in support of the mutineers in terms of soldiers and arms has been reported by the local organisation "Heirs of justice" (Heritiers de la justice), the Congolese transition support committee (Comite d'accompagnement de la transition congolaise - CIAT), largely composed of representatives of the G8 countries, and a coalition of Belgian NGOs.

The Rwandan government denies its involvement, reminiscent of its denials in 1996 and 1998 that Rwanda was not in Congo, even while its troops fought beside Kabila's Alliance of democratic forces (Alliances des forces democratiques - AFDL) and the RCD, respectively.

Following diplomatic pressure, Rwanda, which had hosted some 3000 refugees in May and June, closed its border with Congo. Bukavu was retaken by the regular army on 9 June 2004, leaving Mutebusi and his ally M40 to occupy the town of Kamanyola and a part of Luvungi and Bwegere, close to the Rwandan border in the Ruzizi plains, some 60 kilometres south of Bukavu.

Fighting continues in various parts of the South Kivu region, boding ill for a possible stagnation or breakdown of the fragile peace process in the country.

The impunity of those responsible for crimes committed in eastern Congo over the past 6 years seem to be the determining factor in the continuation of abuses against civilian populations. Those who have never heard of war crimes include troops under the command of the infamous: Major Bora Uzima in South Kivu; Gabrial Amisi, alias "Tango Fort" (currently in the regular army) in Uvira, Kasika and Fizi; Laurent Nkaudna who was behind the massacres in Kisangani; Jules Mutebusi who was responsible for the bombing of the Banyamulenge; Thierry Ilunga (currently in the regular army) in Mwenga, etc.

These officers are currently either peacefully reintegrated into the regular army (Amisi and Ilunga) or are currently in leadership positions in eastern Congo and implicated in the current war in South Kivu. None of them have ever been sanctioned or punished for their responsibility in these crimes.

The system in place in Congo, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, established on the South African model, seems to pave the way for the continuation of impunity.

The option to cover up and leave unpunished war crimes and crimes against humanity such as the systematic rape of three-year-old girls; the indiscriminate bombing of civilian Banyamulenge populations by Rwandan helicopters; the massacre of civilians in Kisangani, Kasika, Makobola, Burhinyi, etc; the cannibalism against Pygmy communities in the Eastern Province: Is this the way forward for the Congolese state to re-establish itself?

In my opinion, this will only sow the seeds of an even more catastrophic socio-political situation in eastern Congo.

* Innocent Bulemba works for Amnesty International. This article was written in his personal capacity.

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Mutinerie, rébellion ou une nouvelle occupation par des forces étrangères de la partie orientale du Congo, voilà la question que ne cessent de se poser actuellement les analystes sur la région des grands lacs. Le 26 mai passé, la ville de Bukavu ne dort pas mais se réveille sous des coups de balles et que les deux semaines suivantes la ville et ses environs devient le théâtre des combats très violents qui ont opposé les forces de l'armée régulière et celles des dissidents de la 10ème région militaire commandées par le colonel Jules Mutebusi, suspendu au mois d'avril dernier par la hiérarchie militaire congolaise, appuyées espar quelques trois ou quatre bataillons commandés par un autre ancien officier du RCD, le général Laurent Nkunda. Ces événements qui ont fait une centaine de personnes civiles tuées et plusieurs blessés, et qui ont conduit à la chute de Bukavu aux mains mutins, le 2 juin, rappellent l'épopée Kabila en octobre 1996, et celle du RCD en août 1998. Cette histoire se ressemble, mais ne répète t-elle pas?

I am writing on behalf of the CERDH (Centre d`Etudes et de Recherche en Droits de l`Homme et Démocratie) a Congolese organization in charge of promotion and protection of Human Rights and Democracy based in Lubumbashi, DRC, because we are concerned about the treatment of women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where conflict has been raging for more than five years. Many women continue to be discriminated against and thousands of them have been raped and killed with complete impunity.

To address this situation, we seized this occasion to write to you regarding the ratification of the Protocol on the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa and urge your Excellencies to ensure the fast tracking of its ratification by the Congolese government.

Under a fierce midday sun, Nicole Ibrehim clutches her semi-automatic rifle, cracked purple fingernail polish glinting in the light and a red beret perched over pierced ears. She waves her gun towards a group of nervous boy soldiers standing nearby and shouts an order in a low, booming voice, sending the boys scuttling. "Don't you have girl soldiers in your country?" the Democratic Republic of Congo rebel asks in French, surprised at the attention she is receiving from a cluster of foreign journalists. "Here there are many." New research shows that girls and women are active combatants in wars across the world. According to Tufts University researcher Dyan Mazurana, over the last decade, girls have fought in conflicts in at least 54 countries, most of them in the developing world.

On 26 June 2004, after 20 days in detention, Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, managing editor of the Kinshasa-based weekly "La Flamme du Congo", was released by order of the Kinshasa/Gombe High Court's public prosecutor. The journalist posted bail of 20,000 Congolese francs (approx. US$53). On 7 June, Kalenga Kabanda was arrested at his residence in Kinshasa/Ngaliema by judicial police. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, one of the country's four vice-presidents, accused the journalist of "residence violation" and spying for unauthorised filming of construction at his residence in Gemena, a city located in the northern province of Equateur.

The Health Coordinator (HC) will be ultimately responsible for the development, implementation, standardization, and evaluation of all health-related activities in the Kivu and Katanga provinces.

On 7 June 2004, Gustave Kalenga Kabanda, managing editor of the Kinshasa-based weekly "La Flamme du Congo" ("Congo's Flame") was arrested by judicial police at his home in Kinshasa-Ngaliema. Kalenga Kabanda was taken to the Kinshasa-Gombe Court's detention centre (commonly referred to as the "judicial locker"), where he was detained for 48 hours before being taken to the General Court's detention centre, near Kinshasa-Gombe's Court of First Instance. According to information obtained by JED, Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, one of the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) four vice-presidents, accused Kalenga Kabanda of spying after he was caught filming renovations being made to Bemba Gombo's home in Gemena, a city in Equateur province, northern DRC.

Journaliste en danger (JED) has learned that the Ministry of Press and Information issued a directive, on 12 June 2004, warning the Congolese press to "respect editorial guidelines to the letter during this period of crisis." "During this period of disturbing events (the situation in Bukavu, the failed coup d'etat in Kinshasa), the handling of news is of great strategic importance and is linked to the defence and internal security of the state," cautioned Press and Information Minister Vital Kamerhe.

The humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has become more entrenched since fighting broke out in Bukavu earlier this month, U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland has warned. About 3.3 million civilians cannot be reached by aid agencies, the most of any conflict, and human rights are being violated on a massive scale, he said.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has dispatched a four-member team to the border between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Burundi to assess reports of recent arrivals in Burundi of thousands of refugees from the DRC, the agency said in a report issued last Thursday. UNHCR said initial feedback from the team indicated that, in Gatumba alone, 1,000 new refugees had already arrived, with more arriving daily.

Both government soldiers and dissident forces have carried out war crimes in Bukavu, killing and raping civilians in their battle to control the eastern Congolese city, Human Rights Watch said in a briefing paper released last week. On May 26 dissident forces under Brigadier General Laurent Nkunda and Colonel Jules Mutebutsi started an uprising against the unified national army of the 10th Military Region in Bukavu. Government troops killed at least 15 civilians between May 26 and 28, including those from the minority Congolese ethnic group known as Banyamulenge. Dissident troops killed civilians and carried out widespread sexual violence against women and girls, some of them as young as three years of age. In an unconfirmed estimate, international humanitarian agencies report that as many as 80 people may have died in fighting in the city from May 26 to June 6.

A coup attempt in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by a section of the presidential guard has been foiled, Foreign Affairs Minister Antoine Ghonda told IRIN on Friday. "The government has resumed control of the situation,” he said. Officers from the presidential guard had announced on state radio and television, at 2:40 am local time [1:40 GMT] in the capital, Kinshasa, that they had neutralised the institutions of the transitional government of President Joseph Kabila.

For three and a half years, Arche d'Alliance, a human rights organisation, has been involved in a project investigating, monitoring, reporting and offering legal and socio-medical assistance to women victims of sexual violence in the territories of Uvira and Fizi. The project has also been interested in cases of male victims of sexual violence from 2003 to date.

In the large and populated Fizi Territory, situated in southern South Kivu province, the two principal rival armed groups which have been fighting for five years - the army of the RCD-Goma and Mayi-Mayi combatants (FAP) - have all committed grave abuses and human rights violations against the civilian populations. Sexual violence, particularly rape, indecent assault and forced pregnancy have been committed against women and girls on a large scale in Fizi Territory.

However, a particular phenomenon relating to this sexual violence has also occurred in Fizi against many men. Men have been subjected to sexual violence through forced anal sex. In the majority of cases, combatants belonging to foreign armed forces (Burundian and Rwandan) have committed these acts. Forces involved include the Rwandan Interahamwe and elements of the Burundian Front for the Defence of Democracy (Front pour la défense de la démocratie - FDD) who fought with the Congolese Mayi-Mayi (FAP) combatants against the RCD-Goma rebellion, supported by Rwanda and Burundi.

Thousands of male victims of sexual violence were identified especially in the large Ngandja community. Numerous cases were also registered in the community of Mutambala in Fizi Territory. In the majority of cases, investigators limited themselves to identifying the victims, although Arche d'Alliance supported about ten victims who agreed to appear publicly and receive assistance for their basic needs and medical care.

The head of the liaison office in Bakara/Fizi, Ms Marie Mulasi, is responsible, in particular, for assistance to male victims of sodomy or indecent assault. She directs them to the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Baraka for appropriate medical treatment and temporary solutions to their social needs, with the support of office materials from Arche d'Alliance based in Uvira.

Techniques used by perpetrators of sodomy

Perpetrators of sodomy in Fizi use violence and death threats against their victims before imposing sexual acts. Often victims are stabbed and burned before or after sexual aggression, particularly if they tried to resist. In addition, victims have indicated that often they were abused in the presence of their wives and children. In Fizi Territory, men were sometimes gathered in villages by Interahamwe and FDD and subjected to sexual aggression under death threats.

The objective of sexual violence

Men are victims of sodomy in Fizi for various reasons. In the majority of cases, perpetrators of sexual crimes take revenge against men suspected of conspiring with the enemy forces of the RCD-Goma. In addition, the aggressors act to intimidate, humiliate and discourage their victims from collaborating with the enemy.

Consequences

Male sodomy victims are traumatised. They are abandoned by their wives. Raped women are also often renounced by their husbands. In addition, the investigation by Arche d'Alliance reveals the transmission of venereal diseases and particularly HIV/AIDS, as well as the death of several victims who did not receive medical attention. The most common symptoms are anal and generalised pain.

In addition, male sodomy victims suffer social rejection and stigmatisation. The fact that in several impoverished households it is the women who meet the needs of the family by undertaking resourceful activities means that abandoned male sodomy victims face serious socio-economic problems and may not be able to meet their basic needs. In addition, they lose respect in their communities.

Conclusions

Sodomy and indecent assault, of which several men are victim in Fizi, constitutes an attack on their dignity and their physical integrity. The consequences of these inhuman, humiliating, degrading and cruel acts are tragic. They have a decisive impact on the lives of victims, who today are unhappy, at risk of death and without any family support.

The presence today of perpetrators in the communities constitutes a permanent danger for the rest of the population in the area. At the end of March 2004, the association Arche d'Alliance sent its members to several areas of the two communities most affected by the phenomenon. Delegates of the association were responsible for leading an awareness-raising campaign among other sodomy victims in order that they may benefit from medical treatment as a priority.

Recommendations

a.) To the authorities

In addressing this report to the offices of the Ministries of National Defence, Interior, Health and Human Rights, Arche d'Alliance recommends that the Congolese government bring peace to Fizi Territory and the rest of the province so that everyone benefits from security. To the political, administrative and military authorities of Fizi, to whom the association has also sent copies of this report, the association requests that they respond to the social and medical concerns of hundreds of male victims of sodomy in Fizi.

b.) To partners

The association Arche d'Alliance solicits assistance in putting pressure on foreign belligerents who are still present on Congolese territory and continue to occupy their respective positions in Fizi. These groups must stop committing the sexual crime that is sodomy. The association also asks partners to contribute to raising awareness among local communities so that they respect human rights and, in particular, so that the inhuman cases of sodomy are denounced and condemned. Finally, the association requests social, humanitarian and medical assistance from its partners.

* Arche d'Alliance is a local human rights organisation operating in the DRC. This article appeared recently on Kirimba (www.kirimba.org/), a web-site largely dedicated to addressing events in Burundi. Kirimba is coordinated by a member of the extended Africa team of UPEACE, Mr. Athanase Karayenga.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

* For the French version of this report, please click on the link below

The food security situation is desperate for thousands of returning refugees to Angola's northern Malanje province, as their access to markets in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been blocked, IRIN was told on Monday. The World Health Organisation recently reported that the situation had deteriorated to the extent that more than 25 people had died after they resorted to eating poisonous plants.

Amnesty International has strongly condemned continuing serious human rights abuses in the city of Bukavu, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "General Laurent Nkunda and Colonel Jules Mutebusi, whose forces seized the city, should ensure that combatants under their command uphold international humanitarian law and stop attacking civilians," the organisation urged. Amnesty International is also urging MONUC, the UN peacekeeping force in DRC, which is also present in Bukavu, to do its utmost to protect civilians in the city and its environs.

Lucien-Claude Ngongo, deputy editor of the weekly newspaper Fair Play, has been detained in the DRC capital Kinshasa for a week without charge, according to local press freedom group Journaliste en Danger (JED). Local journalists say Ngongo has been questioned about an article he wrote denouncing corrupt practices by an expatriate businessman.

Rose Lukanu Tshakwiza, a journalist with Congolese National Radiotelevision's (Radiotélévision nationale congolaise, RTNC) Lubumbashi station and a local Radio France International (RFI) correspondent, have been receiving death threats since 25 May 2004. The threats were reportedly received from anonymous phone callers claiming to be members of the youth branch of the Union of Congolese Federalists (Union des fédéralistes congolais, UNAFEC), a party whose national president is also justice minister.

Democratic Republic of the Congo army soldiers this week battled a renegade army faction near the eastern town of Bukavu, shattering a fragile truce struck early this morning after the commander of the renegade group received assurances that the government would protect a group of ethnic Tutsis in the region. Clashes in eastern D.R.C. have killed at least 45 people since Wednesday, including a U.N. peacekeeper. The fighting between the renegade and regular forces resumed near the Bukavu airport, 15 miles north of the South Kivu provincial city, when the commander of the regular forces launched a fresh attack, according to unidentified security officials.

The UN Relief/Humanitarian Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Herbert M'Cleod, has set up an inter-agency Crisis Task Force for the eastern town of Bukavu where fighting between rival factions of the Congolese army erupted on Wednesday, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported. "The task force will interface with the ICRC [International Committee of the Red Cross] and will undertake an evaluation of the humanitarian needs in Bukavu as soon as security permits safe and unhindered access," OCHA said in a report of the current situation in the town.

The ACD Systems is a senior member of staff and will be responsible for the management and development of Concern DRC’s human resources, administrative, IT, logistic and security systems.

The appointments are six months late and the political infighting revealed the fragile relationships within the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), but the nomination of provincial governors on Sunday has been heralded as an important step in the country's return to peace and democratic elections in July 2005. "The announcement of the list is a great step towards reunification of our country," Crispin Kabasele, a spokesman for Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Goma (RCD-Goma), said. "This is an important step in the restoration of the authority of the state in our country."