January 1, 2004
After five years of devastating war, the warring parties settled on a power-sharing agreement and installed a transitional government in June 2003. Serious violence continued, however, particularly in eastern DRC where local contenders for power operated beyond effective central control. Although the fighting between various groups diminished during the course of the year, those with guns continued to prey on civilians, killing, raping, and otherwise injuring them and destroying or pillaging their property, often in efforts to assert local control. Rwanda and Uganda, the major powers in the east for four years, withdrew their troops but continued to exercise political influence through local proxies as well as to exploit Congolese resources for their own profit.
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- Continuing Violence against Civilians
- Illegal Exploitation of Resources
- Ensuring Civil and Political Rights
- Making Justice Work
- Key International Actors
Continuing Violence against Civilians
After conflict between the Hema and Lendu of Ituri (http://hrw.org/reports/2003/ituri0703/) sparked the ethnically-based killing of thousands of civilians in northeastern DRC, the U.N. Security Council acknowledged the ineffectiveness of its peace-keeping force (U.N. Organizational Mission in the Congo, MONUC). It authorized the European Union to send troops to Ituri until a larger U.N. force with a more robust mandate could be deployed in the region. The European Union-led force restored order in Bunia, the main town of Ituri, and at this writing the strengthened MONUC force gradually was extending its control over parts of the countryside in Ituri and elsewhere, though its limited size of only 10,800 troops did not allow it to control all war-torn areas.
At the end of 2003, armed groups controlled by local leaders, some of them still linked to Rwanda or Uganda or to national leaders who had supposedly accepted a cease-fire, continued to vie for control of parts of Ituri, Maniema, and the provinces of North and South Kivu. They killed civilians who resisted their authority and raped women and girls, some of whom were abducted for longer-term service as "wives." These attacks forced residents to flee their homes and disrupted attempts to resume normal agricultural and commercial life.
Illegal Exploitation of Resources
An independent panel of experts established by the U.N. Security Council concluded that the drive to control Congolese natural resources has been a major motive for the war in the DRC. Warring parties, including those linked to the Ugandan and Rwandan governments, exploited these resources for personal profit and to buy weapons to continue the conflict. The panel identified a number of multinational corporations that traded in these illegally obtained resources. After the withdrawal of Rwandan and Ugandan troops, local groups reportedly have continued to deliver illegally exploited materials to them as well as to corrupt Congolese leaders and officials. The government intends to end these illegal practices by intensifying administrative control and by installing a commission to deal with corruption. Neither the Security Council nor the governments of countries in which the multinational corporations are based have taken effective action to curb illegal trade from the DRC, but the Security Council did impose an arms embargo on eastern Congo in late 2003. If effectively implemented, the embargo could help break the link between illegal exploitation, the arms trade, and the human rights abuses perpetrated in continuing violence.
Ensuring Civil and Political Rights
In order for the government to hold legitimate elections in 2005, it must immediately rebuild a functioning administration and effectively guarantee civil and political rights (http://hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/drc072403.htm). The new authorities profess commitment to human rights ideals, but both local and national officials have harassed, arbitrarily arrested, or beaten journalists, civil society activists, and ordinary citizens in the last year. The government must also establish a definition of citizenship that assures the rights of all Congolese, including the Rwandophone peoples of eastern DRC. Congolese who are linguistically or culturally linked to Rwanda include groups, like the Banyamulenge, who at one time assisted Rwandan troops occupying the area. The resulting hostility of other Congolese toward the Banyamulenge has complicated the already sensitive question of the rights of Rwandophones, including their rights to land (generally said to be controlled by other Congolese groups) and their right to participate in political process.
Making Justice Work
Delivering justice in the DRC will require enormous human and material resources as well as a break with the past domination of the executive over the judiciary. At the end of 2003, a strike of judges for better pay and working conditions highlighted some of the issues that have hampered the effective administration of justice. Beyond dealing with current cases, judicial officials confront the overwhelming burden of investigating and prosecuting widespread violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated by all parties during the war.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has indicated that he may investigate cases from Ituri, but his mandate deals only with crimes committed after July 2002. Despite national and international proclamations about the need to end impunity, several persons suspected of violations of international humanitarian law continue to occupy posts of national responsibility. Reforming the judicial system will require eliminating special tribunals like the State Security Court (Cour de Surété de l'Etat) or at least obliging such bodies, as well as security services, to observe internationally accepted human rights standards.
Key International Actors
Despite repeated expressions of concern about the war and its attendant human rights abuses, the U.N. Security Council took three years to begin putting an effective peace-keeping force in place for the protection of civilians. And despite professed commitment to ending impunity and to halting the illegal exploitation of the DRC's resources, neither the U.N. nor donor governments has taken effective action in these areas. In 2003 there were some exceptions to previous inertia. In May 2003 a small contingent of U.N. peacekeepers were caught between armed groups fighting in Bunia while sheltering thousands of terrified civilians. The U.N. Security Council reacted by changing the mandate of the peacekeepers to peace enforcement and authorized the deployment of an E.U.-led force under French leadership to provide security to Bunia while waiting for a larger U.N. force deployment. South Africa also played an important role in brokering political agreements and in providing peace-keeping troops.
Donor governments displayed extraordinary tolerance for the misconduct of both Rwanda and Uganda in the DRC until 2002 when they applied effective pressure to have them withdraw their troops. With that minimum apparently obtained, they have proved less vigorous in pursuing justice for war crimes. The U.N. Security Council requested that the secretary general recommend options for addressing the culture of impunity, but to date there has been no progress.
