DATE=2/2/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=CONGO / HUMAN RIGHTS (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258732
BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS
DATELINE=NAIROBI
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A U-S human-rights group says rebels in
eastern Congo-Kinshasa are using illegal arrests and
torture to silence their civilian opponents. East
Africa Correspondent Scott Stearns in Nairobi reports
the rebels firmly reject the charge.
TEXT: The group, Human Rights Watch, says Congolese
rebels have unleashed a pattern of abuse against
civilians, including journalists, church leaders, and
human rights activists. The New York-based group says
rebel leaders must prosecute those responsible.
Juliane Kippenberg is a Human Rights Watch
investigator.
/// KIPPENBERG ACT ONE ///
Very often, when these organizations or these
individuals speak out critically about the
current situation -- be that on human rights
abuses or on broader social and economic
problems -- that they face harassment, arrest,
and in some cases torture.
/// END ACT ///
Human Rights Watch says several civilians were
arrested last week in the city of Bukavu for
organizing a strike for back pay. The group says two
of the men are still in detention.
/// OPT /// They are Patient Bagenda Balagizi, the
head of an anti-poverty organization, and church
leader Gustave Lunjwere. /// END OPT ///
Their strike, which carried out peacefully Monday,
also protested the continuing presence of troops from
Rwanda and Uganda.
Rwanda and Uganda are backing Congo rebels in their
fight against President Laurent Kabila. Rwanda is the
main sponsor of the rebel Congolese Rally for
Democracy, the R-C-D, which controls eastern Kivu
Province. Ms. Kippenberg says Rwandan leaders share
responsibility for the abuses of their rebel clients.
/// OPT // KIPPENBERG ACT TWO ///
There is actually a joint responsibility on the
part of Rwandese forces. What we would ask for
is that not only the R-C-D but also the R-P-A,
the Rwandese government, actually takes action
against this and punishes those who have
perpetrated human rights abuses in Kivu.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
R-C-D officials say they tolerate political dissent in
areas under their control. As evidence, R-C-D
spokesman Lambert Mende points to a demonstration
Wednesday in the city of Goma, where church leaders
protested last month's killing of a priest in the
nearby village of Buhimba.
/// MENDE ACT ONE ///
I have witnessed this morning a movement of what
we can call part of civil society. That is nuns
and priests from the Catholic Church
demonstrating against the killing of one of
their colleagues.
/// END ACT ///
Mr. Mende says church leaders are angry that
authorities have not done more to find the priest's
killer. He says their demonstration is one of the
freedoms the rebellion has fought for, a freedom he
says is not enjoyed by people under President Kabila's
control.
/// MENDE ACT TWO ///
Those people are demonstrating freely. They can
hardly do it in Kinshasa where Kabila is in
control. So for us we hear them. We have a
meeting with them. This for us is an exercise
of a right we really fought for -- the right to
demonstrate.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// Human Rights Watch agrees political
expression is no better under President Kabila. In
this case, Ms. Kippenberg says rebels likely allowed
the demonstration in Goma because the priest was
killed by militia opposed to the rebellion and not by
rebels.
/// OPT // KIPPENBERG ACT THREE ///
Obviously the authorities would love to see
demonstrations against those kinds of abuses,
but certainly they would always take very strict
measures that there is no way how civil society
can protest against abuses carried out by
themselves and their allies, the Rwandese
forces.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
After a year-and-one-half of fighting, Mr. Mende says
human rights groups have to realize there is a war on
in Congo and security must be maintained.
/// OPT // MENDE ACT THREE ///
If we have some people among us who are linked
with misbehaving, with killing, be sure that
they are going to be punished.
/// END ACT ///
/// OPT /// He says rebels are not cracking down on
civil society. Instead, Mr. Mende says they are
trying to convince people that this un-popular war is
the only way to bring political change to Congo.
/// OPT // MENDE ACT FOUR ///
The war is a period of suffering. People really
oppose the war. But we are trying to make them
understand that this is a must since other means
of changing our society have collapsed.
/// END ACT /// END OPT ///
Despite Congo's civil war, Human Rights Watch says
there are minimum standards of conduct regarding
civilians that must be respected.
/// OPT /// Ms. Kippenberg says that is not happening
in rebel-held Kivu.
/// OPT // KIPPENBERG ACT FOUR ///
We know that there is the conflict there for the
warring parties, but at the same time the
warring parties have to adhere to international
humanitarian law. And this is not happening if
civilians are tortured, killed, abducted, and so
on.
/// END ACT // END OPT ///
Human Rights Watch wants the unconditional release of
all detained activists and assurances from the R-C-D
that local human rights organizations will be allowed
to operate freely. (SIGNED)
NEB/SKS/JWH/RAE
02-Feb-2000 08:52 AM EDT (02-Feb-2000 1352 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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