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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

DRC: Controversy surrounds certain military appointees

KINSHASA, 26 August 2003 (IRIN) - Human rights activists have criticised the recent appointment of military officials alleged to have been involved in massacres in Kisangani, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), during hostilities that erupted in May 2002.

Gabriel Amisi and Laurent Nkunda, both from the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma) former rebel movement and named brigadier-generals for a unified national army on 19 August by President Joseph Kabila, were cited by the rights groups - meeting under an umbrella organisation, the Reseau d'organisations des droits humains et d'education civique d'inspiration chretienne (Rodhecic) - as having been "the primary leaders of the Kisangani massacres".

According to Human Rights Watch, Amisi, alias "Tango Fort", was the RCD-Goma's assistant chief of staff for logistics while Nkunda was the commander of the 7th Brigade, based in Kisangani. They and other senior officers were directly implicated in the killings, the international human rights defence NGO said.

A statement issued by Rodhecic said that groups that investigated the events of 14-16 May 2002 in Kisangani, including a mission dispatched by the UN Security Council, Human Rights Watch and local NGOs, cited the two officers in several reports.

The killings followed an apparent mutiny involving troops of RCD-Goma, then a Rwandan-backed rebel group that was the de-facto authority in eastern Congo. The group briefly occupied a local radio station and appealed to the public to expel Rwandan troops from the country. A number of people were immediately killed by a mob, after which RCD-Goma troops retaliated.

According to the 23 July 2002 report presented to the UN Security Council, more than 103 civilians and more than 60 police officers were executed. The Security Council subsequently issued a strong call for accountability for the killings.

In its statement, Rodhecic asked for the intervention of William Swing, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative to the DRC, in resolving the controversy.

Responding to the rights groups' complaint, RCD-Goma representative Moise Nyarugabo told IRIN on Monday: "We think that this is the wrong way of going about things. Of all the officers named [to the unified national army], there is not one who has not killed - otherwise, what was the war all about? These officers [Amisi and Nkunda] could only be replaced if a judgment had been rendered against them. If someone was judged and condemned, we could understand and replace him. You know, there are a great many people with even greater allegations against them, beginning at the highest level."

Theme(s): (IRIN) Conflict, (IRIN) Governance, (IRIN) Human Rights

[ENDS]

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