RECORD NUMBER OF FORMER HUTU REBELS LEAVES DR CONGO – UN MISSION

A record number of former Hutu rebels left the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for their home in Rwanda this week, the United Nations peacekeeping operation in the vast African nation reported today.

The UN mission, known by its French acronym MONUC, said that 57 former Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) fighters and 26 other ex-militiamen were repatriated from war-torn north-eastern DRC under a UN-backed scheme.

MONUC also reported that more than 1,650 children had been separated from the ranks of armed groups operating in the region since the start of the year.

The FDLR and other Rwandan militias have been a key factor in the resurgence of violence in North Kivu province, where another 100,000 civilians have been uprooted by fighting in the past several months, in addition to the many hundreds of thousands previously displaced.

In related news, the blue helmets in north-eastern DRC have established an alert and surveillance system across North Kivu in a bid to support Government forces (FARDC) against militia in the area.

MONUC said its operations received a further boost this week with the opening of another joint coordination centre to help restore safety and security to the volatile region, bringing the total number to eight such centres.
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GOVERNMENT, REBEL ATROCITIES UPROOTING CIVILIANS IN EASTERN DR CONGO – UN

GOVERNMENT, REBEL ATROCITIES UPROOTING CIVILIANS IN EASTERN DR CONGO – UN
New York, May 22 2009 12:00PM
Growing reports of atrocities committed against civilians – by both Government troops and rebel groups – in the war-torn east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to drive people from their homes, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) said today.

Harassment, human rights abuses, rape and intimidation against civilians have been mainly blamed on the ethnic Hutu rebel group known as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwandan (FDLR), but also increasingly on Congolese armed forces, known as FARDC, Andrew Purvis, UNHCR spokesperson, said today.

Civilians live in constant fear of threats by armed men, who pillage, rape, burn houses and confiscate supplies and food, with robberies and forced labour becoming increasingly common in the region, the agency said.

"We urgently appeal to the Government of the DRC, with the support of the international community, to provide protection to the civilian population and to end the atmosphere of impunity surrounding crimes committed by members of the FARDC, the national police and by armed rebels such as the FDLR," Mr. Purvis said.

Two weeks ago, attacks alleged to have been carried out by the FDLR in two villages in North and South Kivu provinces killed dozens of people, with 700 houses being burned to the ground.

The renewed violence has caused panic among civilians, driving many from their homes, Mr. Purvis said.

Since January, FDLR attacks in the war-torn provinces have forced nearly 400,000 to leave their homes and take refuge in forests and other areas, according to UNHCR.

"Tensions have been high in South Kivu, the scene of increased military activity by the FARDC against the FDLR aimed at neutralizing the Rwandan Hutu rebels," the UNHCR spokesperson said.

An ongoing military offensive against the FDLR – operating in eastern DRC since the end of the Rwandan genocide which wiped out around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994 – in North Kivu, meanwhile, has driven 30,000 people from their homes, he added.

Earlier this week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) urged greater protection for civilians in the South Kivu, which has witnessed a surge in sexual violence since the beginning of this year.

Some 463 women were raped in the first quarter of 2009, more than half of the total number of violations registered for the whole of last year, OCHA said, noting that most of the sexual violence is committed by soldiers and members of the various armed militia.

Since March, an estimated 120,000 people have been forced from their homes in South Kivu as a result of violent attacks by FDLR militias and clashes pitting the national army against the Hutu group.
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GROWING NUMBER OF WOMEN FALLING VICTIM TO RAPE IN DR CONGO, REPORTS UN

GROWING NUMBER OF WOMEN FALLING VICTIM TO RAPE IN DR CONGO, REPORTS UN
New York, May 20 2009 4:00PM
The United Nations humanitarian wing is urging greater protection for civilians in the South Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which has witnessed a surge in sexual violence since the beginning of this year.

Some 463 women were raped in the first quarter of 2009, more than half of the total number of violations registered for the whole of last year, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (<"http://ochaonline.un.org/">OCHA).

OCHA reported that most of the sexual violence is committed by soldiers and members of the various armed militia, and that since the Government launched its military operation against the mainly ethnic Hutu rebel group FDLR in April, civilians have been increasingly victims of looting, extortions, arson, killings and rape in eastern DRC.

UN relief officials have met with Congolese authorities to convey the concerns of the humanitarian community regarding the protection of civilians and aid access.

The World Health Organization (<"http://www.who.int/en/">WHO) has distributed post-exposure prophylactic (PEP) kits throughout South Kivu, which can reduce the risk of HIV infection if administered within 72 hours of the rape.

Since March, an estimated 120,000 people have been forced from their homes in South Kivu as a result of violent attacks by FDLR militias and clashes pitting the national army against the Hutu group, which has been operating in eastern DRC since the end of the Rwandan genocide wiped out around 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in 1994.

Meanwhile, the World Food Programme (<"http://www.wfp.org/">WFP) has distributed some 2,459 tons of food to 323,472 people in South Kivu during the past two months. The agency with its partner, CARITAS, is handing out food for a further 20,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the Kalehe-Nyabibwe axis.

For its part, the UN Children's Fund (<"http://www.unicef.org/">UNICEF) is supplying sanitation facilities in the Bunyakiri-Hombo zone, while WHO has provided cholera kits to some 2,545 patients in the area.

OCHA's DRC Humanitarian Action Plan, which has requested $831 million for humanitarian programmes in the country in 2009, has so far received $271 million or 33 per cent of the total.
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The Power of Horror in Rwanda

Fifteen years ago, efforts at genocide killed about 800,000 Rwandans. Now that tragedy is providing the government with a cover for repression.

by Kenneth Roth

During a gruesome three months in 1994, about 800,000 Rwandans were murdered as part of a calculated effort by a group of Hutu extremists to eradicate the country's Tutsi population.

The genocide ended only with the military victory of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a rebel group founded by Rwandan exiles who ousted the Hutu extremists. The front's austere and savvy commander, Paul Kagame, now serves as Rwanda's president.

In the 15 years since the extremist government was ousted, Rwanda has become an island of stability in a volatile region. The economy is booming, the distinction between Hutu and Tutsi is officially downplayed, and ethnic and political violence has been largely eradicated. Kigali, the capital of a country that likes to portray itself as the Switzerland of Africa, is orderly and manicured.

But Rwanda has a long way to go. Despite the facade of occasional elections, the government essentially runs a one-party state. And ironically, it is the genocide that has provided the government with a cover for repression. Under the guise of preventing another genocide, the government displays a marked intolerance of the most basic forms of dissent.

There is no meaningful opposition. The press is cowed. Nongovernmental organizations are under attack. When parliamentary elections held last September produced a whopping 92% victory for Kagame's ruling party, evidence collected by the European Union and Rwandan monitors suggested that the government actually inflated the percentage of opposition votes so as to avoid the appearance of an embarrassing Soviet-style acclamation.

One tool of repression has been the gacaca courts -- informal tribunals run without trained lawyers or judges -- which the government established at the community level to try alleged perpetrators of the genocide. The original impetus was understandable: Rwandan prisons were overpopulated with tens of thousands of alleged genocidaires and no prospect of the country's regular courts trying them within any reasonable time. The gacaca courts provided a quick, if informal, way to resolve these cases. In theory, members of the community would know who had or had not been involved in the genocide, but in reality the lack of involvement by legal professionals has left the proceedings open to manipulation.

Today, 15 years after the genocide, people are still coming forward and accusing their neighbors of complicity in it, suggesting that gacaca has morphed into a forum for settling personal vendettas or silencing dissident voices. The prospect of suddenly being accused of past participation in the genocide, with little legal recourse against concocted charges, is enough to make most people keep their heads down in the political arena.

The government says it will close the gacaca courts in June. But the government has another tool of control -- the crime of "genocide ideology." Formally adopted last year, the law outlawing "genocide ideology" is written so broadly that it can encompass even the most innocuous comments. As many Rwandans have discovered, disagreeing with the government or making unpopular statements can easily be portrayed as genocide ideology, punishable by sentences of 10 to 25 years. That leaves little political space for dissent

Pressing the government to amend these repressive laws and practices is not easy, as I discovered in recent meetings with senior officials from the prime minister on down. They are understandably sensitive about political invective that can lead to renewed ethnic slaughter, but the public faces the very real danger that any political criticism of the government will be construed as fomenting genocide.

Western governments, guilt-ridden at not having stopped the genocide and impressed by Rwanda's stability and economic growth, have been all too willing to close their eyes to this repressive sleight of hand.

But Kagame's strategy is shortsighted and dangerous. He claims to be building a society in which citizens are only Rwandans, not Tutsi or Hutu, but his repression of civil society means that avenues to forge alternative bonds among people are limited. That makes it more likely that in moments of tension Rwandans will resort to their ethnic identity, as so often happens in repressive societies.

The challenge for world leaders 15 years after Rwanda's genocide is to overcome guilt and look beyond the enforced peace to convince Kagame and his government to build the foundation for more organic, lasting stability.

The best way to prevent another genocide is to insist that Kagame stop manipulating the last one.

Kenneth Roth is executive director of Human Rights Watch.

RWANDAN DEAD MUST BE HONOURED BY ENDING GENOCIDE - BAN

Marking the 15th anniversary of the 1994 mass killings in Rwanda today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asserted that preventing genocide was the most important collective response to the tragedy.

"Only by meeting this challenge can we match the resolve of the survivors and truly honour the memory of those who died in Rwanda 15 years ago," he said in a statement.

April 1994 saw the beginning of a slaughter in the tiny East African country in which more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and Hutu moderates died, mostly by machete, during a period of less than 100 days.

The UN is observing the anniversary with a mid-day reading of the testimonies of survivors of the genocide, coinciding with similar events taking place in Congo, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Mexico and Japan.

Two photography exhibits on Rwandan survivors will also be launched in the visitor's lobby of UN Headquarters in New York.

One exhibit, entitled Visions of Rwanda: Images of Survival, Reconciliation, Forgiveness and Hope," documents the 2007 coming together of 12 survivors, including orphans, widows, rape and assault victims, a judge and perpetrators, some of whom were responsible for the killing of family members of other participants.

The other – "Intended Consequences: Photographs and Interviews by Jonathan Torgovnik" –portrays the ordeals of several Rwandan women who bore children conceived by rape during the massacres.

"The resounding voices of survivors touch us in ways that no other words could," Mr. Ban commented in his statement, adding that they also depict a country moving toward reconciliation.

"Yet the silence of the more than 800,000 innocent victims still haunts our collective conscience," he said.
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FRESH ATTACKS BY HUTU REBELS LEAD TO MORE DISPLACEMENT IN DR CONGO – UN

FRESH ATTACKS BY HUTU REBELS LEAD TO MORE DISPLACEMENT IN DR CONGO – UN
New York, Mar 20 2009 10:00AM

The United Nations refugee agency said today that attacks by a Hutu rebel group are continuing to uproot thousands in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), reportedly displacing nearly 30,000 people just over the past two weeks.

Altogether, an estimated 1 million people are displaced in North Kivu province by a series of conflicts involving Government forces and various rebel groups, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

The ethnic Hutu militia known as the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), which has been the target of a joint military operation conducted by DRC and Rwanda since January, has been retaliating against civilians and attacking villages in North Kivu.

"The FDLR fighting has left more than 160,000 civilians displaced since mid-January," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told reporters in Geneva.

Local authorities tell UNHCR that in the province's Lubero territory, fresh attacks on civilians by the FDLR have displaced nearly 30,000 people over the past two weeks. Newly displaced families in the Lubero area report that FDLR raids increased during the first half of March, along with growing human rights violations.

Also, further south in Masisi territory, local authorities said the FDLR mounted attacks that killed at least three civilians on 15 March and caused a number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to flee. The rebel group has reportedly threatened to continue its attacks in the area.

"Most of the displaced from the continuing FDLR attacks are spending their nights in the bush for fear of attacks and harassment," said Mr. Redmond.

He added that UNHCR is reinforcing its activities in Masisi and trying to establish presence in Lubero for the swift delivery of humanitarian assistance and protection.

Meanwhile, the agency is concerned that continuing violence against aid workers will hinder assistance to the displaced. In the latest incident, armed men attacked and looted a vehicle belonging to an international non-governmental organization (NGO) in Rutshuru on 18 March. No fatalities were reported.

During a visit to North Kivu yesterday, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Special Representative for DRC, Alan Doss, pledged that the UN peacekeeping mission there – known as MONUC – will reinforce its presence in localities and continue to logistically support the Government army in its operations against the FDLR.
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RELATIONS BETWEEN RWANDA AND DR CONGO FOCUS OF BAN'S TALKS IN KIGALI

RELATIONS BETWEEN RWANDA AND DR CONGO FOCUS OF BAN'S TALKS IN KIGALI
New York, Mar 1 2009 3:00PM

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and President Paul Kagame discussed the situation in the border region between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today during their meeting in Kigali, the current stop on the United Nations chief's five-nation Africa trip.

"I expressed to President Kagame my satisfaction at the steps he has taken to open a new chapter in Rwanda-DRC relations," Mr. Ban told reporters after his meeting, adding that he is "heartened" by the President's intention to establish full diplomatic relations with DRC.

In a move supported by the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (MONUC), DRC and Rwanda launched a joint military offensive in January against the ethnic Hutu militia known as the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), which has caused havoc in the eastern part of DRC for years.

Mr. Ban noted that t
he joint operation appears to have made progress. At the same time, he urged President Kagame "to ensure that these operations do not affect negatively the civilian population and humanitarian access to those in need."

Just a couple of weeks ago, MONUC reported that the FDLR is conducting a campaign of terror, systematically raping, murdering, looting and abducting civilians in an attempt to undermine the joint operation.

Since then the mission has boosted its efforts to protect and reassure threatened populations, mostly in North Kivu province where some 250,000 civilians have been uprooted by fighting between Hutu groups, a mainly Tutsi militia known as the CNDP, the Congolese armed forces (FARDC) and others since August.

Mr. Ban had a chance to hear some of the concerns of the civilians uprooted by the fighting, when he met earlier in the day with a group of people living in the Kibati camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) near Goma, the provincial capital of North Kivu.

"Their first concern is security," Mr. Ban noted during his visit to the camp. "Even though they want to return, they fear that when they do, they may be attacked by the FDLR. This must stop, and the United Nations, led by MONUC and the FARDC will provide the necessary security and safety to those returning to their homes."

Another concern is humanitarian assistance, and in this regard, the Secretary-General appealed for support from all quarters to enable the UN and others to provide the vital relief that the IDPs need.

He also expressed his gratitude to the many aid agencies and their partners who are assisting those at the camp, which at the peak of the crisis sheltered more than 80,000 IDPs. It currently has some 20,000 residents.

Mr. Ban noted that his visit to the camp, as well as yesterday's meeting in Goma with victims of sexual violence, has "strengthened my resolve to work even harder for all those many people who
need our support."

In addition to DRC and Rwanda, the Secretary-General also visited South Africa and Tanzania on his current trip, which will take him next to Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for an international conference on Gaza's reconstruction.

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RWANDAN REBEL ATTACKS LEAD TO MORE DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN SAYS

RWANDAN REBEL ATTACKS LEAD TO MORE DISPLACEMENT IN EASTERN DR CONGO, UN SAYS
New York, Feb 24 2009 10:00AM

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said today it continues to be extremely worried about rising violence against civilians in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, where attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels have sparked new displacement.

UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told a news conference in Geneva that thousands have been uprooted since 13 February, when the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) began carrying out attacks in Masisi, Lubero and Walikale areas in North Kivu, in the strife-torn eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

"Using firearms and bush knives, the FDLR has attacked Kipopo, Remeka and Kamuobe near Masisi and Kanyatsi and Busigho near Lubero, killing civilians and raping women," Mr. Redmond reported.

"Local authorities have informed us that some 3,000 people have been internally displaced in Remeka village, some 20 kilometres south of Masisi, following a recent FDLR attack. Some of these internally displaced people are staying in churches and schools and others have taken shelter at several UNHCR-assisted sites around the town of Masisi."

He added that a joint UN team is heading out today to Kitanga, on the outskirts of Masisi, to monitor and assess the needs of the newly displaced.

In addition, there are also growing fears of reprisal attacks by the FDLR – composed mainly of Rwandan Hutus who arrived in the DRC in the wake of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda – against civilians suspected of collaborating with the joint DRC-Rwanda military operation against the rebel group that began in late January.

The UN peacekeeping mission in DRC (MONUC) last week condemned the "cowardly terror tactics" employed by the FDLR. The mission has boosted its efforts to protect and reassure threatened populations, mostly in North Kivu province where some 250,000 civilians have been uprooted by fighting between Hutu groups, a mainly Tutsi militia known as the CNDP, the Government army and others since August.
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DR CONGO: UN ENVOY TELLS RWANDAN HUTU MILITIA TO LEAVE CONGOLESE SOIL

DR CONGO: UN ENVOY TELLS RWANDAN HUTU MILITIA TO LEAVE CONGOLESE SOIL
New York, Feb 22 2009 11:00AM
The top United Nations official in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has again urged combatants fighting with a Rwandan militia group in the volatile North Kivu province of the DRC to put down their arms and return home.

The Special Representative for the Secretary-General, Alan Doss, insisted that the ethnic Hutu militia, the Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Rwanda (FDLR), join the voluntary disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, reintegration and rehabilitation (DDRRR) programme managed by the UN mission in the DRC, known by its French acronym MONUC.

"The FDLR have to understand that there's no room for them on Congolese soil," Mr. Doss said after a two-day visit to North Kivu, which ended yesterday, to assess the situation on the ground.

"Many thousands of civilian refugees have also taken the path of return with [UN High Commissioner for Refugees] UNHCR a
ssistance. I urge the fighters who remain in the DRC for they follow their example and take the way back," added Mr. Doss, who also heads the peacekeeping operation, MONUC.

Mr. Doss also visited the areas of fighting in North Kivu to assess the Government's joint military offensive with Rwanda aimed at eradicating the FDLR from the region, in which MONUC provides logistics, transport and medical assistance.

Accompanied by Mohamed Boukkry, the new UNHCR Regional Representative, and General Bipin Rawat, Commander of MONUC's North Kivu Brigade, Mr. Doss visited the town of Pinga, where UN peacekeepers have a base coordinating with the Congolese military to protect the 10,000 residents and some 6,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) uprooted by the violence.

Mr. Doss told the media many FDLR fighters have chosen to join the DDRRR process in recent weeks and urged more to follow the example returning in "peace and dignity [to Rwanda] with their dependents."

Located some 150 kilome
tres north of Goma, the capital of North Kivu, Pinga was in the heart of the one of the main FDLR strongholds and illustrates one of the major security challenges facing MONUC.

FDLR fighters, driven out by coalition forces, have returned a number of times to harass civilians, loot, rape and murder in retaliation for the military operation attempting to drive them out of the area.
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For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news