16.12.10 Friends of the Congo -Address UN Congo Mapping Report and Enforce Justice for Victims
On December 8, several US-Congolese organizations and numerous individuals sent a letter to Congressman David Wu,
asking Congress to seek justice for the victims of an ongoing holocaust
in the Congo and specifically asking that the long-suppressed UN
“Mapping Report” showing complicity of the current government of Rwanda
seriously examined and addressed. [1]
Recently, the Dutch legislature and thousands of
people in Brussels as well as some officials put Paul Kagame on notice:
that he cannot escape the consequences of his acts. [2]
So far, Paul Kagame, president of
Rwanda, has been successful in his efforts to bury reports of his
atrocities in the Congo without serious examination. The Security Council
agreed not to look further into the Mapping Exercise Report, and a few
days ago, added several individuals and a small militia to its list of
people or organizations to be sanctioned for use of child soldiers.
However implicitly exempted were Uganda and Rwanda from sanctions for
this or for any of the other crimes revealed in the Report and related
abuses reported by others, which continue to this day. [3]
As this month's chair of the Security Council, the US has a moral obligation to take the Mapping Exercise Report off the table and deal with its contents seriously. The
US also has a moral obligation to implement the Democratic Republic of
the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006,
sponsored by then-Senator Barack Obama. [4]
The UN Mapping Exercise Report,
released only after it had been leaked, makes it clear that the
governments of Uganda and Rwanda are implicated in massive atrocities in
the Congo continuing long after they invaded the Congo. Yet, Uganda has
not been forced to pay the court-mandated financial penalty, and both
invaders are given license to continue their incursions on the pretext
of hunting down smaller offenders, such as the LRA, FDLR, and various
"mai mai". [5] [6]
The president of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, reacted to the report with threats and with diversions. He threatened to withdraw “peacekeeping” forces from Sudan if the UN report was not disavowed or modified.
The unsuitability of Rwanda as an instrument of
peace and stability in the Great Lakes region of Africa is augmented by
its president's efforts to divert attention from the Mapping Exercise
Report by imprisoning political opponents absurdly charged with
conspiring to renew genocide in Rwanda. Within days of the October
“Mapping Report” release, he re-arrested Victoire Ingabire,
who had been arrested for “genocide denial” last spring to prevent her
standing as a 2010 presidential candidate challenging his re-election;
now, to divert attention from his documented culpability, he jailed her
in life-threatening conditions and introduced the more serious charge of
conspiring to overthrow his government by force and perpetuate
genocide, naming a bizarre set of co-conspirators. [7]
American lawyer Peter Erlinder went to Rwanda last
spring to defend Victoire Ingabire, after her first arrest, and he too
was arrested and imprisoned under life-threatening conditions that
provoked an outcry from US citizens and legislatures, resulting in an
official US request for his release on humanitarian grounds. He is home
and safe, but Rwanda demands his return for trial or “dead or alive.”
[8]
Bizarrely, Paul Rusesabagina,
the hero of "Hotel Rwanda" (who rescued so many Tutsis who might
otherwise have been killed in 1994) has been called a "genocider"
conspiring with Victoire to attack Rwanda, overthrow the government and
kill Tutsis; he would be in a Rwandan jail if he had not already in
sought safety in exile. [9 ] [10]
Some call Victoire Ingabire the Aung San Suu Kyi of Africa or the
female Mandela, but she is not just a symbol of resistance to oppression
by a dictator; she is a real person, a wife and mother whose husband
and children plead for people to intervene and free her from a squalid
and dangerous prison in which she has been held (without trial) for two
months. [11]
We join in their plea, seeking justice for
courageous individuals wrongly imprisoned as well as for the millions
who have died and the millions who continue to suffer in the Congo, and
endorse the letter sent to congress on December 8 providing
details, additional documentation, and precise steps the US and UN need
to take to bring justice, healing, stability, and a better future for a
long-abused people.
REFERENCES:
[1] “Seeking Justice for the Victims: The UN mapping report of October 1, 2010 on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Letter
sent to Congressman David Wu on December 8, 2010 by Africa Faith and
Justice Network, Friends of the Congo, Neema Corporation, Chicago Congo
Coalition, and others.
[2 ] “…'The
president of Rwanda is a criminal', says Paul Rusesabagina. The famous
manager of Hôtel des Mille Collines is one of the demonstrators who are
gathered on Albertina square in Brussels… President Kagame didn’t hold
his announced speech during the European congress. He left early to
Rwanda for more pressing issues. His minister of Foreign Affairs
replaces him and thanks Europe for all the support…Ms Mushikwabo says:
'We respect the decision of the Netherlands to stop direct aid for
Rwanda. But our relationship with the European Union remains very
friendly'…”
http://www.rnw.nl/africa/
[3] Agreed 1
December 2010: "…three FDLR leaders and one individual responsible for
targeting children in situations of armed conflict, to be added to the
list of individuals and entities subject to a worldwide travel ban and
asset freeze…" http://ukun.fco.gov.uk/en/
[4] Despite the
conclusion of a peace agreement and subsequent withdrawal of foreign
forces in 2003, both the real and perceived presence of armed groups
hostile to the Governments of Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi continue to
serve as a major source of regional instability and an apparent pretext
for continued interference in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by
its neighbors."
Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006 (sponsored by Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL]) http://www.govtrack.us/
[5] INTERNATIONAL
COURT OF JUSTICE REPORTS OF JUDGMENTS,ADVISORY OPINIONS AND ORDERS CASE
CONCERNING ARMED ACTIVITIES ON THE TERRITORY OF THE CONGO (DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO v. UGANDA)
JUDGMENT OF 19 DECEMBER 2005
EXCERPT:
"… the Republic of Uganda, by the conduct of its armed forces, which
committed acts of killing, torture and other forms of inhumane treatment
of the Congolese civilian population, destroyed villages and civilian
buildings, failed to distinguish between civilian and military targets
and to protect the civilian population in fighting with other
combatants, trained child soldiers, incited ethnic conflict and failed
to take measures to put an end to such conflict; as well as by its
failure, as an occupying Power, to take measures to respect and ensure
respect for human rights and international humanitarian law in Ituri
district, violated its obligations under international human rights law
and international humanitarian law…"
http://www.icj-cij.org/docket/
[6] Oil, African Genocide and the USA's LRA Excuse Dec 6, 2010 … President
Obama seemed either unaware or unconcerned about the UN Mapping Report,
released on October 1st, which documents Ugandan President …
www.blackstarnews.com/news/
[7] Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire arrested. “…Rwandan
government security operatives surrounding her home in Rwanda’s
capital, Kigali, had been replaced by police with firearms, and that six
of them were visible from inside. Others reported that there were
Rwandan troops in her neighborhood and that shops had been ordered to
close. ..”
http://sfbayview.com/2010/
Ingabire trial: Rwanda prosecution fails ‘evidence test’
http://rwandinfo.com/eng/tag/
[8] Kagame wants US
law professor brought to Rwanda, 'dead or alive' “According to
high-level Rwandan officials at a meeting in Kigali in mid-October,
President Kagame ordered that IHLI Director and WMCL law professor Peter
Erlinder be brought back to Rwanda “dead or alive.”
http://www.digitaljournal.com/
fundraising for the FDLR rebels, says the Prosecutor General…"
Kagame's Rwanda accuses real-life Hotel Rwanda hero of terrorism
http://www.digitaljournal.com/
[10 ] Kagame regime
demands Professor Peter Erlinder return to Kigali to stand trial. "The
Kagame regime continues on the offensive in the wake of the “U.N.
Mapping Report on Human Rights Abuse in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, 1993-2003,” released on Oct. 1, which documents the Rwandan
army’s war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocidal massacres of
civilian Rwandan Hutu refugees and Congolese Hutus in Congo…"
KPFA News: Kagame wants Peter Erlinder back in Rwanda 'dead or alive'
http://anngarrison.blogspot.
[11 ] Meet the
daughter of Victoire Ingabire "…Even though it is difficult for me, I
would let her leave again, because my mother does what she thinks is
just. To prevent her from being involved in politics and fighting for a
more just Rwanda would be to destroy a part of my mother…"
http://sfbayview.com/2010/
KPFA Radio interview with Victoire Ingabire's daughter Raissa, December 12, http://anngarrison.