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U.N. report details hundreds of Congo atrocities

01 October 2010 21:11 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - The United Nations released a controversial report Friday documenting hundreds of atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo and suggesting ways to end the climate of near-total impunity for the violence, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
The report is an attempt to cover rights abuses in the former Zaire between 1993 and 2003, in which tens of thousands of people were killed and many others raped, mutilated or otherwise victimized.
The period of the report was marked by a string of political crises, wars and conflicts in the region that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people.
"No report can adequately describe the horrors experienced by the civilian population... where almost every single individual has an experience to narrate of suffering and loss," U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said in a foreword.
The report notes that at least 21 armed Congolese groups were involved in serious human rights violations, while the military forces of at least 8 other states operated inside the country.
Rape was used by all combatant forces systematically as a weapon against civilians, at least 30,000 children were recruited or used by armed forces and government security forces were among those committing the abuses, the report says.
It lists violations of rights linked to the exploitation by domestic and foreign operators of Congoâ€™s natural resources, which include copper, cobalt, gold, tin and the mineral ore coltan used for mobile phones.
QUESTION OF GENOCIDE
The release of the report was delayed by a month to allow neighboring countries involved in fighting in the Congo, whose troops are alleged to have taken part in atrocities, to comment.
Rwanda had threatened to pull its peacekeepers out of African hotspots after a leak suggested the report had found its forces committed genocide in the Congo.
Rwanda withdrew the threat after the intervention of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, but said Thursday the report was flawed and its publication could threaten regional stability.
Only a court can determine whether the violence against Hutus amounted to the crime of genocide, the report said.
Uganda and Burundi have also protested.
The period covered by the report saw the fall of dictator Mobutu Sese Seko and a five-year conflict involving several foreign armies, including Rwandaâ€™s Tutsi-led force.
After quashing the 1994 genocide of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda, Kigaliâ€™s army invaded Congo, where some 1.2 million Hutus had sought refuge, ostensibly to hunt down Hutu fighters who had taken part in the killings and fled to eastern Congo.
In the process Rwandan forces swept the Congolese AFDL rebels of Laurent Kabila to power in Congo.
The catalog of atrocities -- virtually all unpunished -- is topical as U.N. officials have reported cases of hundreds of rapes in recent months by rebel groups that U.N. peacekeepers were unable to prevent, underlining the impunity with which perpetrators of violence operate in the Congo.
The report lists some perpetrators but does not seek to lay blame for the atrocities.
The Congo needs to reform its justice and security system as part of an effort to bring the perpetrators to justice, as its current limited ability and willingness to seek justice for millions of victims is encouraging further violations.
"If this situation is allowed to continue, there is a risk that a new generation will be created that has known nothing but violence... thus compromising the countryâ€™s chances of achieving lasting peace," it said.