Chris McGreal
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo has blocked the United Nations latest attempt to investigate massacres of refugees during this years rebellion against Mobutu Sese Seko, throwing into jeopardy the entire mission and crucial foreign aid.
Congo refused to permit investigators to travel to the northern town of Mbandaka this week where hundreds of Rwandan Hutu refugees were slaughtered on the docks of the river port, 500km north of Kinshasa, as Laurent Kabilas rebel army neared victory in May.
The government has maintained objections which exclude our going to Mbandaka, UN spokesman Jose Diaz said after talks with the government. The UNs 23-person investigation team has waited fruitlessly in Kinshasa for a month for permission to travel to an estimated 100 massacre sites, mainly in eastern Congo, reinforcing charges that the government is buying time to destroy the evidence.
UN officials say that unless permission is granted swiftly for the investigators to begin work the whole mission is likely to pull out. Its in peril, Diaz said.
The final decision lies with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The UN investigation was ordered amid growing evidence of the slaughter of Rwandan Hutu refugees who failed to return to their homeland after the invasion of Zaire by Rwandas overwhelmingly Tutsi army in support of Kabilas rebellion.
The continuing rift over the massacre investigations is likely to cause Washington and the European Union to reconsider aid to the vast, beleaguered nation. The United States says it is keen to resume aid to Congo but it has publicly tied new money to respect for human rights and proper investigation of the alleged massacres.
I dont believe its reached a stage where drastic action is needed, but were close, Washingtons UN ambassador, Bill Richardson, said. Both sides accuse the other of breaking agreements, but most of the roadblocks have been thrown up by Kabilas administration, which has openly challenged the UNs impartiality.
We dont trust them, I can tell you that, said the interior minister, Mwenze Kongolo.
The government insists the UN only investigate alleged massacres in the eastern part of the country and that it include crimes committed by Hutu extremists and others during Mobutus rule.
Kabilas hostility to the UN is a reflection of general bitterness in the region at perceived double standards. While the international community turned its back on the genocide of hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in Rwanda three years ago, it is now focusing on the killings of those the Congolese and Rwandan administrations hold responsible for the slaughter.