OWN CORRESPONDENT, Johannesburg | Friday 4.00PM.
ZIMBABWEAN and Angolan troops are accused of killing dozens of unarmed civilians in the Democratic republic of Congo with “indiscriminate shelling of Kinshasa suburbs” in an Amnesty International open letter to Presidents Robert Mugabe and Nelson Mandela.
Pierre San, the secretary general of Amnesty International, has written an open letter to this weekend’s Mauritius summit of the Southern African Development Community, accusing Zimbabwean and Angolan troops of taking part in random attacks on civilians by DRC soldiers.
The report also accuses both sides in the conflict of “recruiting children as young as 11 years old to take part in combat activities”.
The letter calls on the SADC presidents to take urgent action to prevent further human rights violations. It lists suburbs in the cities of Kinshasa, Kisangani and Kalemie where “dozens of unarmed civilians suspected of being rebels have reportedly been deliberately and arbitrarily killed” by government forces and their allies.
The rebels and their Rwandan supporters are accused of murdering more than 280 unarmed civilians near Kasika, and more than 300 unarmed men in Kazimia, both towns in South Kivu province. The massacres were carried out as “reprisals” after the rebels sustained heavy losses.
Amnesty International says it is concerned that SADC member states have ignored agreed SADC human rights protocols and calls for a halt to the shipping of military equipment which might contribute to further human rights violations.