The wheels of justice turn slowly in the battered Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province of Ituri, rich in gold and diamonds but poor in the milk of human kindness in recent years.
Ituri is a northeastern region of the DRC, shattered by inter-ethnic violence between rival tribal-based militia groups.
The DRC, a vast Central African country, is tentatively emerging from five years of war that sucked in six other states and became known as ”Africa’s world war”. About 2,5-million people died, either directly in combat or through disease and hunger as a result of the upheaval.
Several thousand United Nations troops were deployed in Ituri even after peace pacts were signed, because violence continued to rage mainly between two rival tribes, the Hemas and the Lendus.
Now there are signs that pacification may be on the way after massacres that have claimed 5 000 lives in the past two years.
But local authorities, starved of resources, are having a hard time tracking down those behind the atrocities.
Ituri, with an estimated six million people, has only one prosecutor, three deputy prosecutors, a court president and four judges, according to Bunia prosecutor Chris Aberi.
A mere 30 members of the warring militias and common criminals had been rounded up by April, mainly by the UN forces.
The main provincial town Bunia currently does not even boast a jail to hold them, so the UN has to do the job.
”The jail is currently being upgraded, it’s expected to be ready by the end of April,” said a UN source.
The wheels of justice turn slowly. But they do turn.
The 30 detained include five considered pretty big fish, one of whom is now on trial.
Ngundjolo Tchui, head of the political wing of the Lendu tribe, was arrested for the kidnapping and murder of an activist belonging to the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), the rival Hema faction.
Tchui is also under suspicion of having ordered the massacre of several hundred Hemas.
”Witnesses and an officer with his own militia are testifying against him,” said prosecutor Chris Aberi. ”The facts seem undeniable and he risks the death penalty.”
Another major defendant, Rafiki Saba Aimable, security chief of the UPC, is expected to stand trial for alleged arbitrary arrest and torture.
In his case most victims, fearing reprisals, have refused to testify against him or sign any statements.
One exception is the head of Bunia airport, held twice arbitrarily and tortured, who has submitted testimony, as have relatives who saw him in prison.
Aberi has received threats and fears reprisals, and has been talking to the DRC capital, Kinshasa, about holding trials elsewhere in the DRC.
The prosecutor is also concerned that local police could include former members of rebel groups and sometimes allow prisoners to escape.
He said it was difficult to imagine all offenders will be brought to justice, while elsewhere in the DRC former rebel chiefs with blood on their hands are getting jobs in the government.
Ituri seems to have been somewhat overlooked in the current transition process agreed under the peace pacts, leading to elections in June of next year.
Emmanuel Leku Apuobo, interim administration coordinator in Ituri, said: ”Not a single policeman or serviceman has been sent by Kinshasa. How are we supposed to restore order?”
He said all that had happened so far was that a couple of delegations had arrived from Kinshasa and funds had been provided to pay local teachers.
”The only security here is the Monuc [UN mission in the DRC] force,” he said.
But UN sources point out that the Monuc is not the local administrator or proconsul, and that it is up to the DRC interim government to look after the territory.
”When I go to Kinshasa and speak to the interior minister, he tells me Ituri is in Monuc hands,” said Leku. ”But Monuc is not there to administer the region.”
A military observer pointed out that the reason central government in Kinshasa has inhibitions about running Ituri is because the Kinshasa government itself includes figures previously involved in the Ituri conflict.
Leku says the massacres carried out by the Hemas and the Lendus against each other are over, but bitterness continues: ”Our demands have not been heeded. Ituri is on the defensive. There are still weapons and there is no confidence in disarmament.”
He said a people’s army has been set up and there is a danger of a coalition against Kinshasa formed of local armed groups. The eastern DRC has ”always been the starting point for all the rebellions in the country”, he recalled.
On the eve of the first anniversary this month of a pact aimed at bringing stability to DRC, international backers said they were disappointed by the lack of concrete progress.
The international group monitoring the transition said there was still much to be done if the objective of general elections planned for June 2005 was to be reached.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was concerned by the slowing down of progress, the growing influence of factions within the transitional government, and by reports of the re-establishment of armed groups in the east of the country. — Sapa-AFP