Six months after a peace accord, human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) eastern province of Nord-Kivu have not improved and in some cases deteriorated, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Monday.
”While the parties to the peace agreement attend talks in Goma, their troops continue to kill, rape and loot civilians,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, HRW senior Africa researcher, in a statement.
The rights group said it had documented the killings of about 200 civilians and the rape of hundreds of women and girls since Congolese armed groups in the provinces of Nord- and Sud-Kivu signed a January ceasefire committing to disarm their troops and dissolve their forces.
However, all armed groups in DRC, including army soldiers, have continued to rape and kill civilians, according to HRW.
Since August 2007, Nord-Kivu has seen clashes between the army and insurgents allied to renegade Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda, who claims to be protecting Congolese ethnic Tutsis.
Following the Goma accord, the Congolese government launched a peace programme — called the Amani programme — which HRW suggested has failed to make real progress due in part to a lack of funding.
”… the government and international donors have provided limited funds to carry out that work” and ”the agreement failed to halt the fighting”, it said.
The international rights group also noted a lack of clear leadership in the peace process.
International partners and the Congolese government agreed in June to appoint a special human rights adviser for the eastern DRC, said HRW, but the position remained unfilled.
”The peace process is meaningless if it fails to protect civilians from the worst abuses,” said Van Woudenberg.
”The parties to the peace agreement should abide by their commitments to protect civilians, and diplomats should urgently appoint a special adviser on human rights to ensure the commitments become a reality.” — AFP
