The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has killed ”at least 500” suspected political opponents in the last two years, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report published on Tuesday.
The New York-based rights campaigners accused President Joseph Kabila’s government of ”brutal repression”, saying ”about 1 000 more” have been detained since July 2006 elections aimed at bringing democracy to the vast Central African nation.
The NGO said many of those held reported having been tortured.
The report stated that government security forces deliberately killed or summarily executed an estimated 500 individuals mainly in north-west and southern DRC — away from the current conflict with rebels centred on eastern Nord-Kivu province — and that unlawful force was used to intimidate and eliminate political opponents.
HRW found that Kabila himself set the tone and direction by giving orders to ”crush” or ”neutralise” the so-called ”enemies of democracy” during the elections.
The rebellion in eastern DRC stems from an unresolved conflict from the country’s 1998 to 2003 civil war that ended with a transitional government and the elections two years ago — but HRW says the ongoing strife there must not be allowed to detract from abuses elsewhere.
”While everyone focuses on the violence in eastern DRC, government abuses against political opponents attract little attention,” Anneke van Woudenberg, senior researcher in HRW’s Africa division, said in a statement.
”Efforts to build a democratic Congo are being stifled not just by rebellion but also by the Kabila government’s repression.”
Through 250 interviews with victims, witnesses and officials, HRW documented how Kabila subordinates, using state security forces, cracked down on perceived political opponents, especially suspected supporters of defeated presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba, and members of a political-religious group Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) in Bas Congo that favours greater provincial autonomy.
State agents tried to cover up the killings of opponents by burying the bodies in mass graves or dumping them in the Congo River, and then blocking investigations by UN human rights staff, the 96-page HRW report said.
Those who ended up as detainees told HRW of beatings, mock executions and the use of electric batons on their genitals and other body parts. Many claimed they were forced to sign confessions saying they were involved in coup plots against Kabila.
”As they beat me with sticks and whips, the soldiers repeatedly shouted, ‘We will crush you! We will crush you!’ Then they threatened to kill me and others who opposed Kabila,” a political party activist detained in March 2007 told HRW.
At least 200 people are still being held in politically related cases, HRW estimated.
The HRW report also noted that armed groups linked to Bemba and the BDK have been blamed for killing state agents and civilians, but added that the police and army response, while appropriate, was often conducted with excessive force.
The HRW report also criticised foreign governments seeking to win favour with the Kabila government for keeping silent about increasingly repressive rule.
”We all saw this coming, but again we did not do enough to avert the crisis,” a European military adviser with close ties to the DRC army told HRW about March 2007 violence in Kinshasa that left hundreds dead.
The international rights group has called on the Kabila government to set up a high-level task force from the Justice Ministry to investigate the abuse claims. — Sapa-AFP