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DRC: HRW World Report; Peace, Impunity in N. Kivu; 'Court of Last Resort' Film

06 Feb 2008

Dear Colleagues,

Find below information on recent developments related to the
International Criminal Court's investigation in the Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).

This digest includes excerpts from Human Rights Watch's World Report
covering 2007 events including the continued violence, impunity,
accountability and prospects for the ICC in DRC as well as other
situation countries, an IJT blurb on the same, an IWPR article by
Eugène Bakama Bope on peace in North Kivu, and information from
Skylight Pictures' latest documentary film project on the ICC, The
Court of Last Resort.

Please take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the
ICC (below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a
position on potential and current situations before the Court or
situations under analysis. The Coalition, however, will continue to
provide the most up-to-date information about the ICC.

With regards,

Shelly Sayagh
CICC Communications

I. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WORLD REPORT 2008

In this report, released on 31 January, 2008, Human Rights Watch
examines the human rights situation in 76 countries (including the
European Union and the United States), of which 19 are in Africa. It
provides background information on each country and conflict (where
relevant), and a more concentrated synopsis on relevant factors
contributing to human rights abuses on a country-specific basis as
well as the role of international actors. It raised concerns of
persistent human rights abuses in four counties where the ICC has
issued arrest warrants. The report is very critical of most
international actors operating in the DRC.

i. "HRW World Report 2008: Events of 2007,"Human Rights Watch, 31
January 2008, http://hrw.org/wr2k8/pdfs/wr2k8_web.pdf

"Despite widespread optimism following the 2006 elections, violence
against civilians, political repression, and impunity has continued
during Joseph Kabila's first year as the newly elected president of
the Democratic Republic of Congo. ...All sides in the conflict commit
atrocities against civilians, especially women, and a further 350,000
people joined the hundreds of thousands already displaced.

…Law enforcement officials arbitrarily detained over 300 people linked
to the opposition....

Few military or civilian authorities were held accountable for past
crimes. Warlords and militia leaders continue to be awarded top army
positions instead of facing justice for their abuses.

The people of the eastern Congo, buffeted by years of war, endured
more armed conflict and human rights abuses, including murders, rape,
and the recruitment and use of child soldiers, despite political
agreements meant to resolve conflicts in the eastern province of North
Kivu.

…The shifting configurations of the conflict have variously seen all
forces fighting each other. The Congolese government, backed by the
international community, tried various measures to end the fighting,
but failed to address its underlying causes. Although crimes by all
parties constituted violations of international humanitarian law,
virtually none has been investigated, let alone prosecuted.

…Persons suspected of grave violations of international humanitarian
law continued to enjoy near total impunity. Only a handful were
arrested and prosecuted while dozens of others were promoted to senior
positions in the army or the government…

…The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague provided some
hope that perpetrators of human rights abuses in Congo would be held
to account…."

ii. "Justice Still Missing in Congo, Sudan and Uganda," Justice Memo
by International Justice Tribune, 4 February 2008,
http://www.justicetribune.com/index.php?page=v2_article&id=4033

"In the Democratic Republic of Congo, `persons suspected of grave
violations of international humanitarian law continued to enjoy near
total impunity'. The report points out one exception, the case of
warlord Kahwa Mandro: although he was brought before the court in
Bunia (Ituri district) for war crimes and crimes against humanity, `he
was acquitted after an appeals process marred by irregularities.' In
general, only a handful of those responsible are being prosecuted,
`while dozen of others were promoted to senior positions in the army
or the government.' Hope still lies with the ICC, which is set to open
its first two trials against former Congolese militia leaders Thomas
Lubanga and Germain Katanga…."

II. CLOSING THE IMPUNITY GAP IN NORTH KIVU

"North Kivu's Fragile Peace by Eugène Bakama Bope (IWPR) 4 February
2008, http://www.iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=342445&apc_state=henh

"The recently ended peace conference to stop the killing in Congo's
North Kivu province finished on a high note with promises on all sides
that combatants would lay down their weapons. Within days, however,
there was renewed fighting between soldiers loyal to the renegade
Congolese Tutsi general Laurent Nkunda and the rival Pareco militia
group. Though both sides insisted they were still committed to peace,
the renewed hostilities underlined the fragile nature of the deal
reached in the provincial capital Goma. It also raised questions as to
whether such an agreement can truly end the violence and insecurity in
North Kivu.

…[T]here have been several similar agreements before, one in Arusha
and another in Nairobi, for example. …This history of failed
agreements shows that signing documents isn't enough. The will to
achieve lasting peace is vital....

…Under the most recent deal, a commission will be set up to manage the
implementation of the Goma accord. That has now been formed. It is
chaired by the government and includes representatives from the
international community and the United Nations Mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC.

One of the commission's trickiest tasks, however, will be to oversee
the demobilization of the rebel soldiers or their integration into the
Congolese army. …Much remains to be done before a proper army is set
up in the DRC.

…Though the fate of Nkunda was not on the agenda at Goma, it has been
a topic of much speculation in Congo. The peace deal outlined an
amnesty for the region's warlords, though not for those suspected of
war crimes and crimes against humanity. DRC president Joseph Kabila
insists that amnesty is not a synonym for impunity….

Some agree that he should get his wish in the name of national
reconciliation and to avoid further war in the province. Others insist
the Nkunda should face the full rigors of the law. Nkunda is the
subject of an international arrest warrant issued by the Congolese
government for crimes allegedly committed by his troops in the South
Kivu town of Bukavu in 2004.

If he were granted an amnesty all prosecutions against him on a
national level would be dropped. But that doesn't protect him from
prosecution by the International Criminal Court, ICC. It is unknown if
the court's prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, is investigating war
crimes in North Kivu, though the court has in the past expressed
concern at the reports of mass graves, rapes and massacres in
territories under Nkunda's control.

…It is a mistake to make peace with criminals just as it is a mistake
to forget the crimes that were committed in the east of the DRC.

Impunity has always been a threat to peace. It should be the
responsibility of the Congolese judicial system to investigate and
prosecute Nkunda. Failing that, the ICC should to lead such
investigations and do its utmost to put Nkunda on trial. Now the peace
deal is signed, we Congolese must also think about national
reconciliation…."

III. `COURT OF LAST RESORT' FILMING IN DRC
"The Court of Last Resort," blog and information on a documentary film
project by Skylight Pictures, posted on 31 December 2007,
http://skylightpictures.com/film/site/updates/the_justice_factor/

"We've been in production since September on The Court of Last Resort
(working title), our film about the International Criminal Court (ICC)
in The Hague.

…So far we've filmed many interviews and activities at ICC
headquarters in The Hague, and at the Assembly of States Parties in
November, setting the stage for the global purview of the ICC and the
challenges it faces in its early years.

…We walked with Hema tribal spokesman Professor Pilo Kamaragi through
the killing fields of Bogoro in the Ituri region of eastern Congo,
site of the massacre allegedly perpetrated by local warlord Germain
`Simba' Katanga – human skeletons were strewn throughout the tall
elephant grass. Katanga was charged by the International Criminal
Court with three counts of crimes against humanity and six counts of
war crimes for his involvement in killings, pillaging, using child
soldiers and sexual enslavement during an attack on the town of
Bogoro. From a documentary filmmaking point of view, we... had the
serendipity of being in Ituri in October when Katanga, who led the
FRPI militia, was taken into custody by the International Criminal
Court (ICC) to The Hague, to the same prison where his arch-enemy
Thomas Lubanga, leader of the Hema UPC militia, has been since last
year facing charges of conscripting child soldiers, a war crime under
the Rome Statute....

…Until the ICC took Katanga, Lubanga's Hema people complained that the
ICC was being unjust in singling out their leader, but it turns out
that he was just the first of several warlords the ICC has in its
sights. Now that Katanga is in custody as well, leaders of both groups
are claiming that it's their Ituri region that's been targeted, so the
conversation has shifted to a national perspective on justice. But
they seem resigned to let justice take its course with Lubanga and
Katanga, and are actually calling for the ICC to arrest `bigger fish'
in Congo's capital Kinshasa, and to intervene in the Lake Kivu region
where so much unspeakable violence is raging.

…It will take time to bring Ituri back to the prosperous agricultural
and mining region it once was, and ending the culture of impunity is
an essential element in the process – the ICC arrests have made clear
that perpetrators will be brought to account, which is the major step
towards lasting peace.

…After Katanga was taken to The Hague, the last three remaining
warlords in the Ituri region turned themselves in to accept a DDR
[disarmament, demobilization and reintegration, overseen by MONUC, the
UN's mission in the Congo] offer, apparently no longer seeing any
future as rebels and wanting to avoid the ICC.

…Major Innocent, a military judge..., keeps a copy of the ICC Rome
Statute on his desk to guide him as he judges Congolese military
officers and soldiers for human rights abuses. …Major Innocent told us
that he thinks it's important to set an example by imposing harsh
sentences for human rights violations....

…Bunia has no newspapers, and electricity is so sporadic that TV is
not a strong medium, but radios run on batteries and are ubiquitous,
so radio is far and away the dominant source of information in the
region. People call in all day long on their cell phones, and we
filmed a fascinating program they hosted with ICC Prosecutor Luis
Moreno Ocampo phoning in from The Hague to take questions about the
Katanga arrest from local callers.

…A remarkable effect of the ICC interventions are the fierce debates
it has generated about the role of justice in the transition to
sustainable peace. …We'll have to wait to see how things develop, but
that this discussion is even happening constitutes a positive outcome
of the ICC intervention."


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