Africa

Withdrawal of U.N. Soldiers May Escalate Prevalent Rape Problem

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DRC – Congolese laws against sexual violence are not being implemented and a withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers from the country would make the struggle against rape “a lot more difficult,” the U.N. said.

Margot Wallstrom, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, is visiting Congo, where thousands of women are raped every year, as the U.N. tries to persuade the government not to demand a hasty withdrawal of the U.N. force. Democratic Republic of Congo has advanced legislation in place to outlaw sexual violence but Wallstrom said the country’s capacity to implement it was “near zero.”

Acts of civilian sexual violence have become increasingly pervasive in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to a recent study released on April 15 by the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and Oxfam America, an international relief and development organization.

The study’s analysis of violence trends over time revealed that although the total number of sexual assaults reported steadily decreased between 2004 and 2008, the number of civilian rapes increased seventeen-fold.

Aid agencies and rights groups accustomed to the violence and suffering during and since Congo’s 1998-2003 war, which left millions dead, have been shocked by reports of the scale and brutality of the rapes by rebel and government forces alike.

“These findings imply a normalization of rape among the civilian population, suggesting the erosion of all constructive social mechanism that ought to protect civilians from sexual violence,” according to the study. The study also demonstrates how sexual violence can be used as a tool to ignite terror.

Accurate figures for sexual violence are hard to come by as many rapes are unreported but the U.N. said at least 5,400 women had reported being raped in neighboring South Kivu in the first nine months of 2009 alone.

“Some of the results were shocking, mostly that the women are really attacked everywhere and that everyone is at risk” said Susan A. Bartels, a researcher at Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, emergency room physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and primary author of the report. “I was shocked by the number of women who were attacked in their own home, specifically at night when they were sleeping with their families.”

Government forces as well as a plethora of rebel forces are accused of the abuse. Last year, the U.N. Security Council gave the government a list of officers known to have raped women and girls.

With celebrations of the 50th anniversary of independence this year and elections next, Congo would like for the peacekeeping mission, known as MONUC, to start withdrawing within months and wants the last blue helmet out in 2011.

Wallstrom claims however that the peacekeepers, who are often criticized for not doing enough, were making a difference. “Women used to be scared to go to the market … Now a lot of people go, and peacekeepers go with them. It has brought economic development to the region,” she said, referring to North Kivu province. The withdrawal of peacekeepers in this region, no matter how controversial, may lead to dangerous results.

For more information, please see:

The Harvard Crimson – Sexual Violence on the Rise in Congo – 19 April 2010

Reuters – U.N. Fears Congo Pullout Will Hurt Fight Against Rape – 19 April 2010

Eurasia Review – New Report Shows Shocking Pattern Of Rape In Eastern Congo – Sunday, April 18, 2010

Egypt Seeks To Pressure Israel Over Nuclear Arms

By Ahmad Shihadah
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – Israel may come under new pressure next month at a UN meeting on atomic weapons as the United States, Britain and France consider backing Egypt’s call for a zone in the Middle East free of nuclear arms, envoys said.

The 189 signatories to the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) will meet at United Nations headquarters in New York for a May 3-28 conference on the troubled pact whose credibility, analysts say, has been harmed by the atomic programs of Iran and North Korea and the failure of the big nuclear powers to disarm.

Egypt is to open an international front to push Israel into signing the Non-Proliferation Treaty as pressure mounts on Tel Aviv to account for its atomic plans.

Cairo advocates holding a regional conference on an “internationally and effectively verifiable treaty for the establishment of a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East,” a draft paper addressed to the NPT said Tuesday. It added that Egypt will invite all Mideast states to the planned meeting.

Israel, like India and Pakistan, never signed the treaty and is not officially attending the conference. The Jewish state is presumed to have a sizable nuclear arsenal, although it has never confirmed or denied having atomic weapons.

Diplomats said backing from the five permanent Security Council members — the NPT’s five official nuclear powers — would help ensure broad support for Egypt’s plan next month.

One Western envoy said Egypt’s insistence on a conference with a negotiating mandate was the main “sticking point,” while another expressed the hope that Egypt would compromise during intensive negotiations on the issue in the coming weeks.

Israel’s U.N. mission had no official comment on the Egyptian proposal. But an Israeli diplomat told Reuters the Jewish state would be ready to discuss issues like establishing a nuclear-weapon-free zone once there is peace in the Middle East.

For More Information, Please;

The Daily Star – Egypt Seeks UN Pressure On Israel Over Nuclear Arms – 21 April 2010

The Washington Post – Egypt Seeks U.N. Pressure On Israel Over Nuclear Arms – 21 April 2010

Press TV – Egypt Summit To Pressure Nuclear Israel – 20 April 2010

Kidnapped Peacekeepers Okay

By Kylie M Tsudama

Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Four peacekeepers who were abducted last week are okay.  Negotiations for their release are underway.

“We spoke to our staff today by phone,” said Mohamed Yonis, the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) Deputy Joint Special Representative.  “They are reported to be unharmed.  We are calling for the immediate and unconditional release of our peacekeepers.”

Added UNAMID spokesman Nouredine Mezni, “We are doing our utmost to secure their release.  The Sudanese authorities know the identity of the kidnappers but they want to make sure their release takes place in the best possible conditions.”

Four UNAMID police advisors were kidnapped on Sunday, 11 April 2010 while on the way back to their private quarters, a 4.3 mile trek.  The two men and two women were leaving Nyala, South Darfur, the center of several humanitarian operations in Darfur and the second largest city in Sudan.

According to Jibril Bukhari Abbas, head of the People’s Democratic Struggle Movement (PDSM), one of the PDSM members kidnapped the peacekeepers without instruction.  He said PDSM entered into peace talks with the government last week.

“[The abductor] was unaware of an agreement which was concluded between the government and the People’s Democratic Struggle Movement which has joined the peace march,” said Bukhari.

This abduction is reported to be “the largest single abduction of foreigners” in Darfur.  It happened as the first competitive election in more than twenty years was to take place in Sudan.

“We want one billion Sudanese pounds (400,000 US dollars) but that is not the most important.  We want to show the international community that security conditions in Darfur do not allow for elections,” said Ibrahim al-Dukki.

Abductions in the region have ebbed after a year-long wave of abductions.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called this “a new and deeply troubling development in Darfur, with the potential to undermine the efforts of the international community.”

The conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government.  According to the UN, at least 300,000 have been killed and more than 2.5 million have been displaced.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Peacekeepers Kidnapped in Darfur ‘In Good Health’ – 16 April 2010

AP – UN Mission in Darfur: Abducted Peacekeepers are OK – 16 April 2010

UN News Centre – Darfur: UN – African Union Mission Makes Contact with Four Abducted Peacekeepers – 16 April 2010

MONUC Troops Pushed Out of DRC

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

DAKAR, DR Congo – With after a new wave of violence and instability sweeping through the central African nation, Congolese government is oddly pushing for a swift withdrawal of United Nations (UN) peacekeepers.

UN peacekeepers (MONUC) have been in Congo for eleven years.  Their numbers now reaching over 20,000, making them one of the largest peacekeeping missions in the world.

Even though the UN peacekeepers have been faulted in the past for backing down in the face of certain rebels, many fear that a hasty withdrawal may be dangerous.   President Joseph Kabila does not share this fear and is wiling to risk Congo’s return to the brutalities that plagued them during their four years of civil war.

“For the moment, as you know, the situation remains extremely fragile.  So we have to do it right rather than do it quickly,” said Gerard Araud, France’s permanent representative to the UN.

“MONUC won’t leave if we are not sure that the Congolese authorities are able to do the job.  That’s the discussion we should have with the Congolese authorities,” added Araud.

Tomorrow ambassadors will travel to Kinshasa for talks with the Congolese officials who want MONUC to clear out of the country by September 2011.

According to The National, human rights groups have been warning officials that Congo is still racked “by violence, with massacres, rape and looting commonplace as armed ex-rebel groups profit from the mining of gold, coltan and other valuable minerals.”

For more information please see:

Independence Online – UN Mission Accused of Inaction – 15 April 2010

The Economist – Unloved for Trying to Keep the Peace – 15 April 2010

The National – UN Envoys Prepare for Battle Over Congo Peace Troops – 15 April 2010

Reuters – UN’s Congo Trip Dominated by Peacekeepers’ Exit – 15 April 2010

Charles Taylor Trial Update

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Africa Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-“All the atrocities committed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) are not the concerns of Mr Taylor. They did happen but it doesn’t concern Mr. Taylor. Mr. Taylor has no hands in it.” This statement was made by a witness for Charles Taylor this past week. The witness claims that the atrocities that were committed by Sierra Leonean rebels during their 11-year civil conflict should not be attributed to Charles Taylor, and that he had no role to play in them.

 The witness, Charles Ngebe, was a Sierra Leonean national, and formerly a part of the Revolutionary United front.  His entire testimony was premised on his insistence that the allegations of Charle’s Taylor’s support for the RUF are not true. He said an exception existed in 1991 when the conflict first began in Sierra Leone, and Taylor provided minimal support to the rebel forces in his neighboring country. Taylor has also admitted to providing support to the RUF in  1991, and he justified it by saying it was necessary because the United Liberation Movement of Liberia for Democracy rebels were attacking his positions in Liberia with support from the government of Sierra Leone.

 Another witness, Fayia Musa, a Sierra Leonean national and former spokesperson for the RUF, also testified on the circumstances surrounding fallout between the RUF and Taylor’s National Patriotic Front of Liberia rebel group in 1992. The fallout has been stipulated by prosecutors and Taylor’s attorneys. The disagreement is around the length of the fallout. Taylor contends it was permanent, while prosecutors say it was quite temporary.

 Fore more information please see:

Charles Taylor Trial – Atrocities in Sierra Leone… – 13 April 2010

Charles Taylor Trial – All Atrocities Committed… – 13 April 2010

Charles Taylor Trial – Relationship Between Taylor… – 14 April 2010