By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

KAMPALA, Uganda-This week saw members of the United States Congress call on Ugandan President, Yoweri Museveni, to dismiss a proposed legislation imposing excessive penalties on homosexuals. According to reports, the legislation mandates a life sentence for a single act of homosexuality, and the death penalty if the individual is found to be HIV positive. The congressmen have sent letters to the President informing him of the legislation’s human rights violations implications and how it is inconsistent with the “Christian spirit of love and mercy.”

Congressman Frank Wolf, a Republican from the state of Viriginia said, “We think the legislation is wrong and inappropriate. We ask that he do everything he can to either veto the bill or kill the bill.” Other congressman who joined Wolf’s letter was representatives Chris Smith, Joe Pitts, Trent Franks, and Anh “Joseph” Cao. All of these congressmen are members of the Republican Executive Committee members of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission in the House of Representatives.

Uganda has been under fire recently by the international community as a result of the proposed legislation. Many countries who provide aid to the country, such as Sweden, have threatened to withdraw aid if the legislation is passed.  The Ugandan parliament is due to vote on the bill early next year. Currently there is legislation in place that already punishes individuals up to 14 years in jail for engaging in homosexual acts.

The Global Christian community has also called on Uganda to stop the legislation from passing. The Chief of the World Council of churches, Samuel Kobia said, “From the experience of many nations, it is very clear that if such a bill is enacted into law, it will leave a lot of room for manipulation, abuse, blackmail, and oppression of people.”

For more information please see:

BBC – Welsh Aid For Uganda Aide Despite Gay Death Penalty Plan – 23 December 2009

Reuters – Uganda Government Softens Proposed Anti-Gay Law – 23 December 2009

VOA – US Congressman Call on Ugandan President To Reject Anti-Homosexual Legislation – 23 December 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – At least 15, mostly civilians have been killed and over 30 others injured in heavy clashes between Somali militants and government forces backed by African Union troops in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

The clashes started on late Wednesday in the capital’s KM4 and Dabka intersections and Shaqalaha road, where fighters loyal to Somalia’s Hizbul Islam carried out surprise attacks on government positions, leading to heavy gun battle.

Insurgents fired mortars at government troops, prompting a heavier response of shells that killed civilians in several suburbs of Mogadishu and made residents cower indoors.

Mohammed Osman Arus, Hizbul Islam spokesman confirmed that his forces carried out attacks on government and AU troops, killing several soldiers. “We carried out attacks on their positions. I saw dead bodies of three AU soldiers with my on eyes,” he claimed. AU troops’ spokesman Barigye Bahoku, however, refuted those claims, when reached for comments.

It is believed that the Islamist insurgent attacks targeted the first parliament session held in the capital in months. The session was held in the mayor’s office for security reasons and President Sharif Sheikh Ahmed had been due to attend it, officials said.

Retaliatory shelling rained down on Mogadishu’s Bakara and Holwadag neighborhoods, causing several casualties, residents said. Bakara, which is notorious for its open-air weapons bazaar, has long been viewed by the government and the African Union force AMISOM as a stronghold of hardline Islamist al Shabaab insurgents who are trying to overthrow the country’s transitional administration.

Washington accuses the rebel group of being al Qaeda’s proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state. Western security agencies say that Somalia has become a safe haven for militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.

Fighting in Somalia has killed 19,000 civilians since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, triggering one of the world’s worst humanitarian emergencies.

For more information, please see:

Garowe Online – Mogadishu Clashes Kill 15, Injures 30 – 25 December 2009

Shabelle Media Network  – Heavy Shelling Kills Three, Injures 24 Others in Mogadishu – 20 December 2009

Reuters – Mortar shell attacks kills at least 14 in Somalia – 20 December 2009

AFP – Eight killed in mortar attack on MPs in Mogadishu – 20 December 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NEW YORK, New York– United Nations peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suspended support for units of the National Armed Forces (FARDC) due to evidence showing their operations have contributed to human rights violations in the conflict ridden region.

In January the Congolese and Rwandan governments began joint military operations against a Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), in a five-week operation known as Umoja Wetu. It was followed in March by a second military operation, Kimia II, conducted with the support of the UN peacekeepers, which continued until this month.

A reported 1,400 civilians between January and September 2009 had been killed by Congolese or Rwandan troops and by rebels in eastern DRC as a result of the Kimia II military operations launched with the cooperation of the UN Mission in DRC, known as MONUC. The report is based on 23 Human Rights Watch fact-finding missions this year and interviews with over 600 victims, witnesses, and family members.

The Congolese government said the military operations were intended to bring peace and security to this volatile region. UN peacekeepers made important efforts to protect civilians in this complex and difficult terrain, Human Rights Watch said. But the peacekeeping force’s role as a joint player in the military operations, providing substantial support to the Congolese army, has implicated peacekeepers in the abuses and undermined the mission’s primary objective, which is to protect civilians.

Congolese army soldiers and FDLR rebel combatants have attacked civilians, accused them of being collaborators, and “punished” them by chopping many to death with machetes. Both sides also shot civilians as they tried to flee or burned them in their homes. Some victims were tied together before their throats were, according to one witness, “slit like chickens.” The majority of the victims were women, children, and the elderly.

“Continued killing and rape by all sides in eastern Congo shows that the UN Security Council needs a new approach to protect civilians,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. Over the first nine months of 2009, the UN recorded over 7,500 cases of sexual violence against women and girls across North and South Kivu in eastern Congo, nearly surpassing the figures recorded during all of last year, and probably representing only a fraction of the total. Most of the women and girls were gang raped, some so violently that they later died. Many women and girls were held as sex slaves by both the Congolese army and the FDLR for weeks or months at a time; they were raped repeatedly and some were mutilated and then killed by machete or shot in the vagina.

“Many UN Security Council ambassadors have visited Congo and expressed outrage at the massive sexual violence,” said Van Woudenberg. “Yet rape is increasing – not decreasing – in eastern Congo. That outrage needs to be translated into bold and effective action to help protect these women and girls.”

In responding to the UN’s recent suspensions, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated, “MONUC continues to give the highest priority to the protection of civilians, which is something I strongly value. We have always acted in accordance with the mandate provided by the Security Council.” “Unfortunately, the Kimia II operation has been proved to be where many civilian casualties have happened, and that is why we have immediately suspended our military operations and cooperation with some parts of the Congolese national forces.”

The Secretary-General pointed out that MONUC’s mandate is to help the Congolese Armed Forces, but stressed: “I made it, and we made it, quite clear that whenever there [are] grounds for violation of the human rights situation, then we will suspend these military operations.” “There is an overall important mission that MONUC has to carry out in accordance with the Security Council mandate to preserve peace and security and to protect the civilian population,” said Ban Ki-moon. “I am not sure whether it is desirable to suspend the whole peacekeeping operation there. That is what the Security Council has to decide, in closely following the situation, as well as assessing the situation there.”

For more information, please see:

UN News Service – UN Has Suspended Cooperation With Army Units Accused of Rights Abuses – 14 December 2009

Human Rights Watch – UN – Act to End Atrocities in Eastern Congo – 12 December 2009

Institute for War & Peace Reporting – Lubumbashi Tackles Abusive Officers – Better Training and Working Conditions Seen as Key to Ending Police Violations – 11 December 2009

Reuters – U.N. suspends support to Congo army units in east – 2 November 2009

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

THE HAGUE, Netherlands-Last week saw more developments in the trial of former Liberian President, Charles Taylor.  The Sierra Leone Special Court Judges allowed the use of new documents by prosecutors to use in their cross examination of Taylor. The judge however said that any documents used to try and show Taylor’s guilt would need to be handed over to Taylor’s defense team in advance. The prosecution agreed to the court order to disclose all documents they intend to use to avoid further “misunderstandings”.

During the course of the prosecution’s cross-examination of Taylor, it has sought to use new evidence to impeach his credibility as a witness in his own defense. Taylor’s defense attorney has called the prosecution’s strategy a “trial by ambush”.  The presiding judge Justice Richard Lussic made the following orders in response to the dispute over the prosecution’s cross-examination of Taylor. The judge ordered that all documents be disclosed to the defense 24 hours prior to its use in court for cross-examination.

Last week also saw Taylor admit to having a “covert” account operated on behalf of the Liberian government, holding millions of dollars.  Prosecutors allege that this account was a personal accunt used to hide away money for Taylor from activities including trading of arms in exchange for Sierra Leone’s diamonds.

Upon Taylor’s admission to having the covert account, the prosecutor read portions of taylor’s pat statements in which he challenged anyone to bring evidence of any secret account that he was alleged to have operated.  The statement read, “I challenge any human being on this planet to bring one bank account that I have money there. If anyone on this planet knows of any asset or bank account anywhere, I authorize you to come forward. There are no bank accounts in the world that I have. If anone can bring any evidence that Charles Taylor has money in a bank account, then Charles Taylor is a liar.”

The prosecutor followed the statement with a reading of a document that indicated the opening of a new bank account signed by Charles Taylor. Taylor’s acknowledgement of this account strengthened the prosecutions efforts to discredit Taylor.

For more information please see:

Charles Taylor Trial – Personal Bank Account In Charles Taylor’s Name was A “Covert Account Operated on Behalf of The Government of Liberia, He Says – 7 December 2009

Charles Taylor Trial – As Judges Order Prosecution To Disclose To Defense All New Documents They Intend to Use In The Cross-Examination – 5 December 2009

Impunity Watch – Taylors Cross-Examination Continues – 8 December 2009