By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

Botswana’s Central Kalahari Bushmen are once again being forced from their ancestral lands as the country’s courts decide this week whether the Bushmen should have access to a local water supply.  Kalahari Bushmen are an indigenous hunter-gatherer people of the desert interior of Botswana.  They were evicted from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in 2002 and allowed to return in 2006 after Botswana’s High Court declared their forced removal unconstitutional.  Since 2006, the government has banned the Bushmen from hunting in the reserve and denied them access to the only local well by sealing it, a well the Bushmen claim they have been using for decades.  Bushmen have to walk long distances, often outside the reserve, in order to collect water.

The government claims that allowing the Bushmen to draw from the well would be incompatible with the goals of the Central Kalahari reserve.  However, since the bushmen returned to the reserve, Botswana’s government has allowed the company, Wilderness Safaris, to build a safari resort complete with a pool, on the reserve.  Additionally, on the same day the Bushmen appealed the water decision in court last week, Botswana granted Gem Diamonds a 3 billion dollar contract to mine in the reserve.  Gem Diamonds and the government claim they have the consent of the Bushmen whose land they will be on.  Survival International, an advocacy group for tribal people, has been helping the Bushmen represent themselves in court.  On Wednesday, Survival Director Stephen Corry said, “How can people who are denied water to force them out of the reserve possibly be in a position to give their free and informed consent?”

Botswana’s actions regarding the Bushmen are drawing criticism from several organizations, including the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the U.N.  A U.N. official on indigenous people went so far as to say the conditions in the Kalahari Reserve are ‘harsh and dangerous’.  Survival International has increased its efforts to improve the life of the Bushmen.  The group is encouraging the international community to boycott Botswana tourism and diamonds until the Bushmen’s land rights are recognized by the government.  In a statement to Survival International, one Bushmen said:

We are still hoping, not to be given anything, but simply for justice and our rights. The government hopes that by denying us water, it will force us from the reserve once more[. . .] It must know[n] by now that we are determined to live with our ancestors on the land we have known since time began.

For more information, please see;

CNN- Leaked Cable: U.S. Envoy Criticized Botswana on Bushmen– 21 Jan., 2011

The Botswana Gazette- Survival Protesters Target International Tourism Fair in Madrid– 23 Jan., 2011

Africanews.com- Kalahari Bushmen to Fight Court Ruling– 18 Jan., 2011

Independent Media Centre Australia- Botswana Approves$3BN Mine as Bushmen Water Case Gets Underway– 19 Jan., 2011

Mail & Guardian Online- ‘Thirsty’ Bushmen Go to Appeal Court– 21 Jan., 2011

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

FRANKFURT, Germany- Onesphore Rwabukombe, a former Rwandan mayor, is on trial in Frankfurt, Germany, accused of ordering three Tutsi massacres that resulted in over 3,000 deaths during the 1994 Rwandan genocide.  Rwabukombe has been charged with genocide, murder and incitement to genocide before the German court.  In a statement of the charges, prosecutor Christian Ritscher read aloud in court, “Between April 11 and 15, 1994 the accused ordered and coordinated three massacres in which a total of at least 3,730 members of the Tutsi minority who had sought refuge in church buildings were killed.”  Rwabukombe, who has been living in Germany since at least 2002, was arrested last summer and could face life in prison if convicted.

This is the third time Rwabukombe has appeared before the German courts since 2008, being released both previous times after the court decided their was a lack of evidence.  This time, prosecutors plan to call approximately 50 witnesses.  Rwanda’s Prosecutor General Martin Ngoga stated his support of the trial, telling AFP, “We are grateful to Germany.”  As the former mayor of Muvumba in northeastern Rwanda, Rwabukombe is charged with being the chief organizer of these crimes and ordering those below him to threaten any Tutsis seeking shelter with the deaths of their families.  Some of the refugees turned away by Rwabukombe’s men were later murdered.

While many of the Rwandans suspected of carrying out the genocide in 1994 that resulted in the murder of at least 800,000 are living in European countries, this is Germany’s first trial of a Rwandan suspect.  Rwandan courts have conducted some trials and a special court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, exists in Tanzania to try suspects.  Elsewhere, several European countries have conducted Rwandan genocide related trials but with a large number of suspects living all over Europe, many countries are not taking the steps to bring these people to justice.  However, recently Interpol issued almost 100 ‘red notices’ for the arrests of Rwandans living in Europe suspected of taking part in the 1994 genocide.  Said Jurgen Schurr, representative for the London-based human rights group Redress, “These trials [. . .] send the important signal that these countries do not accept to provide a safe haven to suspects of such crimes.”

For more information, please see;

VOANews.com- Germany Opens First Rwanda Genocide Trial– 18 Jan., 2011

AFP- Rwandan Genocide Trial Opens in Germany– 18 Jan., 2011

BBC News- Rwandan Mayor Rwabukombe Tried For Genocide in Germany– 18 Jan., 2011

By Daniel M. Austin
Impunity watch Reporter, Africa

NAIROBI, Kenya – Three Kenyan police officers have been suspended after the Daily Nation newspaper published photos of the officers shooting and killing three unarmed suspects at point blank range. Kenya’s interior minister ordered the chief of police to suspend the three individuals and called for a complete investigation. Critics of the Kenyan government claim this incident is just another example of the security forces committing brazen acts of violence without any repercussions.

This particular incident occurred Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. on Lang’ata Road, a busy highway that runs through central Nairobi. The shooting was witnessed by several people who were walking alongside the highway as well as motorists who were driving along the highway. One witness used a camera to capture the incident in a series of photographs.

According to witnesses, the officers, who were dressed in plain clothes, pulled over the suspects’ vehicle, ordered them out of the vehicle and onto the pavement.  The suspects were subsequently searched where it was discovered that one had a pistol tucked into his waist band.  The three police officers then shot and killed the three suspects at close range.

Initially the Kenyan police claimed that the suspects were armed and had fired upon the officers. However, several witnesses claimed the suspects had surrendered and exited their vehicle with their hands in the air. Furthermore this explanation of a shootout given by the police department was retracted after the Daily Nation published the photographs taken by a witness. According to these photos, it appears security forces had control of the situation, and the suspects were not resisting arrest.

This incident has gained international attention and sparked fears the Kenyan government is continuing to use security forces to carry out extrajudicial killings. Kenyans are especially sensitive to this issue given their tenuous relationship with the police in recent years. During presidential elections three years ago, an estimated 1,200 people were killed, including several hundred who allegedly were killed by the police.

Amnesty International has condemned the killings, claiming these types of crimes have occurred with great frequency in Kenya. Supporting this assertion, in 2009, the United Nations released a report which found police executions in Kenya were organized and widespread.

For more information:

BBC – Kenyan police suspended after Nairobi shooting —  20 January 2011

Daily Nation — Three officers interdicted over Nairobi killings – 19 January 2011

New York Times — Photos of Shot Kenyans Spur Calls for Police Reform – 20 January 2011

The Guardian — Three Kenyan policemen suspended over shooting of three suspects – 20 January 2011

By Polly Johnson
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

FIZI, Democratic Republic of Congo – An army commander and seven other soldiers were accused and arrested yesterday for their alleged involvement in mass rapes that occurred in the eastern town of Fizi, in South Kivu province, on the evening of January 1.

Fifty women came forward to report the rapes. According to Madnodge Mounoubai, a spokesman for MONUSCO, the United Nations’ mission in DRC, the attacks were committed after a drunken soldier in a bar fired at a civilian; angry residents then killed the soldier.

“After he got killed, his colleagues heard that he was killed and they came and went on a rampage in the village. They started to loot the village, to loot the stores and to rape the women,” Mounoubai said.

A report sent to Fizi by MONUSCO accused Lieutenant Colonel Kibibi Mutware of directing the attack. Locals claimed to have witnessed him order the attack. Kibibi has denied the allegations.

Médécins Sans Frontières said women had been restrained by ropes or beaten with rifle butts before being attacked.  MSF also said that it had treated more than thirty women for injuries they suffered during the attacks.

The arrested soldiers will be put on trial as early as next week. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said that the ten detained soldiers would be tried in a Fizi court.

Rape has become a frequent weapon of war in eastern Congo, used by soldiers to intimidate and break down community structure. It is often blamed on Congo’s regular army.

Amnesty International said that the Fizi rapes constitute “another telling example of the consequences of the virtual impunity the Congolese forces benefit from.

“The failure to hold the Congolese army to account when they fail to carry out their protection role or commit crimes themselves in turn encourages further violations.”

Last summer, rebel forces in eastern Congo raped hundreds of people. According to Amnesty, which welcomed the arrests in the Fizi rapes, “more often than not investigations in the DRC are never brought to a conclusion. A recent example of this is the investigation into the mass rapes that occurred in Walikale, North Kivu, in August 2010 which have now stalled.”

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Troops held over DR Congo mass rape – 19 January 2011

Guardian – Congolese army commander accused of directing mass rape – 19 January 2011

IPS – Soldiers accused of rape arrested – 19 January 2011

Reuters – Congo to try government troops accused of rape – 19 January 2011

Telegraph – DR Congo mass rape suspects arrested – 19 January 2011

By Laura Hirahara
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

WINDHOEK, Nimibia- The Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal in Windhoek, Namibia has ruled against Zimbabwe and ordered them to pay compensation to torture victims who settled their cases against the country between 2003 and 2007.  The case was brought before the SADC in 2009 by 12 victims alleging Zimbabwe had refused to pay the judgments awarded them by Zimbabwe’s High Court, which total almost seventeen million US dollars.  The judgment, given by SADC Justice Arrirange Govindasamy Pillay, reads in part:

We hold, therefore…that the Respondent (government) is in breach of [. . .] the treaty in that it has acted in contravention of various fundamental human rights, namely the right to an effective remedy [and] the right to have access to an independent and impartial court or tribunal and the right to a fair hearing.

All the victims originally sued and were awarded damages after the High Court ruled that they had been victims of state sponsored violence and torture carried out by state agents.  The claims stem from election violence that occurred approximately eight years ago.  The injuries range from gun shot wounds to paralysis and beatings.  One victim, Kerina Gweshe, was awarded nearly one million US dollars after her and her husband were assaulted by soldiers in 2003.  In court documents from the original suit, Gweshe stated that soldiers broke into her home during the early morning hours, cut the telephone lines and beat Gweshe and others in her home.  During the course of the assault, Gweshe’s arm was broken when she raised it to defend against a soldier who was trying to hit her with a chair.  At one point, a soldier put the barrel of a gun in Gweshe’s mouth and demanded money.

The Zimbabwean government did not defend the case at the tribunal hearing, asserting that besides the tribunal being illegitimate, the State Liability Act protects the state and its assets from being attached to pay damages.  As part of his ruling, Justice Pillay stated that the “State Liability Act is a relic of the legal regime which was pre-constitutional and placed the state above the law.”  Even though Zimbabwe is a SADC treaty signatory, the current regime does not recognize its judicial power.  President Robert Mugabe and Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa have publicly called the rulings ‘null and void’ and Zimbabwe’s High Court has denied the authority of the Tribunal’s land reform rulings.  In a broadcast this week on SW Radio Africa, analyst Professor John Makumbe said the government’s actions are “a major threat to the cohesion of the region, because it makes the Tribunal superfluous. [. . .] I can’t see how any other member state will abide by the Tribunal if Zimbabwe disregards it and gets away with it.”

For more information, please see;

Zimbabwe Independent- Zim Should Compensate Violence Victims–Tribunal– 13 Jan., 2011

ZimOnline- Landmark SADC Torture Ruling– 15 Jan., 2011

The Zimbabwean- SADC Court Says Zim Government Undermining Rule of Law– 15 Jan., 2011

Law and Justice Zimbabwe- 06-HH-028 Kerina Gweshe vs Minister Of Defence– 15 Sept., 2006