By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

CONAKRY, Guinea – On September 28 soldiers opened fire on a crowd of protesters and raped and sexually assaulted some of them.

In December military coup leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara took over the government of Guinea when former President Lansana Conte passed away.  Protesters were demonstrating against the government’s decision to cancel its presidential elections.  The elections were originally supposed to be held this year and were postponed until January.

The Guinea government lists that 56 people have been killed but human rights officials list the number drastically higher, at 157.

The government has announced that it will launch an independent inquiry into the killings of protesters at the opposition rally.  Captain Camara has set up this commission in response to the international community, political opponents, and local human rights groups call for prosecution of those responsible for the killings.  The commission is to include members of human rights organizations, trade unions, political parties, civil society groups, the ruling military council, and lawyers, judges, and university professors.

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), along with the United Nations and the African Union will be organizing a regional investigation.  Human Rights Watch (HRW) supports both ECOWAS’ efforts as well as the government’s efforts to investigate these crimes.

“You could have up to 150 or even more murders of mostly peaceful demonstrators.  Not to mention the horrific sexual abuse that happened against an unknown number of women and other abuses that were happening including theft and looting and so on.  This was done by all accounts by members of the security forces.  They need to be held accountable,” said Corinne Dufka, head of HRW operations in West Africa.

The top Human Rights official in the UN is concerned over the risks that launching an investigation into the killings could pose to Guineans.  UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is considering an investigation into the security and political situation in Guinea.  She is concerned for the safety of those Guineans who were witnesses and may provide information about the violent suppression.

An investigation by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights depends largely on cooperation by Guinean authorities.  For now, Pillay is gathering information and considering possible formats of a probe.

For more information, please see:

UN News Centre – Guniea: UN  Official Fears for Witnesses’ Safety in Probe into Killing of Protesters – 09 October 2009

AP – Guinea’s Leader to Set Up Independent Inquiry – 08 October 2009

Reuters – Tensions in Guinea Junta as Isolation Grows – 08 October 2009

VOA – Guinea Military Announces Investigation into Killing of Protesters – 08 October 2009

NY Times – U.S. Envoy Protests Violence in Guinea – 06 October 2009

Impunity Watch – Guinea Security Forces Kill 9 During Protest – 28 September 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, DR Congo – The United Nations peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has launched a child protection campaign in a war-ravaged eastern province of the African nation.  The UN mission, known by its French acronym as MONUC, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and local authorities expect the initiative, focused in north-eastern Oriental province, to sensitize the public to the rights of children and create a protective environment for them.

Using various media outlets, the campaign plans to flood the public with broadcast and published messages on children’s rights until 20 November, marking Universal Children’s Day. MONUC began the campaign yesterday in the city of Kisangani with a two-day sensitization session for 30 journalists on the rights of the child under international and national law. At the session’s opening of the mission’s interim Bureau Chief in Kisangani, Idrissa Ba, expressed concern over continuing attacks on children’s rights in Oriental province.

The Lord’s Resistance Army, led by international fugitive Joseph Kony is notorious for abducting girls and boys to use as sex slaves and soldiers respectively. The attacks also include ransacking homes, churches and health facilities; stealing food, and killing innocent civilians. These successive and constant attacks have caused widespread panic and fear as thousands remain stranded and even more vulnerable to future attacks.

In March, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) reported that in a six month period, almost 1,000 Congolese had been murdered by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and some 750 abducted. The vast majority of those 750 children, were reportedly forced into combat or utilized as sex slaves. Idrissa Ba underscored the importance of the targeting the media in the campaign, saying that journalists “are capable of distributing messages to the general public that encourage the development of attitudes and behaviors favorable to the respect of children’s rights.” The initiative includes several other sensitization training and workshop sessions for different civil society groups, and will end next month with organized exhibitions and activities with and for children.
For more information, please see:

All Africa – UN Mission in DR Congo Launches Child Protection Campaign in Strife-Ridden Province – 8 October 2009

World News Report – UN Mission for Child Protection in the Congo – 8 October 2009

UN News Center-UN mission in DR Congo launches child protection campaign in strife-ridden province – 8 October 2009

Newstime Africa – Ugandan Rebel Group, LRA, Expands Its Terror Campaign – 28 August 2009

By Jonathan Ambaye
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa Desk

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia– Former South African President Thabo Mbeki spoke at an African Union (“AU”) meeting today in regards to the human rights violations that have taken place in Sudan this decade.  An AU panel led by Mbeki produced a report focused on finding a peaceful solution to the conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region. Mbeki’s speech contained the substance of the report’s findings.

The commission led by Mbeki was set up after a global arrest warrant was issued for Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, alleging his complicity in war crimes in Darfur. Analyst predict that the report likely will recommend a local tribunal supported by the AU, Sudan, and potentially the Arab League, in order to deal with the abuses committed in Darfur.

Critics say the AU is using this commission to avoid the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) warrant for President Bashir’s arrest. Mbeki strongly denies this claim.  The AU has however refused to honor the warrant, and President Bashir has additionally rejected the charges against him. President Bashir has claimed that the claims are only an attempt by the ICC to further their goals of colonialism.

Since 2003 the United Nations estimates there have been over 300,000 deaths in the region, and over two million have been displaced.  In all 4.5 million have been displaced and over 2 million deaths have resulted from the 21 year civil war between Northern and Southern Sudan.  However since the enactment of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (“CPA”) which ended the civil war,  there have been gradual attempts to return those who had been displaced in Southern Sudan.

One UN official expressed that the key to returning the 4.5 million who had been displaced depended on the stability of the Sudanese government.  So far the UN official has proudly stated that about 350,000 refugees have been returned.  Despite this progress concerns are still growing surrounding the violence that still is taking place in the country, and the constant influx of refugees crossing over into Sudan from neighboring countries.

For more information please see:

BBC – Mbeki Delivers AU Darfur Report – 8 October 2009

All Africa – Sudan:Inter-Ethnic Violence in Southern Region Threatens Return of Displaced – UN

Reuters – Sudan Conflicts – 17 March 2009

UN News – Inter-Ethnic Violence in Southern Sudan Threatens Return of Displaced – 7 October 2009

By Jared Kleinman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KAMPALA, Uganda — Idelphonse Nizeyimana, one of the most wanted fugitives from Rwanda’s 1994 100-day genocide, was arrested in Uganda this week, Ugandan and Rwandan officials said Tuesday. Ugandan officials said he was caught using false documents to travel from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to Kenya and was subsequently detained. Nizeyimana was extradited to the international criminal tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), based in Arusha, Tanzania, which has charged him with genocide, complicity in genocide and direct and public incitement to genocide.

During the Rwandan genocide, Nizeyimana was second-in-command in charge of military and intelligence operations for the École des sous-officiers (ESO). The former intelligence chief, Nizeyimana is alleged to have participated in the Rwandan Genocide in 1994 which left about 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus dead in 100 days.

Besides helping draft plans to exterminate the Tutsis, and drawing up death lists of intellectuals and other influential figures, Nizeyimana is accused of creating secret units of extremist Hutus to carry out the killings. One of these units is alleged to have killed Queen Rosalie Gicanda, the widow of the former Rwandan king during colonial times, and a symbolic figure for Tutsis. During the 100-day massacres, Nizeyimana is said to have ordered the erection of roadblocks where Tutsis were stopped and killed, and is accused of personally sanctioning the killings of entire Tutsi families on account of their ethnicity.

Nizeyimana fled the country in June or July 1994 as the Tutsi-dominated Rwandan Patriotic Front, led by the current president, Paul Kagame, advanced. On November 27, 2000, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) issued an indictment against Nizeyimana, charging him with genocide and crimes against humanity. The US had offered a reward of up to $5m (£3m) for his capture.

More recently, Mr. Nizeyimana was a top commander of a rebel army of former Rwandan soldiers hiding out in the forests of eastern Congo, Rwandan officials said. That force, the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda, or FDLR, has been blamed for some of the most atrocious attacks in eastern Congo and is widely seen as a threat to regional peace. “He [Nizeyimana] was an agitator, a handler, the chief killer in Butare,” said Rwandan justice minister, Tharcisse Karugarama. “The arrest of this man is a very big relief to survivors of the genocide.”

With Nizeyimana’s arrest, 11 top suspects remain with similar bounties on their heads for their alleged roles in the 1994 genocide.

For more information, please see:

AllAfrica – Top Rwandan Genocide Suspect Arrested in Kampala – 6 October 2009

Huffington Post – Idelphonse Nizeyimana, Rwanda Queen-Killing Genocide Suspect, Arrested In Uganda – 6 October 2009

The Guardian – Key Rwanda genocide suspect arrested in Uganda – 6 October 2009

New York Times – Rwandan Fugitive Is Captured in Uganda – 6 October 2009

Reuters – Uganda arrests most-wanted Rwanda genocide suspect – 6 October 2009