By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

GENEVA, Switzerland – On Wednesday the UN human rights chief announced that army and rebel troops committed “possible war crimes and crimes against humanity” in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).

“The information that has been gathered points very strongly to war crimes and crimes against humanity but you need a judicial body to determine whether or not the acts committed are war crimes under international law,” said head of Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Africa, Scott Campbell.

During the conflict between Nord and Sud-Kivu from October to November 2008, two reports indicate that there were 12 arbitrary killings and around 70 rapes committed by government troops.  In a report compiled jointly with the UN Mission in Congo, MONUC, it is said that the killings were not committed in crossfire, but that the victims “were arbitrarily executed, often inside their houses, after fighting had stopped.”

“Impunity is the norm,” Campbell said. “Rape and sexual violence are daily occurrences.”

The UN urged the necessity of reforming the DR Congo’s security and judicial systems saying the “two reports on a series of human rights abuses, including possible war crimes and crimes against humanity… underscored the urgent need for the DRC government and the international community to institute fundamental reforms to the country’s security and judicial systems.”

The International Criminal Court has issued four arrest warrants for Congolese militiamen.

The High Commissioner said that “concrete and immediate action to hold perpetrators accountable, particularly since sexual violence continues to take place on a daily basis,” will be enforced by a zero-tolerance policy.

For more information, please see:

AFP – DR Congo Army, Rebels Committed ‘Possible War Crimes’ : UN – 09 September 2009

Reuters – U.N. Rights Chief Sees Possible War Crimes in Congo – 09 September 2009

UN News Centre – UN Reports Point to Possible War Crimes in Eastern DR Congo – 09 September 2009

VOA – UN Sees Possible War Crimes in Eastern Congo – 09 September 2009

By Kylie M Tsudama
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – After three months of rain West Africa has been devastated by flooding that displaced 600,000.  The current season has been unusually rainy and the rain is expected to last through the end of the month.

People from Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Senegal, and Niger have all been affected by the floods.  According to meteorologists, nearly one quarter of Burkina Faso’s yearly rainfall fell in a twelve-hour span.

According to the latest report from the United Nations, more than 150 people have been killed.  Many of those lives were claimed in Sierra Leone.

Half of the capital city of Ouagadougou has been affected including the part that housed the university hospital.  More than 150,000 from Burkina Faso are homeless, living in community centers and schools so overcrowded that some sleep outside.  These men spend the night exposed to malarial mosquitoes that breed in the standing water.

“The [university] hospital was one of the main hospitals in Ouagadougou where thousands of people were treated each day,” said West Africa spokesman for the UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Yvon Edoumou.  “So clearly that is a major concern for us.  If you think in terms of just basic health services or even more acute health conditions, there is a fear that people who were there at the time of the flooding ate not getting the treatment that they should be.”

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) began feeding the displaced on Tuesday, feeding tens of thousands.  The goal is to feed 177,500 people, mainly from Ouagadougou.  According to the WFP this is the worst flooding in Burkina Faso in 90 years.

“It is always the poor and vulnerable who suffer the most from floods like these as their few remaining assets are swept away, leaving them hungry and destitute,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.

OCHA issued a statement calling the situation “very worrying.”

This is, however, a mixed blessing.  The countries that are dependent on agriculture will have more plentiful harvests because of the wet season.

For more information, please see:

AP – UN Distributes Food to West Africa Flood Victims – 08 September 2009

CNN – West Africa Flooding Affects 600,000, U.N. Reports – 08 September 2009

Reuters – Catholic Relief Services to Assist Flood Victims in Burkina Faso – 08 September 2009

VOA – Flooding Displaces Hundreds of Thousands in West Africa – 08 September 2009

IRIN – Floods Shut Down Hospital, HIV Reference Lab – 07 September 2009

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KHARTOUM, Sudan – Sudanese woman was arrested, found guilty of indecency, fined, and sentenced to 40 lashes for wearing trousers while dining at a cafe with friends.

Lubna Hussein, a widow with no children is a career journalist.  She was arrested along with 12 other women for breaking Islamic decency regulations and was ordered to pay a fine of Sudanese 500 pounds ($209) or face a month in jail.  This case has attracted world wide attention.

Hussein has refused to pay the fine.  She and many women activists say the Islamic decency regulations are vague and give individual police officers undue discretion to determine what is acceptable clothing for women.  Hussein has made an effort to publicize her case by posing in loose trousers for photos and calling for media support.

By printing up invitation cards for her initial court date in July and sending out e-mail messages asking people to witness her whipping, if it came to that, she was making it known that the world would see how Sudan treated women.

These measures were not overlooked.  On the date of her trial, hundreds of Sudanese women, many wearing pants, gathered in front of the court house protesting the law was unfair.  A few of the other women arrested with Hussein have pleaded guilty and were lashed as a result.  These floggings have been carried out in the past with plastic whips that leave permanent scars.

“The flogging, yes, it causes pain,” says Hussein. “But more important, it is an insult.  This is why I want to change the law.”

Article 152 of Sudan’s penal code states that up to 40 lashes and a fine should be given to anyone “who commits an indecent act which violates public morality or wears indecent clothing.”  The big question?  What is considered indecent clothing?

Another major factor at play is that northern Sudanese, who are mostly Muslim, are supposed to obey Islamic law, while southern Sudanese, who are mostly Christian, are not.  Hussein argues that Article 152 is intentionally vague, in part to punish women.

“I am Muslim; I understand Muslim law, but I ask what passage in the Koran says women can’t wear pants…” questions Hussein.

Rabie A. Atti, a Sudanese government spokesperson, insists that Hussein must have done something else to upset the authorities, besides wearing pants.  He says the act is only intended to protect people against harm from another person’s indecent behavior.  Atti also claims that many women in offices and wedding ceremonies wear trousers with no problems in Sudan, suggesting that Hussein must have been causing some additional harm in order to be arrested.

Hussein responded that she did not do anything else in order to violate the law, and that there were many who can support this.

“It is well known that Sudanese women are pioneers in the history of woman’s rights in this region, and that we won our rights a long time ago because of our awareness, open mind, good culture and struggle,” said Hussein.

For more information, please see:

AP – Trouser-wearing Woman Spared Flogging in Sudan – 7 September 2009

BBC – Sudanese “Trousers” Woman Fined – 7 September 2009

Reuters – Sudanese Woman Fined for Wearing Trousers – 7 September 2009

The New York Times – Sudan Court to Define Indecent Dress for Women – 7 September 2009

By Jennifer M. Haralambides
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MOGADISHU, Somalia – A family of at least five were killed in Mogadishu when a mortar shell hit their house on Saturday.

Shortly after Ali Ahmed Jama, Somalia’s foreign minister, said the transitional government was negotiating with rebel fighters, a mortar shell hit the home of a family as they gathered for their meal at the end of the day’s Ramadan fast.

Sources say that fierce fighting exploded in the city on Friday night and Saturday morning, and witnesses claim that over 10 people have been killed, including a Somalia-American who joined the insurgents.

“We lost a martyr who was from Minnesota in the overnight raid,” said a Shabab foot solder.  Among the dead was a Somali-American identified as Mohamed Hassan, a 21 year-old from Minnesota.

“Soon after breaking fast we heard strange noises of weapons and we ran into a concrete building nearby,” said Fatima Elmi, a Mogadishu resident.

The militants causing the conflict in Somalia are the Hizbul Islam and the Shabab.  These groups are trying to overthrow Somalia’s moderate Islamic government and replace it with a regime that will impose strict Islamic Sharia law.

After Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of the Hizbul Islam returned from exile in May, he built the group into a powerful force that, together with the Islamist militant group al-Shabab, has taken control of many parts of southern Somalia, including the capital of Mogadishu.

For more information, please see:

AFP – Six Civilians killed in Mogadishu Clashes – 5 September 2009

BBC – Five Die in Somalia Mortar Attack – 6 September 2009

The New York Times – Several Dead in Somali Clashes, Possibly Including U.S. Jihadist – 5 September 2009

VOA – Somali Militant Leader Says Fighting Will Continue Despite Civilian Casualties – 5 September 2009