Democratic Republic of the Congo – Fighting in the west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has left at least sixty-eight people dead and the numbers could be much higher according to a UN report leaked to the BBC.

Budu Dia Kongo is a political and religious group that has its own militia and accuses the central government of corruption. The group wants to establish its own authority in the west. Currently, more than 300 members of the BDK are missing.

A Congolese army captain was killed last month and it is alleged that BDK is responsible for the killing. Since this date, the Congolese police have been destroying BDK churches and houses believed to be owned by members of the group.

Many members of BDK have been seen at local hospitals for gunshot and machete wounds alleging they were tortured by police.

The governor of Bas-Congo, Simon Mbatshi Mbatsha, estimated that 24 civilians had been killed on 4 March 2008 during fighting between police and the BDK.

Mbatsha blames the government for causing violence because people are killed with firearms and there houses are burnt down.

While there are over 200 UN peace keepers in the area, they have been unable to maintain the peace.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Deadly clashes in west DR Congo – 16 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Congo-Kinshasa: Fears Over Increasing Sect-Related Violence in Southwest – 6 March 2008

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

KAMPALA, Uganda – Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Liberation Army (LRA), will not sign a peace deal before the International Criminal Court (ICC) quashes international arrest warrants issued against him and other LRA commanders.

The ICC issued warrants for Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen in July 2005 for 33 counts – war crimes, crimes against humanity, abduction, sexual enslavement, mutilation, and using children as fighters – according to New Vision.

The LRA members have to sign the peace agreement before the ICC will do something about the warrant, says the Ugandan government.  President Yoweri Museveni said last week that the government can save Kony and the other accused.

“We can save him because we are the ones who sought assistance from the ICC,” he said to journalists in London.

“Because he was not under our jurisdiction, we sought assistance from the ICC.  If he signs the peace agreement and returns to our jurisdiction, it becomes our responsibility, not any other party’s, including the ICC.”

Museveni explained that the Ugandan government sought the ICC’s help because Kony fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The ICC intervenes in cases of impunity or where governments cannot punish those involved in crimes against humanity.  Uganda would use its domestic justice system in place of the ICC if Kony and the others sign the peace agreement and return to Uganda.

Kony has recently moved more than three quarters of his forces from the DR Congo to the Central African Republic.  This change of bases raises doubts as to whether he will be available to sign a peace deal before the March 28 deadline, reports AllAfrica.com.

“Kony has moved most, if not all, his troops out of Garamba,” said Walter Ochora, an acquaintance of Kony who keeps an eye on the LRA.  “He only left a teenage commander in Ri-Kwang-Ba named Lt. Okello.  This is worrying [as] it seems LRA is not for peace.”

For more information, please see:

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  ICC Softens on Kony’s Case – 16 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  We Can Save Kony – President Museveni – 11 March 2008

New Vision Online – LRA case to determine fate of ICC – 16 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  Kony Crosses Into Central Africa Republic – 16 March 2008

By Christopher Gehrke
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, South America

KAMPALA, Uganda – Joseph Kony, the head of theLord’s Liberation Army (LRA), will not sign a peace deal before the International Criminal Court (ICC) quashes international arrest warrants issued against him and other LRA commanders.

The ICC issued warrants for Kony, Vincent Otti, Raska Lukwiya, Okot Odhiambo, and Dominic Ongwen in July 2005 for 33 counts – war crimes, crimes against humanity, abduction, sexual enslavement, mutilation, and using children as fighters – according to New Vision.

The LRA members have to sign the peace agreement before the ICC will do something about the warrant, says the Ugandan government.  President Yoweri Museveni said last week that the government can save Kony and the other accused.

“We can save him because we are the ones who sought assistance from the ICC,” he said to journalists in London.

“Because he was not under our jurisdiction, we sought assistance from the ICC.  If he signs the peace agreement and returns to our jurisdiction, it becomes our responsibility, not any other party’s, including the ICC.”

Museveni explained that the Ugandan government sought the ICC’s help because Kony fled to the Democratic Republic of Congo.  The ICC intervenes in cases of impunity or where governments cannot punish those involved in crimes against humanity.  Uganda would use its domestic justice system in place of the ICC if Kony and the others sign the peace agreement and return to Uganda.

Kony has recently moved more than three quarters of his forces from the DR Congo to the Central African Republic.  This change of bases raises doubts as to whether he will be available to sign a peace deal before the March 28 deadline, reports AllAfrica.com.

“Kony has moved most, if not all, his troops out of Garamba,” said Walter Ochora, an acquaintance of Kony who keeps an eye on the LRA.  “He only left a teenage commander in Ri-Kwang-Ba named Lt. Okello.  This is worrying [as] it seems LRA is not for peace.”

For more information, please see:

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  ICC Softens on Kony’s Case – 16 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  We Can Save Kony – President Museveni – 11 March 2008

New Vision Online – LRA case to determine fate of ICC – 16 March 2008

allAfrica.com – Uganda:  Kony Crosses Into Central Africa Republic – 16 March 2008

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor continued into its eighth week with grisly tales of cannibalism and further descriptions of terror tactics by Taylor’s ‘death squad’ commander. Joseph Marzah, also known as “Zigzag,” testified in open session that Taylor ordered his fighters in Liberia to eat the flesh of their enemies in order to “set an example for the people to be afraid.” The majority of the victims of cannibalism were members of the Krahn tribe of former Liberian president Samuel Doe, whom Taylor ousted from power in 1989. In addition, Marzah testified that Taylor ordered the forces to eat African and UN peacekeepers, specifically recalling that Taylor said the white UN peacekeepers could be “used as pork to eat.” According to Marzah, none of these atrocities were perpetrated without a direct order from Taylor.

On cross examination, the defense asked Marzah how the militia would prepare these human beings for eating. Marzah vividly described splitting, cleaning, decapitating and cooking the corpse with salt and pepper. He added, “we slit your throat, butcher you… throw away the head, take the flesh and put it in a pot… Charles Taylor knows that.” Marzah added that “when someone wants to kill you and your family, you kill and eat them for revenge.”

Marzah was with Taylor’s National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NFPL) from the beginning until the end and had risen to become Taylor’s Chief of Operations. He was also commander of the Death Squad, which specialized in executions. He agreed to testify in open session only after promises of protection were made for him and his family.

In addition to the cannibalism, Marzah testified to executions of women, children and babies. He described how he had killed so many men women and children that he had lost count, and that he had slit open the stomachs of pregnant women on multiple occasions. Marzah also vividly described the murder of babies, saying “it’s not hard, you hit them against a wall, throw them in a pit or in a river, and they are dead. And then you give the report to Charles Taylor.” He added that Taylor ordered him to kill any baby he saw, offering financial incentives to those who succeeded in executing the infants under a program called “No Baby on Target.”

Marzah and NPLF forces were told by Taylor on numerous occasions to show no mercy to civilians, believing most were collaborating with the enemy. Marzah described militia checkpoints, meant to terrify the population, where human heads were mounted on sticks, and intenstines were used to barricade roads. The militia was also encouraged to “play with human blood” so that enemy forces would fear them.

Marzah also testified that he regularly smuggled weapons and diamonds for Taylor.

On cross-examination, defense counsel Courtenay Griffiths worked to discredit Marzah’s testimony, attempting to find inconsistencies in what Marzah told prosecution investigators and attorneys in the past and what he was telling the court at the trial. Griffiths also accused Marzah of testifying because he didn’t want to be prosecuted himself, and that he was exaggerating his importance in Taylor’s organization, stating that Marzah was never senior enough in command to receive direct orders from Taylor. The Defense also focused on the fact that Taylor could not be expected to control all his commanders at one time, and that Sierra Leone and Liberia were “chaotic places over which Taylor did not have effective control.”

Taylor is accused of orchestrating atrocities during the civil war in Sierra Leone, including murder, rape, and forced conscription of children into his army. He has pled not guilty to all charges. The 59 year old is the first former African head of state to appear before an international war crimes tribunal.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Taylor ‘made rebels eat enemies’ – 13 March 2008

allAfrica.com – NPFL Insider ‘Zigzag’ Marzah alleges Taylor Ordered Atrocities in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Traded Arms for Diamonds With the RUF – 13 March 2008

allAfrica.com – ‘Zigzag’ Marzah says Taylor Ordered Cannibalism; Defense Works to Discredit His Testimony – 14 March 2008

The Trial of Charles Taylor, http://charlestaylortrial.org – last accessed 14 March 2008

CNN.com – Top aide testifies Taylor ordered soldiers to eat victims – 13 March 2008

AFP – Former Liberian fighter describes rebel atrocities – 13 March 2008

The Associated Press – Terror Tactics Described at Taylor Trial – 13 March 2008

VOA news – Militia Commander Testifies at War Crimes Trial of Liberia’s Taylor – 12 March 2008

By Ted Townsend
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The trial of former Liberian president Charles Taylor continued into its eighth week with grisly tales of cannibalism and further descriptions of terror tactics by Taylor’s ‘death squad’ commander. Joseph Marzah, also known as “Zigzag,” testified in open session that Taylor ordered his fighters in Liberia to eat the flesh of their enemies in order to “set an example for the people to be afraid.” The majority of the victims of cannibalism were members of the Krahn tribe of former Liberian president Samuel Doe, whom Taylor ousted from power in 1989. In addition, Marzah testified that Taylor ordered the forces to eat African and UN peacekeepers, specifically recalling that Taylor said the white UN peacekeepers could be “used as pork to eat.” According to Marzah, none of these atrocities were perpetrated without a direct order from Taylor.

On cross examination, the defense asked Marzah how the militia would prepare these human beings for eating. Marzah vividly described splitting, cleaning, decapitating and cooking the corpse with salt and pepper. He added, “we slit your throat, butcher you… throw away the head, take the flesh and put it in a pot… Charles Taylor knows that.” Marzah added that “when someone wants to kill you and your family, you kill and eat them for revenge.”

Marzah was with Taylor’s National Patriotic Front for Liberia (NFPL) from the beginning until the end and had risen to become Taylor’s Chief of Operations. He was also commander of the Death Squad, which specialized in executions. He agreed to testify in open session only after promises of protection were made for him and his family.

In addition to the cannibalism, Marzah testified to executions of women, children and babies. He described how he had killed so many men women and children that he had lost count, and that he had slit open the stomachs of pregnant women on multiple occasions. Marzah also vividly described the murder of babies, saying “it’s not hard, you hit them against a wall, throw them in a pit or in a river, and they are dead. And then you give the report to Charles Taylor.” He added that Taylor ordered him to kill any baby he saw, offering financial incentives to those who succeeded in executing the infants under a program called “No Baby on Target.”

Marzah and NPLF forces were told by Taylor on numerous occasions to show no mercy to civilians, believing most were collaborating with the enemy. Marzah described militia checkpoints, meant to terrify the population, where human heads were mounted on sticks, and intenstines were used to barricade roads. The militia was also encouraged to “play with human blood” so that enemy forces would fear them.

Marzah also testified that he regularly smuggled weapons and diamonds for Taylor.

On cross-examination, defense counsel Courtenay Griffiths worked to discredit Marzah’s testimony, attempting to find inconsistencies in what Marzah told prosecution investigators and attorneys in the past and what he was telling the court at the trial. Griffiths also accused Marzah of testifying because he didn’t want to be prosecuted himself, and that he was exaggerating his importance in Taylor’s organization, stating that Marzah was never senior enough in command to receive direct orders from Taylor. The Defense also focused on the fact that Taylor could not be expected to control all his commanders at one time, and that Sierra Leone and Liberia were “chaotic places over which Taylor did not have effective control.”

Taylor is accused of orchestrating atrocities during the civil war in Sierra Leone, including murder, rape, and forced conscription of children into his army. He has pled not guilty to all charges. The 59 year old is the first former African head of state to appear before an international war crimes tribunal.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Taylor ‘made rebels eat enemies’ – 13 March 2008

allAfrica.com – NPFL Insider ‘Zigzag’ Marzah alleges Taylor Ordered Atrocities in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and Traded Arms for Diamonds With the RUF – 13 March 2008

allAfrica.com – ‘Zigzag’ Marzah says Taylor Ordered Cannibalism; Defense Works to Discredit His Testimony – 14 March 2008

The Trial of Charles Taylor, http://charlestaylortrial.org – last accessed 14 March 2008

CNN.com – Top aide testifies Taylor ordered soldiers to eat victims – 13 March 2008

AFP – Former Liberian fighter describes rebel atrocities – 13 March 2008

The Associated Press – Terror Tactics Described at Taylor Trial – 13 March 2008

VOA news – Militia Commander Testifies at War Crimes Trial of Liberia’s Taylor – 12 March 2008