News

M23 Rebels End Insurgency in Democratic Republic of the Congo

By Erica Smith
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo–  The rebel group, M23, announced on Tuesday that it is ending its insurgency in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).  The announcement came just hours after the government claimed military victory over the group. It its statement, made on the group’s Facebook page, M23 claimed that it would seek to accomplish its aims through “purely political means”. The group also urged its fighters to disarm and demobilize.

An army officer stands outside an enclosure filled with M23 rebel fighters who have surrendered in Uganda. (photo courtesy of Reuters)

M23 leader Bertrand Bisimwa announced that “the chief of general staff and the commanders of all major units are requested to prepare troops for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration on terms to be agreed with the government of Congo”.

The government claims that the last remaining rebels had either been capture or fled to neighboring countries overnight.  The announcement also comes after an agreement signed by African leaders for M23 to make a public declaration renouncing the rebellion.

M23 has been has been fighting with the DRC military since April 2012. The group is primarily made up of former military members who defected because they believed the government did not honor a peace agreement with the National Congress for the Defense of the People signed March 23 2009. The primarily  Tutsi groups is widely believed to be back by Rwanda and Uganda.

At least 800,000 people have fled their homes since the fighting began but many may not be able to return home because there are still other rebel groups active in Eastern Congo. “We now speak to other armed groups to surrender because if they don’t want to, then we will disarm them by force,” Army spokesman Colonel Olivier Hamuli told the BBC. The Information Minister Lambert Mende told AFP news agency that “There is no more place in our country for any irregular group”

The M23 has now been replaced at “top of the list” by the Rwandan Hutu FDLR militia. Rwanda has invaded DRC twice claiming it wanted to stop Hutu groups, such as the FDLR, from attacking it. Analysts believe that if the FDLR were defeated, Rwanda would lose its main justification for its involvement in Congolese affairs. Both Rwanda and Uganda deny aiding rebel groups in DRC.

M23 is set to sign a peace agreement with the DRC government on Monday.

For further information, please see:

Reuters — Congo says to sign peace deal with M23 rebels on Monday — 8 November 2013

Wall Street Journal — Congo M23 Rebels Set to Sign Peace Deal With Government — 9 November 2013

Christian Science Monitor — M23 surrender alone won’t end Congo war: 7 thoughts from US envoy — 7 November 2013

ABC News — Official: M23 Chief, Rebels Surrender to Uganda — 6 November 2013

Aljazeera — DR Congo army defeats M23 rebels — 6 November 2013

BBC News — DR Congo M23 rebels ‘end insurgency’ — 5 November 2012

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Highest European Court Approves Homosexuality as Grounds for Asylum

By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

BRUSSELS, European Union – Applicable to all EU states, the European Court of Justice ruled that fear of imprisonment on the basis of homosexual status is grounds for asylum; particularly, for nationals of Sierra Leone, Uganda, and Senegal.

ECJ ruling allows persecuted homosexuals from African countries to claim asylum in EU member states. (Photo courtesy of Deutsche Welle)

In October 2013, the Netherlands and Russia fought when masked assailants entered a Moscow apartment, beat a Dutch diplomat who lived there, and scrawled “LGBT” in lipstick on his mirror. The attack followed a similar attack in which Dutch police entered a Russian diplomat’s flat and “roughed him up.”

In early November 2013, Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans stated that Russia’s prohibition on “homosexual propaganda” may be grounds for asylum in the Netherlands, which is a leader in protecting LGBT rights. Russia’s law has angered many activists worldwide, who have called for a Winter Olympics boycott since the law’s June 2013 enactment.

The Dutch Council of State, a top advisory body, asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) whether homosexuals could be considered a particular social group, and whether criminalization and possible imprisonment amounted to persecution of them. Dutch policy had suggested that homosexuals could exercise “restraint” to avoid persecution.

Particular social groups with a well-founded fear of persecution can claim refugee status under international law, if the persecution constitutes a severe violation of human rights.

In response, the ECJ ruled that laws specifically targeting homosexuals do make them a separate group; however, national authorities must determine “whether, in the applicant’s country of origin, the term of imprisonment…is applied in practice.” For instance, merely banning homosexuality is not grounds for approving an asylum request.

While it is unclear how persons claiming refugee status can prove their homosexuality, the ECJ is not scheduled to rule on that issue within the coming year.

In its ruling, the ECJ discussed that expecting concealment of one’s sexual identity was not reasonable: “A person’s sexual orientation is a characteristic so fundamental to his identity that he should not be forced to renounce it.”

The Dutch Council’s request stemmed from a case of three Africans seeking asylum on grounds that they feared persecution for their sexual orientation if returned to their homelands. Currently, homosexual acts are illegal in most African countries, including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Botswana, and other Western allies.

In Uganda and other countries, suggested punishments for homosexuality have included the death penalty.

In June 2013, Amnesty International reported dangerous levels of homophobic attacks in sub-Saharan Africa, where 38 countries criminalize homosexual acts, and stated that such attacks must stop.

Until the ECJ visits the question of how EU states may reasonably inquire as to a refugee’s sexual orientation, a larger question looms: in the pursuit of happiness and a greater quality of life, does a person’s specific reason for wanting to leave an oppressive regime really matter?

For further information, please see:

BBC News – Top EU Court Ruling Backs Gay African Asylum Bids – November 7, 2013

Deutsche Welle – European Court Rules Homosexuals Can Seek Asylum in EU – November 7, 2013

RadioFreeEurope Radio Liberty – ECJ Rules Homosexuality Can Be Grounds for Asylum – November 7, 2013

Reuters – Anti-Gay Discrimination Could Be Grounds for Asylum: EU Court – November 7, 2013

TIME – European Court: Gay Refugees May Have Grounds for Asylum – November 7, 2013

North Korea Claims to Have Captured South Korean Spy

By Brian Lanciault
Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea–North Korea announced Thursday that a South Korean spy had been arrested while attempting to use “dishonest elements” for a mission to destabilize its government. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) immediately rejected the claim as baseless.

Pyongyang regularly accuses Seoul and Washington of working to sabotage its secretive, authoritarian system, but specific claims that an individual spy has been captured, especially before an investigation is concluded, are unusual. (Photo Courtesy of AP)

Security authorities recently captured an agent of South Korea’s intelligence agency in Pyongyang, according to the North’s state-run media outlet, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

KCNA’s report quoted a spokesman for the Ministry of State Security as saying the spy confessed to coming into Pyongyang illegally through a third country.

“An initial investigation indicates that he was engaged in anti-DPRK (North Korea) espionage and plot-breeding activities in a third country bordering the DPRK for nearly six years, while disguising himself as a religionist,” KCNA reported.

The spy came to Pyongyang to “rally dishonest elements within the boundary of the DPRK and use them for undermining the stability of the social system in the DPRK”, it said.

“This fully proves to what extent the puppet group of conservatives has reached in its anti-DPRK moves,” the report continued.

NIS responded from Seoul almost immediately.

“Such allegations are absurd and totally groundless,” an NIS official said.

North and South Korea have remained technically at war since their 1950-1953 conflict ended in an armistice. Since then, thousands of North Korean spies have been arrested in the South. The North has also sporadically announced the arrests of South Korean citizens on charges of espionage.

The South’s Yonhap news agency speculated that a South Korean citizen might have been detained while doing missionary work in the North.

The North arrested Kenneth Bae, a 45-year-old US citizen, in November and sentenced him to 15 years’ detention in a labor camp on charges of seeking to topple the government.

The court described Bae, also known by his Korean name Pae Jun-Ho, as a militant Christian evangelist who smuggled inflammatory material into the country.

Since the announcement, Northern officials claim to be “intensifying investigations.”

For more information, please see:

Fox News– North Korea says it has arrested South Korean spy in Pyongyang; Seoul rejects claim — 7 November 2013

Bloomberg– North Korea Arrests South Korean Spy in Pyongyang, KCNA Reports — 7 November 2013

Arirang News– N. Korea admits catching S. Korean spy — 7 November 2013

AFP– N. Korea arrests S. Korean spy: state media — 7 November 2013

Sky News– North Korea says it arrested South spy — 7 November 2013

Al-Qaeda-Affiliated Group Claims Responsibility for Murders of Two French Journalists in Mali

by Tony Iozzo
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

GAO, Mali – The Al Qaeda-linked militant group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has claimed responsibility for the deaths of two French journalists, who were murdered in Mali on Saturday.

Dupont and Verlon were abducted and murdered by a subset of Al Qaeda on Saturday. (Photo courtesy of BBC News)

The Mauritanian news agency, Sahara Medias, stated that it received the message in the form of an email. In the email, AQIM claimed it was responsible for the deaths of Ghislaine Dupont and Claude Verlon, journalists from Radio France International.

Dupont and Verlon were found dead just outside of Kidal in northern Mali hours after being abducted at gunpoint. Sahara Medias stated the email said the murders had been carried out by a unit led by Abdelkrim al-Targui, a Malian national who has risen to prominence internally in a branch of Al Qaeda that is led by Algerian jihadists. Sahara Medias, often sent statements by Islamic militants in Mali, stated it received the email from fighters loyal to Targui.

“This operation was a response to crimes committed by France against Malians and the work of African and international forces against the Muslims of Azawad,” the email stated.

France had launched a military operation in the ground and air in Mali in January earlier this year, with the objective of reclaiming territory seized by Islamist militants in the northern part of Mali.

The AQIM statement also suggested that the murders were “the minimum debt” owed by the French people and President François Hollande “in return for their new crusade.”

Targui is a native of the Kidal region of Mali and is also believed to be responsible for the previous kidnappings of two French nationals, Philippe Verdon and Serge Lazarevic. Verdon and Lazarevic were abducted from the town of Hombori in northern Mali in 2011. Lazarevic remains in captivity, while Verdon was executed earlier this year.

AQIM grew in the 1990’s out of a movement started by radical Algerian Islamists who sought the overthrow of the Algerian government and to replace it with Islamic rule. The organization joined forces with Al Qaeda in 2006 and has spread itself across the Sahel region abutting the southern Sahara desert.

On Tuesday, France stated that it had sent seven investigators, including intelligence and police officials, to Mali to assist in the search for Dupont and Verlon’s killers. A member of the Malian security forces said that roughly thirty five suspects had been arrested in connection with the murders.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – “Al-Qaeda killed” French Reporters Dupont and Verlon in Mali – 6 November 2013

France 24 – Al-Qaeda-Linked Group Claims Murder of French Journalists – 6 November 2013

New York Times – Killing of French Journalists Reverberates in France and Mali – 6 November 2013

Reuters – France, Malian Forces Hunt Suspects Behind Journalist Killings – 4 November 2013

 

Egypt Court Upholds Ban on Muslim Brotherhood

By Thomas Murphy
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

CAIRO, Egypt – On Wednesday, a court in Egypt upheld an earlier ruling that banned the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered their assets confiscated. Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Osama el-Helw announced that they would appeal the ruling and may do so on multiple grounds and in multiple courts.

Mohamed Morsi supporters protest outside of the Cairo Police Academy, where his trial took place on November 4.

The group was originally banned on September 23 as a result of the overthrow of President Mohamed Morsi. In that ruling, the court ordered the Brotherhood’s assets to be seized until the criminal trials of the now removed president and the leaders of the Brotherhood are complete.

The original verdict was viewed as a pretext to move against the Muslim Brotherhood’s assets which include schools, hospitals, charities, and businesses. On October 2, members of the ruling government created a committee to review the assets, but thus far have not moved against them.

The leftist Tagammu party, which filed the case demanding the banning of the group, said the new ruling should give the authorities the green light to move.

“The government must take urgent measures to implement the court ruling … and prove it is serious about implementing the law,” Hani el-Husseini, a Tagammu member, told the official MENA news agency.

El-Helw said the government has already violated due process by forming the committee and allowing it to begin its work while the group had filed for suspension of ruling.

“We will pursue legal means. Let the law be the arbiter,” el-Helw said.

Although an appeal is planned it will not stop the government from moving forward unless it is accepted by another court. Legal experts say it is unlikely that the ruling will be overturned despite the fact that the court may have been improper and failed to provide clear guidelines for monitoring the Brotherhood’s assets.

The Muslim Brotherhood has already begun feeling the effects of the new regime, specifically in a charitable capacity.

Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from Cairo, said: “We have been speaking to charities that are affiliated with the organization who say that over the past couple of months, things have gotten very difficult for them indeed, and their donations have all but totally dried up. But now we will see things get even tougher for the Muslim Brotherhood as a financial entity and as a political entity too.”

For further information, please see:

ABC – Egypt Court Upholds Muslim Brotherhood Ban – 6 November 2013

Al Jazeera – Egypt court upholds Muslim Brotherhood ban – 6 November 2013

BBC – Egypt court rejects Muslim Brotherhood ban appeal – 6 October 2013

CNN – Egypt court upholds ban on Muslim Brotherhood activities – 25 October 2013