Wednesday 25 December 2013
DR Congo arrests rebel leader accused of war crimes « Capital News
DR Congo arrests rebel leader accused of war crimes
December 24, 2013 by AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE
GOMA, Dec 23 – The Congolese army on Monday arrested a rebel leader whose militia has been accused of committing war crimes in the east of the vast Democratic Republic of Congo, sources said.
Kakule Muhima, head of a Mai Mai militia known by his nickname Shetani (Satan), was arrested in Kiwanja, a town in the volatile, resource rich province of North Kivu, Jean Claude Bambanze, civil society leader for the Rutshuru region where Kiwanja is located, said in a statement.
Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Olivier Amuli confirmed the arrest, telling AFP that Muhima would be brought before a military tribunal in the eastern DR Congo's main city Goma, some 80 kilometres (50 miles) south of Kiwanja, "at the first opportunity".
Bambanze said Muhima was arrested "after looting money, telephones and other items of value from five houses" in a part of Kiwanja where the UN mission to the DR Congo has a large base.
The area was retaken by the DR Congo army after it defeated the M23 rebel movement early last month.
Shetani's fighters had repeatedly engaged in territorial battles with the M23 during which they committed "many crimes" including "torture, sexual violence (and killings)", Bambanze said.
The M23, which was suspected of being backed by Rwanda and Uganda and held Goma for 10 days in late 2012, surrendered on November 5 after a major army offensive backed by a UN intervention force.
The region has rich deposits of minerals including gold and coltan, a key component in electronic devices, but is ravaged by rebels and militia who rape and murder with impunity, according to rights groups.
Kinshasa has urged dozens of armed groups still active in the area to lay down their arms or face the same fate as the M23.
Several thousand fighters have complied since then, but Kinshasa pledged that sexual violence, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide would not go unpunished.
Mai Mai groups have a fierce reputation based partly on their belief that they can dodge bullets if they sprinkle themselves with sacred water before battle.
BBC News - South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'
South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'
24 December 2013 Last updated at 13:35
New evidence is emerging of alleged ethnic killings committed during more than a week of fighting in South Sudan.
The violence follows a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his Nuer ex-deputy Riek Machar.
A reporter in the capital, Juba, quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly ethnic Nuers, had been shot by security forces.
The UN says it has discovered a mass grave in Bentiu in the oil-rich Unity State, containing about 75 bodies.
"There are reportedly at least two other mass graves in Juba," UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the Geneva-based human rights office told the BBC the ethnicity of those killed in Bentiu was unclear - but there are reports they are ethnic Dinkas.
Ravina Shamdasani said the other two reported mass graves were in Jebel-Kujur and Newside, near Eden.
She said it was not clear who was responsible for the killings.
Personal rivalry
The fighting first erupted in Juba last week and has spread throughout South Sudan, with rebels supporting Mr Machar seizing the major towns of Bor and Bentiu, north of the capital.
Bentiu is the capital of the oil-producing Unity State.
Mr Kiir has accused Mr Machar, whom he sacked in July, of plotting a coup. Mr Machar denies he is trying to seize power, while the government has denied it is behind any ethnic violence.
The fear is that the personal rivalry between the former allies will spark a full-scale conflict between the Nuer and Dinka groups.
Hannah McNeish, a journalist in Juba, told the BBC that she had interviewed a man called Simon, living at a UN camp, who said he was shot four times but managed to survive a mass killing by hiding under dead bodies.
"He tells of being rounded up with about 250 other men, driven to a police station in one of Juba's busiest suburbs. He describes an ordeal whereby over the course of two days, forces outside the windows fired into this room, killing all but 12 men," she said.
McNeish said this account had been corroborated by two other survivors at the camp.
Another man interviewed at the UN base in Juba reported that Dinka gunmen were shooting people in Nuer districts who did not speak the Dinka language.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator Toby Lanzer, who was in Bor over the weekend, told the BBC he had witnessed "some of the most horrible things that one can imagine".
The claims of atrocities have not been independently verified.
'Face the consequences'
The official death toll stands at 500, but aid agencies say the true figure is likely to be much higher.
There has also been fighting in Upper Nile State but few details have emerged.
Another 81,000 people have been displaced, the UN's humanitarian agency says, with about half seeking shelter at UN bases.
It warned many more people could be affected in more remote areas.
The UN has 7,000 soldiers deployed in South Sudan, but on Monday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to reassign another 5,500 troops from UN missions in other African countries, including Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also asked for hundreds more police, three attack helicopters, three transport helicopters and one military transport plane.
He has said all reports of human rights violations and crimes against humanity will be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
Two Indian peacekeepers were killed last week in a rebel raid on a UN compound.
President Kiir has said he is willing to hold talks with Mr Machar - and that a delegation of East African foreign ministers had offered to mediate - but that his former deputy would have to come to the table without any conditions.
Mr Machar told Reuters news agency that he was open to dialogue if his political allies were released from detention.
Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than a million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.
BBC News - South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'
South Sudan sees 'mass ethnic killings'
24 December 2013 Last updated at 13:35
New evidence is emerging of alleged ethnic killings committed during more than a week of fighting in South Sudan.
The violence follows a power struggle between President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, and his Nuer ex-deputy Riek Machar.
A reporter in the capital, Juba, quoted witnesses as saying more than 200 people, mostly ethnic Nuers, had been shot by security forces.
The UN says it has discovered a mass grave in Bentiu in the oil-rich Unity State, containing about 75 bodies.
"There are reportedly at least two other mass graves in Juba," UN human rights chief Navi Pillay said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for the Geneva-based human rights office told the BBC the ethnicity of those killed in Bentiu was unclear - but there are reports they are ethnic Dinkas.
Ravina Shamdasani said the other two reported mass graves were in Jebel-Kujur and Newside, near Eden.
She said it was not clear who was responsible for the killings.
Personal rivalry
The fighting first erupted in Juba last week and has spread throughout South Sudan, with rebels supporting Mr Machar seizing the major towns of Bor and Bentiu, north of the capital.
Bentiu is the capital of the oil-producing Unity State.
Mr Kiir has accused Mr Machar, whom he sacked in July, of plotting a coup. Mr Machar denies he is trying to seize power, while the government has denied it is behind any ethnic violence.
The fear is that the personal rivalry between the former allies will spark a full-scale conflict between the Nuer and Dinka groups.
Hannah McNeish, a journalist in Juba, told the BBC that she had interviewed a man called Simon, living at a UN camp, who said he was shot four times but managed to survive a mass killing by hiding under dead bodies.
"He tells of being rounded up with about 250 other men, driven to a police station in one of Juba's busiest suburbs. He describes an ordeal whereby over the course of two days, forces outside the windows fired into this room, killing all but 12 men," she said.
McNeish said this account had been corroborated by two other survivors at the camp.
Another man interviewed at the UN base in Juba reported that Dinka gunmen were shooting people in Nuer districts who did not speak the Dinka language.
UN humanitarian co-ordinator Toby Lanzer, who was in Bor over the weekend, told the BBC he had witnessed "some of the most horrible things that one can imagine".
The claims of atrocities have not been independently verified.
'Face the consequences'
The official death toll stands at 500, but aid agencies say the true figure is likely to be much higher.
There has also been fighting in Upper Nile State but few details have emerged.
Another 81,000 people have been displaced, the UN's humanitarian agency says, with about half seeking shelter at UN bases.
It warned many more people could be affected in more remote areas.
The UN has 7,000 soldiers deployed in South Sudan, but on Monday, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Security Council to reassign another 5,500 troops from UN missions in other African countries, including Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
He also asked for hundreds more police, three attack helicopters, three transport helicopters and one military transport plane.
He has said all reports of human rights violations and crimes against humanity will be investigated and those responsible held accountable.
Two Indian peacekeepers were killed last week in a rebel raid on a UN compound.
President Kiir has said he is willing to hold talks with Mr Machar - and that a delegation of East African foreign ministers had offered to mediate - but that his former deputy would have to come to the table without any conditions.
Mr Machar told Reuters news agency that he was open to dialogue if his political allies were released from detention.
Sudan suffered a 22-year civil war that left more than a million people dead before the South became independent in 2011.
-“The root cause of the Rwandan tragedy of 1994 is the long and past historical ethnic dominance of one minority ethnic group to the other majority ethnic group. Ignoring this reality is giving a black cheque for the Rwandan people’s future and deepening resentment, hostility and hatred between the two groups.”
-« Ce dont j’ai le plus peur, c’est des gens qui croient que, du jour au lendemain, on peut prendre une société, lui tordre le cou et en faire une autre ».
-“The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”
-“I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile.”
-“The price good men pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.”
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