Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Annual Report 2002 - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Repression by the authorities of the Democratic Republic of Congo

Mr. N'sii Luanda Shandwe detained²⁷

Mr. N'sii Luanda Shandwe, Chairman of the Human Rights Observers' Committee (Comité des observateurs des droits de l'Homme – CODHO), was arrested on 19th April 2002 during a search of his home. On the grounds of treason, two inspectors of the Military Order Court (COM) searched the house, seized documents and took Mr. N'sii Luanda away for questioning at the COM. He was questioned about his organisation, his activities, his trip to Geneva and his relationship with Mr. Bisimwa, a student arrested and detained in the past for "breach of State security".

Mr. N'sii Luanda was questioned again the day after his arrest and placed in detention at the Kinshasa Penitentiary and Re-education Centre (CPRK), where he was still in detention at the end of the year. He is thought to be accused of being in contact with persons suspected of breach of national security, particularly in connection with the trial of the alleged assassins of Laurent-Désiré Kabila, the previous Head of State. However, no formal charge has been laid against him to date. Following a letter Mr. N'sii Luanda sent to the President of the COM on 14th May requesting an explanation for his detention, he received a reply from the military prosecutor's department dated 23rd September saying that the case was "under examination". He was questioned on several occasions by an examining magistrate, but each time in the presence of an adviser to the Minister for Security and Public Order; this undermines the impartiality of the procedure.

On 12th June 2002, a medical certificate stating that he suffered from a painful appendix and cardiac palpitations and recommending that he receive medical supervision outside the detention centre was sent to the military prosecutor. However, he was not hospitalised until 20th September 2002; he was operated on 26th September, and was then returned to the CPRK. At the end of 2002, despite his operation, Mr. N'sii Luanda was still suffering from an infection.

Mr. N'Sii Luanda had already been arbitrarily detained on similar grounds from 5th June to 7th September 2001. No formal charge was laid and he was released on orders from the public prosecutor.

Mr. Willy Wenga Ilombe detained²⁸

Lawyer Willy Wenga Ilombe, a member of the African Centre for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights (Centre africain pour la paix, la démocratie et les droits de l'Homme – CAPD), was arrested on 20th February 2002. On 22nd February he was questioned by four military judges and transferred to the CPRK on the grounds that he had allegedly been in contact with persons suspected of breach of State security in connection with the assassination of L.D. Kabila. He has not been questioned since. As at end 2002, Mr. Wenga Ilombe was still being detained without charge. An FIDH mission was able to visit Mr. Wenga Ilombe and Mr. N'sii Luanda in prison early in October. Mission members noted that Mr. Wenga Ilombe looked very worn and tense.

Journalist arrested

After publishing an article calling for the release of Mr. N'sii Luanda and Mr. Wenga Ilombe, Mr. Ngimbi Mabedo, editor and manager of the weekly L'Intermédiaire, was arrested on 7th August and brought directly before the Kinshasa military court (COM). He was held there for two days.

Intimidation on human rights NGOs²⁹

Representatives of 11 human rights defence organisations taking part in the campaign for the release of Mr. N'sii Luanda and Mr. Wenga Ilombe were called to a "consultation" meeting with the COM prosecutor Colonel Charles Alamba Mungako on 10th August 2002 at the COM headquarters.

In fact the prosecutor, who had convened the "meeting" himself, merely issued warnings and threats against the NGOs present. He reportedly said that defence of human rights was the domain of the COM, "the real Voice of the Voiceless" (referring to the NGO of that name), whereas the human rights defenders were merely defending delinquents and criminals. He reportedly also expressed his intention to repress and sanction any attempt by the NGOs to organise sit-ins, marches or other peaceful demonstrations for the release of the two imprisoned defenders. The first deputy prosecutor is reported to have said that the NGOs' signing of a memorandum to the Head of State in favour of Mr. N'sii Luanda and Mr. Wenga Ilombe and its publication in the press constituted crimes endangering State security and, under Article 138 point 3 of Book II of the ordinary Penal Code, constituted an act of treason punishable by death.

Despite the threats uttered against the NGOs at the meeting, the first deputy prosecutor undertook to examine, in application of the legal procedures, the request by the defence lawyers and human rights defenders for the temporary release of the two defenders. However, this commitment has so far produced no results.

Continued harassment against the Voice of the Voiceless³⁰

There was increased harassment and intimidation of the members of Voice of the Voiceless (Voix des Sans Voix – VSV) in 2002.

At the consultation meeting at the COM headquarters on 10th August (see above), Mr. Floribert Chebeya Bahizire, Chairman of VSV, was severely taken to task by the COM prosecutor general and assistant prosecutors, who told him he had almost been arrested in July, when he had spoken on the Voice of America radio station. In that broadcast he denounced the involvement of the Head of State and the COM military prosecutor in serious violations of human rights in DRC.

On 30th August 2002, following an action by VSV for the release of the arbitrarily detained military officer César Mukuta Makumu, VSV driver Mr. Fidèle Bazana Edadi was held for several hours and threatened with arrest when he went to the COM prosecutor's offices to deliver a letter from VSV.

On 10th October, VSV member Mr. Léon Kasongo Omasumbu was held for more than an hour by a military officer at the headquarters of the DEMIAP (Military Detection of Anti-Patriotic Activities) when he went there to deposit a letter requesting the release of the arbitrarily detained warrant officer François Namegabe. The officer threatened to arrest Mr. Kasongo Omasumbu and to mistreat any VSV leader who came to ask after him or deliver any other letter.

After the VSV issued a press release about the deteriorating medical condition of CPRK prisoners, the director of the detention centre ordered the guards to arrest any VSV member who came to the centre before they entered.

On 13th October 2002, VSV held a press conference at its head office, about the Public Prosecutor's address to the Court at the trial of the persons charged with the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila (the prosecution was asking for the death penalty for 115 of the 135 people on trial). Immediately afterwards, the COM Prosecutor ordered the arrest of any VSV member arriving at the CPRK to cover the trial hearings.

Since September 2001, VSV has been banned from organising press conferences or any other meetings in public meeting places, particularly the Grand Hotel in Kinshasa. VSV bookings are refused or made conditional on prior presentation of written permission from the Governor of Kinshasa. All VSV's applications to the Governor receive a rejection from the National Intelligence Agency (ANR).

Mr. Floribert Chebeya has been compelled to go into hiding for fear of arrest, having received two summonses to appear before the COM at the end of 2002.

Harassment against the League of Electors³¹

Members of the League of Electors are still in the authorities' firing line and their activities are particularly closely watched. On 2nd December 2002, Chairman Paul Nsapu, Vice-Chairman Sabin Banza and member François Butedi were arrested and held for several hours during the violent repression of a sit-in in front of the South African Embassy. The aim of the sit-in was to demand that the inter-Congolese political negotiations in Pretoria reach their conclusion with a political agreement that would end the war in the DRC and revive the democratisation process.

On 29th September 2002, an awareness-raising meeting for peace, human rights and democratic elections, organised by the League's Ngaba branch (Ngaba is a suburb of Kinshasa) was banned by the authorities. On the day of the meeting, an ANR agent went to the Saint-Adrien parish hall where the meeting was to be held and forbade Father J. Zwolinski to let the League use the hall. During the service, the ANR agent told parishioners not to attend the meeting, which was due to take place just after. The local police commandant arrested Mrs. Geneviève Dilayen, leader of the Ngaba branch, in the middle of mass and without a warrant. She was taken to the district offices, accompanied by her husband, questioned, and threatened with indictment on the pretext that the meeting had not been authorised by the Bourgmestre, the town Governor and the ANR officer responsible. Both were released after two hours' questioning. Fearing reprisals, Mr. Mundurame, the parish manager, closed all the meeting halls and asked those present to disperse.

League member Mrs. Lydia Lufwabantu and her husband Mr. Baudouin Lufwabantu had to flee abroad because of threats hanging over them. These threats were due to Mr. Lufwabantu's defence of workers' rights at the bank where he worked, and because the security services had confused Mrs. Lufwabantu was accused of informing human rights organisations about large-scale embezzlement from State enterprises by the regime's dignitaries.

Threats and intimidation against members of ASADHO/Katanga³²

– Mr. Golden Misabiko threatened with arrest

On 26th February 2002, three soldiers from the Lubumbashi COM sent to the Katanga branch office of the African Association for the Defence of Human Rights (Association africaine de défense des droits de l'Homme – ASADHO) asking for Mr. Golden Misabiko and Mr. Hubert Tshiswaka (Chairman and Financial and Administrative Director of the branch respectively). Neither was there at the time and the soldiers came by again an hour later, when the two were still absent. They phoned the office in the early afternoon and ordered Mr. Misabiko, who was back in his office by then, to report to the COM for questioning on matters he would be informed of on arrival. Mr. Misabiko asked that an official summons be sent to him. A summons was delivered to the association's office around 4.30 p.m.; but the name and address of the association mentioned in it were wrong. Mr. Misabiko had to go into hiding and in the end flee abroad because of the repeated threats made against him. As at end 2002, he was still living in exile. In 2001, Mr. Misabiko had been arbitrarily detained from 5th February to 13th September at the CPRK, and received threats from the DEMIAP in November.

– Acts of intimidation against Mr. Hubert Tshiswaka and defamation campaign against ASADHO/Katanga³³

Mr. Hubert Tshiswaka, financial and administrative director of the Katanga branch of ASADHO, was summonsed to appear before the COM in Lubumbashi on 23rd January 2002. He was questioned by the military judge Mrs. Mwasengi. During questioning, Mr. Tshiswaka was ordered to supply a list of the people he would have helped to leave the country in May 2001 with the help of Father Alain, a Lubumbashi resident now living in Belgium. The judge reportedly warned Mr. Tshiswaka of the arrest of all those in Namibia, giving the names of two of them. Mr. Tshiswaka told the judge he knew nothing about the affair, still less the two people the judge had named.

Mr. Tshiswaka was again the victim of threats on 26th February when three military officer from the Lubumbashi COM came to the ASADHO/Katanga offices to find him. He was obliged to go into hiding for a while.

In late 2002 there was a campaign of slander against ASADHO/Katanga following publication of a report by a United Nations group of experts on the plundering of natural resources in DRC (21st October 2002), in which Mr. Georges Forrest, Chairman of the Forrest Group and also French Honorary Consul in Lubumbashi, is strongly implicated. ASADHO/Katanga was accused in a Forrest Group press release issued on 2nd December 2002 of "taking an active part in an inadmissible smear campaign" against the company. That press release was a reaction to a press release of 28th November by ASADHO/Katanga denouncing the arrest and detention of Mr. Emile Omba (see below).

Arrest and detention of Mr. Emile Omba³⁴

Congolese citizen Emile Omba was arrested on 23rd November 2002 after denouncing in an open letter of 18th November "the illicit shipment of uranium-rich copper ore from the Lwishuishi and Tumbwe quarries [actually the neighbouring quarry, Lukuni] by member firms of the Malta Forrest group". Mr. Omba's letter cited the registration numbers of 13 trucks he saw leaving the mine and asked the authorities to intercept them before they left the town of Kipushi as planned on 16th November.

Mr. Omba was transferred to Lubumbashi on 27th November and then to the cells at the Lubumbashi Court of First Instance on 29th November, when he was formally charged with "propagating false rumours".

At the end of 2002, Emile Omba was still in detention.

Acts of torture against Mr. Sebastien Kayembe Nkokesha³⁵

On 15th October 2002, Mr. Sebastien Kayembe Nkokesha, Chairman of the Congolese Observatory of Human Rights (Observatoire congolais des droits de l'Homme – OCDH) board and lawyer for several of those standing trial for the assassination of President L.D. Kabila, was abducted as he left the chambers of Kinshasa barrister Mr. Tshialu. Five people, two of them in army uniform, roughed them up and hustled them into a vehicle where an unidentified man, supposedly a colonel, was sitting. Mr. Kayembe was taken between two soldiers to Maluku, 80 km from the town centre. There the soldiers reportedly squirted a chemical into his eyes, momentarily blinding him. After stuffing his socks into his mouth they beat him, mainly around the head, face and legs, with an iron bar.

His kidnappers then left him in the bush in Kimbondo district in the commune of Mont Ngafula. Mr. Kayembe managed to reach a farm from where he was able to contact his family. He was taken to the intensive care unit of a Kinshasa hospital.

He had to go abroad to receive proper health care.

Repression by the authorities of the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD)

Harassment of members of the Lotus Group³⁶

Lotus Group chairman Dismas Kitenge Senga and researcher Adan Baku are constantly harassed and threatened, mainly because of their public declarations on human rights violations by the RCD in the Kisangani region and their repeated contacts with representatives of the international community (NGOs, IGOs, diplomats based in Kinshasa, foreign media, etc.). On that basis the Lotus Group is regarded as being in the pay of Western powers and an opponent of the RCD.

Mr. Gilbert Kalinde Abeli, the main leader of the Lotus Group's conflict prevention and resolution branch, and Mrs. Bibiche Bambale Bolaya, in charge of the Women and Children programme, also receive threats because of their awareness raising campaigns about peace and conflict prevention and in favour of tribal mutual associations and women's associations in Kisangani. Mrs. Bambale's stay in Europe halfway through the year was reported on the official radio as an opportunity for her to spread false information against the RCD and gather funds for use against the country.

Mrs. Alphonsine Oketa Safalani, a researcher on the Women, Children and Assistance Commission, was stopped and arrested on 11th and 12th October 2002 by State police on suspicion of conspiracy to aid an escape. This was due to the fact that, as part of her activities with the Lotus Group, Mrs. Oketa was able to visit people in police cells.

Harassment of Mr. François Zoka³⁷

Mr. François Zoka, Chairman of the Justice and Liberation Group (Groupe Justice et Libération), was called in on 11th November 2002 by the RCD security service following statements he made on the MONUC's Okapi radio station on 6th November reacting to the double tax on goods coming from areas not under RCD control. In the course of questioning, he was asked what he thought about RCD personnel, the Lotus Group and the Justice and Liberation Group. He was also questioned about the links those two organisations have with Western partners, and their future activities. He was also advised to inform the security services of all the movements of certain human rights defenders in Kisangani such as Pierre Kibaka (Justice and Liberation Group), Gilbert Kalinde, Adan Baku, Bibiche Bambale (Lotus Group) and Jean-Paul Nyindu (Friends of Nelson Mandela for Human Rights).

Smear campaign and threats³⁸

In radio programmes on 3rd, 4th and 5th January 2002, a representative of the RCD, Mr. Fundi Malanda Wa Batiaferi, portrayed Mr. Blaise Bolamba, leader of the provincial branch of Pax Christi, Mr. Dismas Kitenge, Mr. Gilbert Kalinde, Mr. François Zoka and Mr. Gilbert Loya Losana, Vice-Chairman of the Friends of Nelson Mandela, as agitators and opponents of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The smear campaign grew after the "rebellion" within the RCD on 14th May 2002, when rebel RCD officers took over the Congolese radio and television in Kinshasa and called on the population to take whatever offensive weapons they had and attack the Rwandan soldiers.³⁹

The authorities accused civil society representatives, and particularly human rights defenders, of being behind the incident. An immediate ban was put on all meetings and activities of all organisations and a list naming some ten civil society representatives was circulated. On 16th May 2002, Commandant Gabriel Amisi, Deputy Chief of Staff of the RCD army, in charge of logistics, announced on the official radio that he would severely punish civil society representatives, whom he regarded as equivalent to agitators, manipulators and mutineers, spies of the Kinshasa government and agents of the Western powers. Several defenders from NGOs, particularly the Lotus Group, the Friends of Nelson Mandela and the Justice and Liberation Group, had to go into hiding to escape the reprisals, some of them for nearly a month. On 18th May, Mr. Dismas Kitenge was called in for questioning by the Security Services. Due to an error of identity, Dismas Kakule, financial director of Air Boyoma airline, is reported to have been stopped by Military Intelligence agents who took his shoes and slapped his face.

On 8th July, the day after the publication of a Human Rights Watch report on the massacre of civilians in Kisangani after the mutiny of 14th May, the RCD security services pulled in Dismas Kitenge and Gilbert Loya Losana and questioned them about their associations' collaboration with Human Rights Watch and their contribution to the report. After that Gilbert Loya had to flee abroad.

The ban on NGO activities decreed on 14th May was rescinded by the Governor's decree on 28th June. However, NGOs must now obtain authorisation for any public event. For this they must pay administrative costs, which are set by the Mayor of Kisangani on a variable tariff depending on the importance of the event. The tribal mutual associations, under an order of the Mayor of Kisangani dated 3rd July 2002, must now not only obtain authorisation for their meetings from the commune bourgmestres but also provide them with a detailed list of the members present, the agenda and the minutes of the meeting. This rule applies to all districts.

Meeting banned⁴⁰

The Mayor of Kisangani banned a day event which the NGO Group of Christians for Peace (Groupe de Chrétiens pour la Paix) had scheduled for 4th January 2002. The event was to allow discussion and assessment of the peace process in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the organisation of the police and administration in Kisangani after demilitarisation. On 3rd January, the official radio broadcast a statement by the RCD security services to the effect that the meeting could not take place on the bank holiday commemorating the martyrs of independence and that it would have to be authorised for a later date, to be set by the authorities. On the morning of 4th January, the police surrounded Kisangani Cathedral hall, which was due to host the event, to keep people out.

Harassment of Mr. Pierre Komba⁴¹

On 23rd January 2002, agents from the Security and Intelligence Department (DSR) attempted to abduct Mr. Pierre Komba, a journalist on radio and TV channel Amani (RTA). Thanks to resistence of many of the students present at the time, they were unsuccessful. On 24th January, two DSR agents delivered a summons to him to report to the security services. These events seem to be linked to the analysis Mr. Komba made on his programme "A propos" on Amani, concerning the reception given to the Goma refugees by the Rwandan population of Gisenyi. He had presented the programme jointly with Mrs. Claudine Bela, head of the Women and Children Commission of the Friends of Nelson Mandela association in Kisangani. Mr. Komba and Mrs. Bela, in fear for their lives, were obliged to go into hiding until early March 2002. Since then they have been under surveillance.

No inquiry into the torture of Mr. Claude Olenga Sumaili⁴²

Protestant minister Claude Olenga Sumaili, former Chairman of the Justice and Peace Commission, had to flee abroad, as did his wife, who received serious threats after his departure. Rev. Olenga Sumaili had been arrested and tortured in August 2001, because of his broadcasts on the Kisangani archdiocese radio and TV channel Amani, which were considered hostile to the RCD. No legal proceedings have been taken against his torturers.

Reprisals against Mr. Majaliwa Kanazi⁴³

On the night of 25th July, five armed soldiers in the uniform of the Rwandan Patriotic Army (APR) broke into the home of Mr. Majaliwa Kanazi, co-ordinator of the Action Committee for Integral Development (Comité d'action pour le développement integral – CADI), an NGO that delivers human rights education to the rural population of Uvira and Fizi. Mr. Kanazi's children warned him of the soldiers' arrival and he was able to escape. The soldiers searched his home and stole the equivalent of 150 dollars in the local currency. Mr. Kanazi had been detained for two days in August 2001 for having given documents about human rights violations perpetrated by the RCD in the Uvira region to the NGO Great Lakes League (Ligue des grands lacs – LDGL).

Repression against members of ASADHO in Beni⁴⁴

Mr. Hangi Bin Talent, in charge of investigations for the Beni branch of ASADHO, was obliged to flee abroad mid-year because of the threats he had been receiving. In October 2001, he had been questioned for four hours and ill-treated by members of the Congolese intelligence agency.

On 18th December, two soldiers from the RCD-Kis-ML of Musa Nyamuisi attempted to murder Mr. Henri Ngavo Kamabu, who writes for ASADHO/Beni, and his family. Mr. Ngavo Kamabu was tied up, his wife and four children were forced to lie face down on the ground with guns pointing at them.

Mr. Ngavo Kamabu and his family have been in hiding ever since.

Mr. Emmanuel Monsale, member of the investigators' team of ASADHO/Beni, was forced to live Beni in November. He was persecuted by the RCD-Goma, in reason of a video-tape he detains about open graves in Beni Butembo.

[Refworld note: This report as posted on the FIDH website (www.fidh.org) was in pdf format with country chapters run together by region. Footnote numbers have been retained here, so do not necessarily begin at 1.]

27. See Annual Report 2001, Urgent Appeal RDC 004/0106/OBS 049.02 and 049.03, and open letter to the authorities, 9 August 2002.

28. See open letter to the authorities, 9 August 2002.

29. See open letter to the authorities, 14 August 2002.

30. See Annual Report 2001.

31. See Annual Report 2001.

32. See Urgent Appeal RDC 003/0202/OBS 014.

33. See Urgent Appeals RDC 001/0102/OBS 004 and RDC 008/0202/OBS 069.

34. See Urgent Appeal RDC 008/1202/OBS 069.

35. See Urgent Appeal RDC 007/1002/OBS 061.

36. See Annual Report 2001.

37. See Annual Report 2001.

38. See Urgent Appeals RDC 007/0109/OBS 077.02, RDC 005/0502/OBS 033 and 033.1.

39. After several Rwandan soldiers had been killed by civilians there was a crackdown by the RCD authorities, who indulged in extremely violent reprisals in some poor districts (summary executions, rape, looting homes and general pillage etc.). The ease with which the radio station had been seized and the reprisals against civilians suggests that it may have been a manoeuvre by the RCD to strengthen its power and definitively block the peace process and the application of the UN resolutions on demilitarisation of the town.

40. See Urgent Appeals RDC 007/0109/OBS 077.02 and RDC 005/0502/OBS 033 and 033.1.

41. See Urgent Appeal RDC 002/0102/OBS 005.

42. See Annual Report 2001.

43. See Annual Report 2001 and Urgent Appeal RDC 006/0702/OBS 048.

44. See Annual Report 2001.