Kinshasa

Between January 2001 and June 2003, the repression of political opponents and members of civil society continued. Although there were fewer cases of violations, the security forces continued to commit murder, summary and extrajudicial executions, rape and acts of torture with complete impunity. They also caused the disappearance of an unknown number of people. The conditions in which people were detained remained cruel, inhuman or degrading and likely to lead to heavy losses of human life. During the period under consideration, over 30 reports of cases in Kinshasa were sent to the Government through the mechanisms provided by the Commission on Human Rights, including the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments or treatments and the Working Group on arbitrary detentions.⁸⁵³ A large number of these reports concerned human rights violations committed in relation to the pursuit of those suspected of playing a part in the assassination of President Kabila.

• On 16 January 2001, at Camp Kokolo, in Kinshasa, elements of the FAC summarily executed 11 Lebanese men suspected of being involved in the assassination of President Kabila. In the raids organised after the death of the President, a total of around 100 people were arrested and tortured. Some were held for over two years in various detention centres, in particular Building 1 of the CRPK, without being formally charged.⁸⁵⁴

From 23 April 2001, 19 FAC soldiers, most of whom were originally from the provinces of North and South Kivu and had officially applied for asylum at the UNHCR office in Brazzaville, were transferred to Kinshasa in breach of legal procedures and then tortured and subjected to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment in the ANR prisons. They had been accused of being involved in a plot to overthrow President Kabila. On 7 January 2003, they were sentenced to life imprisonment by the Military Court.⁸⁵⁵ During the period under consideration, the security forces in general committed assassinations, extrajudicial executions, rapes and acts of torture directed against political opponents and ordinary civilians, with almost complete impunity. As the incidents are too numerous to list in full, a few alleged cases are reported below for illustrative purposes.

• Between February and September 2001, an unknown number of people were killed and subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in the GLM building by the security services. Some people were taken out of their cells during the night and taken to the river bank, where they were executed. Other prisoners died as a result of torture.⁸⁵⁶

• In mid-December 2001, FAC soldiers arrested around 100 students following demonstrations organised to protest against the increase in university fees. The FAC raped three female students during the operation. Nine students seen as the leaders were tortured for three months in the various prisons in the town, including at the DGRS (Kin Mazière) and the CPRK. Soldiers also looted university halls of residence during the operation.⁸⁵⁷

Bas-Congo

The Bundu Dia Kongo (BDK) is a political, cultural and religious movement that fights for the defence of the Kongo people. In addition to the establishment of a federal State in the DRC, the BDK wants a redefinition of national boundaries on the African continent and recognition of an autonomous republic of Central Kongo, which would combine the parts of Angola, the Republic of the Congo and the DRC that belonged to the former kingdom of Kongo.

• On 22 July 2002, elements of the police and the FAC allegedly killed at least 14 civilians, primarily in Luozi and Moanda, and arrested over 40 people during demonstrations organised by the BDK. The security forces also arrested a large number of militants from the party who were arbitrarily detained and tortured for several months in prisons in the Bas-Congo region and Kinshasa. ⁸⁵⁸

Kasai Occidental

From 2001 onwards, the stabilisation of the front line and the MONUC deployment all along it gradually restored calm to the province of Kasai Occidental. The FAC and soldiers from the ANC/APR, however, continued to commit atrocities directed at the civilian population in their respective areas. Several cases were reported but the land-locked nature of the region and lack of time meant it was not possible for the Mapping Team to cross-check all of them. One case is mentioned below for illustrative purposes.

• In July 2001, elements of the ANC/APR allegedly killed four civilians in the village of Mwanza, 12 kilometres from Kajiba, in the Dimbelenge region. The victims had been accused by the soldiers of collaborating with the FAC, primarily by providing them with information.⁸⁵⁹

Kasai Oriental

Between January 2001 and June 2003, following the introduction of the ceasefire and the MONUC deployment along the front line, peace was gradually restored to the south and east of Kasai Oriental. In spite of this, civilians continued to live in wretched conditions and women were still raped in large numbers. In Mbuji-Mayi, hundreds of civilians, including very large numbers of young people, attempted to earn a living by clandestinely entering the Minière des Bakwanga (MIBA) mining concession, looking for any diamonds. In response, the MIBA and the provincial authority called on groups of security guards nicknamed Blondos to support the mine police.⁸⁶⁰ During the period under consideration, elements of the FAC and, until their withdrawal from the DRC in 2002, Zimbabwean army (ZDF) troops, were also present at the MIBA concession. The situation at the mine quickly became anarchic as a result of the competition between the various armed groups who were supposed to protect the concession and the presence amongst the illegal diggers of certain so-called “suicide” armed elements.

• Between 2001 and 2003, MIBA guards allegedly killed and wounded several hundred civilians who had entered the mine illegally. The victims were either shot dead or buried alive in the holes they had hidden in. MIBA guards also held an unknown number of illegal diggers, including minors, in cruel, inhuman or degrading conditions in prisons on the concession. Several killings were reported during 2001. On 21 February 2001, MIBA guards surprised around 30 illegal diggers in the mine and are said to have opened fire. They also blocked up the entrance to the gallery where some of the diggers had hidden, using stones and jumpers. The following day, nine bodies were exhumed, including those of eight diggers who has suffocated and one who had been shot dead. On 27 February 2001, the Minister for Human Rights ordered an enquiry and referred the case to the Prosecutor at the Military Court. The MIBA guards claimed they had acted in self-defence, arguing that the diggers were armed. The case was finally dropped on the grounds that the victims had died as the result of a rockfall. On 10 June 2003, MIBA guards again killed an unknown number of illegal diggers in similar circumstances.⁸⁶¹

During the period under consideration, the security situation in the north of the province (in the Katako-Kombe region) deteriorated significantly following the appearance of numerous Mayi-Mayi groups hostile to the presence of ANC/APR/RDF troops in the Sankuru region. Some groups were affiliated to Mayi-Mayi movements in neighbouring Maniema. Others, conversely, had remained more independent, although all were allied in practice with the Government in Kinshasa. Alongside the confrontations between ANC/APR/RDF soldiers and these Mayi-Mayi groups, civilians were subjected to numerous serious violations of their rights. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• In May 2001 and again from October 2001, elements of the ANC/APR/RDF killed at least seven civilians and tortured two in the town of Katako-Kombe. The victims were suspected of collaborating with the Mayi-Mayi.⁸⁶²

• In March 2002, soldiers from the ANC/APR/RDF raped two women and tortured 18 men in the village of Nyeme in the Katako-Kombe region. The soldiers also looted the village. The victims were members of the Kimbanguist church. The soldiers had accused them of collaborating with a minister who was in conflict with two ANC/APR leaders over a case of diamond-smuggling.⁸⁶³

• In August 2002, Mayi-Mayi from Lomassa executed one civilian, raped two women and wounded three civilians in the village of Omeoga in the Basambala area, in the Katako-Kombe region. The Mayi-Mayi also looted and set fire to the village. The Mayi-Mayi had accused the villagers of collaborating with the ANC/APR/RDF soldiers based in Katako-Kombe.⁸⁶⁴

• From April 1999 until 2003, ANC/APR/RDF soldiers recruited an unknown number of child soldiers (CAAFAG),⁸⁶⁵ often by force in the Katako-Kombe region. Most of the victims were used to carry looted property or transport weapons and munitions. They were often tortured, subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and raped. Some of the victims were given firearms and used either as bodyguards or combatants during confrontations with the Mayi-Mayi. To a lesser extent, local Mayi-Mayi groups and the FAC also recruited child soldiers in the region.⁸⁶⁶