DRC

Rebel group denies accusation of killing civilians in North and South Kivu

Article published on the 2009-02-16 Latest update 2009-02-16 15:16 TU

Two FDLR fighters outside Pinga, 150km northwest of Goma, 6 February 2009
(Photo: Lionel Healing/AFP)

The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) killed at least 100 Congolese civilians, including children, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo’s Kivu provinces between 20 January and 8 February, according to the New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, based on witness reports. A spokesperson for the rebel group denies the accusations.

“The Human Rights Watch allegations which have been publicised recently are totally groundless and full of lies,” Callixte Mbarushimana, FDLR spokesperson, told RFI.

“The FDLR has always condemned all kinds of violence. The FDLR has always condemned all kinds of war against anybody,” he added.

Human Rights Watch reported that dozens of victims and witness arriving from North and South Kivu to displaced persons camps in Goma, the capital of North Kivu, said the FDLR abducted residents and took them to their camp in Ufamandu, North Kivu, to be used as human shields.

The Rwandan Defence Forces and the Congolese army launched a joint operation against the rebel group on 20 January. Witnesses said FDLR fighters killed and raped people as they tried to flee when coalition forces attacked on 27 January.

Mbarushimana said this is untrue, stressing that the FDLR has been living “peacefully” with the local population since 1994.

“Even the former governor of North Kivu, Mr. [Eugene] Serufuli himself, and many Congolese notables have declared recently on radio that the FDLR were correctly and gently behaving in that region during the fighting,” he said.

Human Rights Watch reported that the FDLR publically accused the local population of having betrayed them, and sent a letter to the South Kivu regional government warning that those who collaborated with the Rwandan army would be considered as mortal enemies.

“The FDLR has never written any letter to anybody threatening anybody,” said Mbarushimana. “We have been always in good relations with the local authorities, and the local populations. So I don’t see why some investigators, or some reporters, or some so-called ex-pats sit down in offices in New York and then issue such kind of allegations without even verifying them on the ground.”

He said that the United Nations force in DRC, Monuc, has not identified violence by the FDLR, and said he welcomes an investigation.

“The UN, the Congolese government, even the African Union, should create an investigating team… so that the authors, the perpetrators of any kind of violence can be reviewed and be brought to book,” he said.

“We are ready to cooperation with such kind of investigating team,” he continued.