Open Letter to General Fall Sikabwe: Investigate and Prosecute the perpetrators of attacks in IDP Camps around Goma

NREF: 29/COJESKI/NK/09/2024 September 28, 2024 , here is the original French Version ” Lettre 29 du 28th September 2024 au General Fall charge des operations FARDC

To Lieutenant-General Fall Sikabwe,

Commander in charge of coordination

Military Operations in North Kivu

Democratic Republic of Congo

In Goma,

Copy for information to:

The Commander of the 34th Military Region of North Kivu,

The Governor of the North Kivu Province,

To the Auditor General of the FARDC in North Kivu,

The Representative of MONUSCO North Kivu,

To Civil Society and Human Rights Organizations,

The United Nations Office for Humanitarian Coordination (OCHA),

The Protection Cluster (UNHCR Sub-Delegation of Goma),

The Presidents of the Displaced Persons Camps,

The Associations of War Victims of AFC/M23/RDF,

To the Families of the Victims in the Lushagala and Rusayu Camps,

(All in Goma)

Subject: Request for serious investigations and public trial in Rusayu and Mugunga against the perpetrators of the security incident of Thursday September 26, 2024 in Rusayu Nyiragongo and Lushagala/Mugunga as well as compensation for the damage caused to the victims

My Lieutenant General in charge of Military Operations,

The Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity of Congo-Kinshasa, Provincial Coordination of North Kivu also works to protect and promote the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and Internally Displaced Persons as well as other forms of forced migrants.

We observed with bitterness little political will from the Congolese State to ensure the security of people and their property throughout the Republic and especially the easy occupation of parts of North Kivu by the terrorist coalition AFC/M23/RDF for three years already. This has pushed thousands of people into Displaced Camps where their lives are in danger every day, not only by attacks by AFC/M23/RDF terrorists but also by deliberate acts committed every day by elements that the victims indicate that they are FARDC security forces in areas where Internally Displaced Persons live.

Referring to Article 16 of the Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Congo of 2006 as amended in 2011 which states “Article 16: The human person is sacred. The State has the obligation to respect and protect it. Everyone has the right to life, physical integrity and the free development of their personality with respect for the law, public order, the rights of others and good morals. No one may be held in slavery or in any similar condition. No one may be subjected to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

We learned with disappointment of your presentation of the facts which you described as a “regrettable incident” in Rusayu and Mugunga between the FARDC and the Wazalendo which would have cost human lives both on the side of FARD, the Wazalendo as well as the Internally Displaced People in camps, with also several material damages which the Army has not yet communicated in detail to enlighten the Congolese people, this seems strange when our Army had already convinced a large part of public opinion on its ability to communicate effectively, the denial of information about this very incident is a democratic step backwards and would remind us of the cultures of impunity in our history.

The circumstances which preceded this incident leave us perplexed with several questions and yet you owe us answers, we are concerned by the fact that we have not yet heard until now neither investigation, nor the assessment, nor justice for the victims and yet they are present and awaiting reparation. These incidents, which in our eyes do not seem isolated, occurred at a time when internationally the DRC is participating in the 79th United Nations Assembly to decry Rwandan aggression.

But also the DRC intends to present its candidacy to the United Nations Human Rights Council so the political agitations against this candidacy of the DRC would have started in Kinshasa which is normal and a democratic right of free expression even if it is against the national interest.  In North Kivu we were also alerted to the incidents between the FARDC and the Wazalendo in Mubambiro and now at the towers of the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Rusayu and Mugunga. These incidents also, which would not be isolated acts, occurred at the same time when the Democratic Republic Congo should appear at the Court of Justice of the Easter African Community against Rwanda for crimes committed on Congolese territory, especially in Internally Displaced Persons camps. But also these incidents happened at a time when North Kivu was preparing for the visit of the UNHCR Representative in charge of protection, and at a time when confusion reigns until now over the Luanda/Angola agreements to track down the FDLR on Congolese territory.

Being concerned about your silence on crimes against the population and the inability of the State to respond to its constitutional obligations towards its population as well as the strong militarization of the Internally Displaced Persons Camps which have lost this humanitarian character in North Kivu, while we repeated the same thing from 1994 with the consequences that you know like us, it is now time to do differently.

For the above we humbly ask you:

Conduct urgent investigations to uncover the real causes of these incidents,

To arrest all those responsible at each level and organize a public trial in Rusayu in Mugunga against these direct and indirect perpetrators,

To put in place measures to repair damage to victims and guarantee non-repetition,

To fully ensure the safety of Internally Displaced Persons in Camps as well as security in the city of Goma,

To demilitarize the camps of Internally Displaced Persons and prohibit any circulation of weapons there, to further promote the Police and Intelligence services,

To put in place direct collaboration measures with camp leaders and a rapid intervention unit in the event of problems in camps,

We call upon the Ministry of Social Affairs to mobilize the Congolese Government and humanitarians to provide emergency aid to the Internally Displaced Persons who fled these camps and who lost their property and to organize a dignified burial for all the victims in the Cemetery of GenoCost in Nyiragongo,

Please my Lieutenant – General approved the expression of our patriotic feelings,

Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos

Provincial Coordinator