Uwezo Jean Baptist INSO Staff assassinated in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo
NREF: 36/COJESKI/NK/11/2024 Wednesday November 6th, 2024
Declartion on the assassination Uwezo Jean Baptist Mparara, a Congolese Citizen based in Goma working with the International Ngo Safety Organization (INSO) who went missing in Goma, North Kivu, DRCongo on Monday October 7th, 2024 in the morning and found dead on Wednesday November 6th, 2024.
Introduction about Jean Baptist Mparara
The Picture of Uwezo Jean Baptist from his Facebook account
Jean Baptist Mparara was a Muhavu by Tribe, from, Kabare Mbinga-South in Kalehe Territory, South Kivu and a Congolese Citizen, born in 1978 he is a Catholic by Religion, and holds a Master Degree in Social Sciences, he is a father of four children. Jean Baptist was living in Carmel, Katindo in Goma, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo, he was not involved in political activities, and not even associated with the Civil Society, and he was highly isolated from the general public as he claimed that the nature of his work is incompatible with other social activities in the public.
Jean Baptist working with the International Ngo Safety Organization (INSO)
According to his Family members, Jean Baptist joined INSO in 2013 and was one among senior officers of INSO in Ituri Province. However of the recent Jean Baptist interacted with some family members and friends as told them that he had misunderstanding with his bosses at INSO, the problems started when he was in Bunia as he proposed a different way to handle issues related to organization and how to work on security issues, which he did not share so much with his family and friends in details. Jean Baptist indicated that his Bosses could not agree with him, and in the process they started looking how to go away with him. In Bunia he was a senior officer, but in the process he was asked to be relocated to another country as expert but he rejected this offer because it was for a short contract, later on this year 2024 INSO transferred him from Ituri to Goma North Kivu and unfortunately it appears that in Goma he did not have a particular post in the office. This deteriorated his working relationship with his bosses. This is the only information we have from family members and few friends who were closer to him.
How Uwezo Jean Baptist disappeared and how his dead body was found
Uwezo Jean Baptist Mparara is a Humanitarian Actor working with the International Ngo Safety Organization (INSO) in Goma, North Kivu, the Democratic Republic of Congo. On Monday October 7th, 2024 in the morning as usual Jean Baptist left his home towards the workplace at INSO Offices located at about 3KM from his home, on that very Monday evening he did not come back home, and it was on Tuesday October 8th, 2024 in the morning that his colleagues from INSO reached his home to look for him claiming that they did not see him at work on Monday and could not reach to him on phone. Until now there is no information of his where about.
Here there is a different view about the time he left for the office, according to INSO he left home two hours before his usual time, according to the family that is not true as INSO collected this information from children who could not be able to know the exact time he left in the morning. For INSO his disappearance was not therefore related to his work activities, a version which the family contests.
The dead body of Jean Baptist found in South Kivu,
As time went one, we became so impatient and opted for a public advocacy engaging Government Authorities and the General Public through various public activities. We shared this position to INSO and asked it to contribute financially towards these activities as part of their participation. This did not go well with INSO which quickly deployed a team at our offices in order to exchange about this move but in the process our discussions on Friday November 1st, 2024 was not kind as INSO claimed that it should not be mentioned in anything we are going to do and threaten to take us to Courts of Law if we indicated that Jean Baptist worked with INSO, they also complained that we have shared information with its partners and that could have severe consequences on them, and INSO was not happy about our suggestion to ask them financial contribution towards our advocacy, they opted for intimidations and threats to which we clearly refused and rejected. INSO proposed that we only limit our activities on the legal action which was initiated by the family and only handle this issue at the family level. OCHA Team we interacted with indicated that they were informed about the disappearance of Jean Baptist but because nothing else was said in the process they thought he was found.
Questions remains which even INSO could not give a clear answer during our meeting
What measures did INSO put in place to ensure that Jean Baptist is safe while working? Someone working on security issues in a highly security sensitive province, how can INSO wait more than 24 hours before coming and find out about him? Why should INSO distance and threaten anyone who would like to take a different advocacy approach? What could justify INSO silence about this case of Jean Baptist, and why should INSO make this case a family issue?
We had already initiated exchange with the family members in order to come with series of activities and it was during this time that on Wednesday November 6th, 2024 in the evening that information came about the death of Jean Baptist.
Questions remain on this?
For a month as there was no one to talk about Jean Baptist remained in unknown destination and the debate was only on legal action focusing on possible phone contacts and his Bank Account, why now information came at this time? Can we argued that the perpetrators were following the development? What are the risks if all authorities at all levels were involved at the very beginning? What are the motives to make now the information known?
How information reached the family
According to the family members, a group of women from Jean Baptist’s village went for a wedding to another village and during that people in that very village were discussing a lot of things and then some people pointed about a man from these women’s village who was found dead and was buried in this particular village where the wedding took place. Then these women went back home but they did not report yet everybody in the village knew already about the disappearance of Jean Baptist, later on they shared information with the family which sent a delegation on Wednesday and it was in that very Wednesday evening that we received the information.
But again serious questions remain here in this narrative
These women had already information about the missing of Jean Baptist before they traveled to the wedding, as they came back, what could have motivated their silence? And at this time what could have motivated their desire to share information they received from this village? The Village of Kajuchu where Jean Baptist was buried is located at just one hour drive to his Village in Iko Island and there are regular movements of people, yet we know that in villages people communicate frequently and physically and information in villages moves quickly and to long distances, how did this take the whole day before reaching to us on that very Wednesday?
Jean Baptist dead body was buried on Thursday 10th, 2024
The video shows the body of Jean Baptist flowing on the water of Lake Kivu, and then it was buried by someone on a Red Cross Uniform on October 10th 2024 according to the information from the family, in that very village of Kajuchu. The body in the video appears to have been subjected to torture. It may be difficult for someone to disappear from Goma then the body is found very far like that, generally bodies of people assassinated in Goma are found on Lake just around the city of Goma.
Questions remain here?
Who is this RedCross person who does not appear to be from the village, how did he come here? Who are those ones in video burying him who do not appear to be villagers? Where are other local leaders including the leaders of Kajuchu Village and representatives of the Civil Society? Why only few men are there where he was buried? where did they come from? Why they rushed to bury him? We have the picture of his Voter’s Card but it does not look like it was in water, and how comes they did not refer to his Voter’s Card in order to alert people in his village? Currently various people are on Social Media, how comes this situation was not shared in different WhatsApp Groups in which people from both villages are members? Someone in the video who apparently is a soldier is heard saying that Congolese do not love one another, and that they killed this man who has come to visit his wife, how did he access to this information, who are those he refers to who killed this man?
Interactions with INSO
During our meeting with INSO on Friday November 1st, 2024 at our offices we observed that not much has been done in order to inform the public and to alert all authorities at various levels. For unknown reasons, INSO claimed to prioritize the option to work with the family silently and support initiatives that are being taken by the family which include legal actions. INSO did not also support our ideas for a public advocacy targeting the government and the public awareness about this case, indicating that it should be a family affair, to the point that in our conversation INSO Delegation threatened to take legal action and other necessary actions against us if we make public this issue and indicate that Jean Baptist was working with INSO.
Background about Uwezo Jean Baptist
Jean Baptist was a refugee in Uganda for more than 10 years, then he got a Job in the Democratic Republic of Congo and decided to leave Uganda in 2013, for more than years now, he has worked with different NGOs focusing on the security of International NGOs and all Humanitarian Actors in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Of the current he was working with INSO, last year 2023 he was transferred from Ituri to Goma in North Kivu where he has been based.
Degradation of working environment of local humanitarian actors in North Kivu
In June 2024 while on mission in North Kivu, two local humanitarian actors working with the International Organization “Tear Fund” were killed in Beni, not much has been done up to now in terms of justice yet the circumstances in which they were killed may favor quick information. Little information also circulated about decisions which were made in order to send them in that highly risky places during the war, we have the impression that all actors are playing on the possibility to make people forget about this incident.
Recently towards the end of this October 2024 another local humanitarian actor was shot in Rutshuru while in the field identifying returnees in an area controlled by M23/RDF, he was rushed to the hospital and he is still battling with life, this according to some media reports, and again questions remain on how decisions were made to send him in that area, and what security measures were taken.
In September 2024 during a round-table meeting organized by OCHA in Goma, we raised concerns about the security of local humanitarian workers during their work, and also wondered about measures that are taken to ensure that all involved at all levels are accountable, especially those who decide on the security of local humanitarian actors.
Basing on the above we make the following recommendations
To OCHA in North Kivu
To partner with other actors in order to launch serious investigations focusing on each situation which has effected local humanitarian workers in North Kivu, draw the responsibilities and hold accountable those involved,
To engage the Democratic Republic of Congo in order to make serious investigations about Uwezo Jean Baptist and the circumstances in which he went missing,
To organize public activities targeting the local population in order to encourage all those who may have information about Jean Baptist to share it,
To put in place measures that ensure accountability to all those in the position of decision within International Organizations who exposed the lives of those who been killed and the one missing, including legal actions,
To strengthen working relationship with DRC Security Services and review all security measures put in pace for International NGOs,
The DRCongo Government
To urgently deploy all the services in order to find the authors of the death of Uwezo Jean Baptist, render justice to the family and hold accountable all those involved,
To regulate the work and operations of International Organizations especially those working in Eastern DRC, and ensure that the Government takes the lead in all security matters to all NGOs,
To put in place measures that limit the work of International Organizations in some areas which are at high risks, including accessing areas controlled by M23/RDF,
To carry out serious investigations in INSO in order to come up with necessary information about the disappearance and the death of Jean Baptist,
To guarantee the freedom of expression on this situation of local humanitarian workers and reduce all forms of threats against whistle blowers members of the Civil denouncing what is happening, and take serious actions against those threatening the freedom of expression,
The United Nations Human Rights Council
To engage urgently the DRCongo Government in order to take concrete actions which will first of all help to find Jean Baptist and offer justice to victims,
To support the DRC Government in order to hold accountable all those responsible at each level and ensure that the families of the victims get justice and reparation,
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
Coordonator North Kivu Province
