Rights group says DR Congo gov't recruited M23 rebels to crush protests

04 Décembre 2017

Brussels, Belgium, december 4 (Infosplusgabon) - Senior security force officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo mobilised over 200 former M23 rebel fighters from neighboring countries to quash protests against President Joseph Kabila in December 2016, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Monday.

President Kabila has since strengthened his hold on power and delayed elections, raising concerns that planned protests will be met with further violence and repression, the human rights watchdog said.

The 69-page report, “‘Special Mission’: Recruitment of M23 Rebels to Suppress Protests in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” documents that Congolese security forces along with recruited M23 fighters from Uganda and Rwanda killed at least 62 people and arrested hundreds more during country-wide protests between 19 and 22 December, when President Kabila refused to step down at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit.

M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo’s main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president, Human Rights Watch said.

“Covert operations to recruit fighters from an abusive armed group to suppress any resistance show how far President Kabila and his coterie are willing to go to stay in power,” said Ida Sawyer, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch and one of the report’s authors.

“Congolese officials should end all unlawful use of force against protesters and allow peaceful political activities by activists and the political opposition,” she added.

Human Rights Watch said the findings are based on over 120 interviews, including with victims of abuse, their family members, witnesses, local activists, nine Congolese security force officers, government and United Nations officials, and diplomats, as well as 21 M23 fighters, commanders, and political leaders.

Human Rights Watch said it conducted research in Kinshasa, Goma, and Lubumbashi in Congo, in Uganda, in Rwanda, and in Brussels, Belgium, from December 2016 to November 2017.

According to Human Rights Watch, between October and early December 2016, as public pressure on President Kabila was escalating, senior Congolese security force officers recruited M23 fighters from military and refugee camps in neighboring Uganda and Rwanda. Many fighters had been based there since the armed group’s defeat in eastern Congo in November 2013.

It said after being transferred to Congo, the M23 fighters were deployed to the capital, Kinshasa, and to Goma and Lubumbashi. The security forces gave them new uniforms and weapons and integrated them into the police, army, and the Republican Guard, the presidential security detail.

Congolese army officers – including many from previous Rwandan-backed rebellions who had since integrated into the Congolese army – looked after them, paying them well and providing them with food and accommodation. To protect the president and quash protests, the M23 fighters were given explicit orders to use lethal force, including at “point-blank range” if necessary, the Report said.

“Many M23 were deployed to wage a war against those who wanted to threaten Kabila’s hold on power,” one M23 fighter told Human Rights Watch. Another said: “We received orders to shoot immediately at the slightest provocation by civilians.”

The Report said Congolese officers sent the recruited M23 fighters back to Uganda and Rwanda in late December and early January 2017. Many were brought back between May and July and sent to Kisangani in northeastern Congo, allegedly to prepare for future “special operations” or “special missions” to respond to any threats to Kabila’s hold on power.

Following the December 2016 violence and growing international pressure, President Kabila’s ruling coalition agreed on 31 December to a Catholic Church-mediated power-sharing agreement with the main opposition coalition.

The so-called New Year’s Eve agreement called for presidential elections by the end of December 2017 and included a clear commitment that Kabila would not run for a third term or amend the constitution. Yet Congo’s ruling coalition did not organise elections or carry out the agreement’s confidence-building measures.

On 5 November, soon after the United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, visited Congo and called on Kabila to hold elections by the end of 2018, Congo’s electoral commission (CENI) published an electoral calendar that set 23 December, 2018 as the date for presidential, legislative, and provincial elections – more than two years after the end of Kabila’s two-term limit. The CENI also cited numerous financial, logistical, legal, political, and security “constraints” that could affect the timeline.

The political opposition and civil society groups denounced the calendar as merely another delaying tactic to unconstitutionally extend Kabila’s presidency.

They have called on Kabila to step down by the end of 2017 and for a transition without President Kabila to be organised. It should be led by people who could not be candidates in future elections, they have said, and should have the primary aim of organising credible elections, restoring constitutional order, and allowing for a new system of governance in which basic rights are respected.

“(President) Kabila’s refusal to step down as the constitution requires has plunged Congo into a political, economic, and human rights crisis that could have devastating consequences for the region,” Sawyer said. “To prevent an already explosive situation from worsening, Congo’s regional and international partners should press Kabila to step down and allow for credible, peaceful elections,” she added.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/OPL/GABON 2017

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