• by Emmanuel Chaco (kinshasa)
• Monday, September 13, 2010
• Inter Press Service

Civil society is calling for an end to impunity for the harassment of human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The renewed call comes as an activist kidnapped at the end of August have described their detention and torture by uniformed captors.

Bwira Kyahi, president of civil society in Masisi, a town in the province of North Kivu, and another human rights advocate, Balisi Kapumba, who works as an organizer with the NGO Solidarity Action for Peace and Development, were kidnapped during the last week of August in Goma. Kyahi was found Aug. 30, 2010.

'I was tortured for seven days by men in uniform without being told what the charges were against me,' Kyahi told IPS.

Another member of civil society in Masisi, who requested anonymity, said: 'Bwira has been receiving phone threats since July 30, 2010 after publishing an open letter that civil society wrote to Joseph Kabila, calling into question insecurity levels in Masisi caused by armed members of the CNDP.'

The CNDP is the French acronym for the National Congress for People's Defense), a former rebel group that was at one time led by General Bosco Ntaganda, who is today a senior commander in the Congolese army, the FARDC.

The kidnapping of Kyahi and Kapumba occurred less than three months after the assassination of Floribert Chebeya, former executive secretary of the NGO Voice of the Voiceless for Human Rights (VSV), who was killed in the night of Jun. 1 in the capital, Kinshasa.

NGOs say that numerous cases of assassination, torture and harassment of human rights advocates go unpunished in the DRC. 'Fear for the safety of human rights advocates is even greater given that the alleged perpetrators of these attacks enjoy complete impunity,' noted VSV.

'As we approach the 2011 elections, the Congolese authorities should ensure the safety of human rights advocacy, freedom of expression and punish attacks on human rights advocates,' says Fernandez Murhola, coordinator of the National Network of NGOs for Human Rights in Congo.

The VSV laments that police officials 'accused of involvement in the assassination of Chebeya enjoy impunity and all the privileges due to the official ranks they occupy in the national police.'

On Sep. 8, a coalition of 36 international and Congolese human rights groups called on the Congolese government to engage actively in the protection of human rights advocates and in the fight against impunity.

The coalition asked that the government execute the arrest warrant launched by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Ntaganda, who is accused of gross violations of human rights.

Responding to this request, Emmanuel Luzolo Bambi, DRC's Minister of Justice and Human Rights said: 'The government cannot initiate any action without first being informed. There is a liaison body between civil society and government, and its that entity's responsibility to be the government information channel on human rights violations.'

© Inter Press Service (2010) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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