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DR Congo

Special Rapporteur on situation of Human Rights in Zaire begins two-week mission to country

HR/96/59
Roberto Garreton, the Commission on Human Rights' Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Zaire, began today a new visit to the country. Over the course of the two-week mission he will meet with several officials of the Zairean Government and query them on human-matters and on the ethnic conflict in the region of Kivu. He also will meet with humanitarian organizations, human-rights groups, and various representatives of civil society. In addition, he will travel to the interior of the country, notably to Lubumbashi, Goma, and Bukavu.

The latest report of Mr. Garreton, officially released this week, focuses on the situation in the northern Kivu region (E/CN.4/1997/6/Add.1). In this study, which followed a mission he carried out in July 1996 and included a trip to bordering Rwanda, he outlines the aggravation of ethnic conflicts in Kivu, in particular in the area of Masisi and Rutshuru. The Special Rapporteur reviews in the document the state of ethnic tension between Tutsis and Hutus installed in Zairean refugee camps which resulted in numerous cases of violence, pillaging, and the setting of fires in which the armed security forces of Zaire had participated.

Deploring the violence which had led to a great number of victims, injuries, breaches of security and damage to property, to violations of other rights, and to population displacements, and for which he cites as partly responsible the Zairean State, the Zairean political class, certain ethnic leaders, certain human-rights organizations, and the international community, the Special Rapporteur exhorts the State and the people of Zaire to show tolerance for Rwandan ethnic groups seeking sanctuary in Zaire, to find an adequate solution to the problem of nationality, and asks the international community not to ignore a situation which could worsen into an tragedy with results as grave as those encountered in Rwanda and Burundi.

The Special Rapporteur adds that he is concerned by a deterioration of ethnic relations in the south of Kivu and warns of a worsening of the human rights situation in the east of Zaire. He further recommends that the Commission on Human Rights consider holding a special session to find solutions to ethnic tensions prevailing in the Great Lakes region of Africa.