UN Security Council: Push for civilian protection during Congo visit

The United Nations Security Council, visiting the Democratic Republic of Congo today, should press for urgent action to protect civilians, a coalition of 68 aid and human rights groups said. The groups said the council should make clear to both the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo (MONUC) and the Congolese army that stronger measures to protect civilians are urgently needed during military operations against Rwandan militias.The Security Council gave the green light to UN peacekeepers to support Congolese armed forces in military operations in eastern Congo against the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and the Rally for Unity and Democracy (RUD).  But since military operations began in late January 2009, first supported by the Rwandan government and later by UN peacekeepers, these militias have deliberately targeted the civilian population in North and South Kivu in apparent “reprisal” attacks.“The military operations were intended to end the attacks on civilians, not to bring more deadly reprisals,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher in the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. “As the operations expand into South Kivu, the consequences are likely to be just as dire. Urgent action is clearly needed to protect the people in these areas.”In a recent attack on May 9 and 10, dozens of civilians, including many children, were killed and many others wounded in Busurungi, in Walikale territory. Reports from local officials indicate the FDLR were the attackers, but due to the remoteness of the region the information has not yet been confirmed. A UN team has been sent to investigate the incident. The coalition stressed that while the militias pose a grave threat to civilians, and are committing war crimes, the military operation against them, known as Kimia II, has contributed to further suffering of civilians trapped in conflict areas. Rampant abuses reportedly committed by Congolese army soldiers against civilians are exacerbating an already dangerous situation. Since the beginning of military operations against the two Rwandan militia groups, 250,000 civilians have been displaced from their homes. Hundreds of women and girls have been raped, and at least 200 civilians have been killed, the vast majority reportedly by FDLR combatants.The organizations called on the Security Council delegates to take effective action to:

• Ensure the development of a detailed and transparent plan for protection of civilians as part of military operations;
• Ensure that MONUC establishes and monitors clear benchmarks as conditions for continued collaboration and support for Congolese army military operations, upholding its own responsibility to ensure respect for international humanitarian and human rights law in any such action;
• Urgently seek the deployment of the additional 3,000 peacekeepers, logistics and intelligence support needed for MONUC and authorized by the Security Council to increase its protection of civilians.

During the visit to eastern Congo, Security Council members are scheduled to go to Kiwanja, 75 kilometres north of Goma, where more than 150 people were killed in November 2008 and camps and housing for 27,000 displaced people were deliberately destroyed. The coalition urged council members to meet with Congolese civil society leaders and victims in Kiwanja to hear firsthand the suffering they endured and the inability of MONUC peacekeepers to protect them.“UN peacekeepers face huge challenges in promoting both lasting peace and immediate security, but the Security Council cannot afford to sacrifice the protection of the very civilians it aims to protect,” said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in the DRC. “It’s time for the council to pull out all the stops, give peacekeepers the resources they need, and push for non-military action to be given greater priority than at present.”