ACF Denounces Human Rights Violations in Congo

The situation for much of the 230,000 civilians living in this area. Most
incidents reported are associated with the returning FAC, but witness report
that the MayiMayi are guilty of some of the abuses, notably part of the
pillaging and vandalizing of nutritional and health centers in two sites.

"Soldiers threatened to take the 15-year-old daughter of a woman as their
'wife' forcing her family to go into hiding, fishermen are forced to give the
pick of their catch to the military, and people are fined if they burn lamps in
their homes or are outside their homes after 6 pm. The same military also enter
homes to take mattresses, shoes, flashlights, bicycles, goats, money, and even
clothes, and people have been beaten when they cannot provide what is requested.
These are just a few of the human rights violations that have been reported to
us," said Cathy Skoula, country director for Action Against Hunger in DR Congo.

As a result of impunity and lack of protection of the civilian population,
Action Against Hunger has seen a drastic drop-a 80% decrease-in the numbers of
children in the nutrition center that treats deadly severe acute malnutrition
and a 50% decrease in the centers treating moderate acute malnutrition. "Many
women cannot go to feeding centers to receive the food that their children need
to combat malnutrition because they cannot afford the fee charged by the
military to cross military check points. Those that have made it to the feeding
centers have had half their weekly ration taken from them on their return
journey." said an Action Against Hunger nutrition center staff member in Malemba
Nkulu. "Without a change in the behavior of the military more people will die
unnecessarily."

The FAC have erected barriers on all roads into Malemba City. Most of the
population are farmers who need to use these routes to get to the market to sell
their harvest. To cross the barrier in either direction requires a payment
equivalent to more than these people make in an average day. Additional barriers
have been set up on the small paths used by women trying to reach their fields.
This system is now so organized that at one barrier people are issued with
tokens to show they have paid their "toll." When confronted on this practice by
Action Against Hunger, an officer stated that the FAC were only collecting
voluntary contributions, which were willingly donated by a local population in
full support of the military's presence.

Using a MUAC in a Congolese Feeding

Similar schemes have been set up in three other major villages and groups of
women have been specifically targeted at the barriers. In one case the soldiers
selected a woman and separated her from the others under the false pretence of
receiving a vaccination. Once isolated and sufficiently far from the barrier she
was raped.

The Action Against Hunger head of project for Katanga, Fabienne Guillot,
reports that the population of Malemba Nkulu have never felt so insecure, even
during the war. "The fines and rules imposed are arbitrary and change without
notice-this adds to the level of tension because people do not know what to
expect," she said. "The abuses attack every facet of the lives of the people
leaving them with little or no resources and because the abusers are military
they can not be challenged."

In February 2002, some of the FAC group stationed in Malemba Nkulu Territory,
known as the Sharks, were sent back to their headquarters base as part of a
routine rotation. When replacements did not arrive, the MayiMayi decided to fill
what they viewed as a security gap. When the FAC did return, fighting erupted
between the Sharks and the MayiMayi until a more disciplined group of FAC, the
PPU arrived in August 2002. During those few months, however, there was a lack
of respect for basic human rights by both sides and a large percentage of the
population was forced to displace. Several villages saw 50-75% of their houses
burned and pillaged, many fields were burned ruining the cassava production, and
civilians faced extortion demands, rape, and beatings. Malnutrition rose by 50%
and cholera and measles epidemics raged.

The MayiMayi group controlled by Makabe were given the authority and the task
to provide security for the territory by the government in February 2003. The
PPU and the remaining FAC left the territory at the same time due to a general
reorganization of the military. The population enjoyed relative peace until June
2003 when internal power struggles and lack of disarmament of the MayiMayi
resulted in a FAC unit being posted back to the area in early September. Hopes
that a return to normalcy would occur with the return of FAC troops have been
dashed with the sharp rise in human rights abuses by the return of the same FAC
unit, the Sharks, which was forced to leave a year ago for this very same
reason. In the month that the FAC have been in the Territory of Malemba Nkulu,
they have yet to enter into the zone controlled by the Makabe MayiMayi group
located less than 100 km from Malemba City.

"Given the recent volatile history of this area it is important to intervene
immediately or the situation could quickly go from bad to worse," said Cathy
Skoula, country director for Action Against Hunger in DR Congo.

A 2003 IRC report concluded that 3.3 million excess deaths occurred as a
result of the war in DR Congo, most not as a result of gunshot or other battle
injuries but of lack of access to medical care or from malnutrition. Action
Against Hunger asks the DRC government and others to intervene to ensure
immediate and appropriate protection for the civilian population of Malemba
Nkulu who live in a region of this war-torn country that is assumed to be free
of these sorts of problems.