UN
United Nations Peacekeeping
3 Mar
2009
Humanitarian condition of the Congolese expulsed from Angola gives cause for concern
Thousands of Congolese from the Democratic Republic of the Congo working illegally in Angolan mining zones were subjected to mass expulsions during which gross human rights abuses were committed, announced a senior civil servant of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kinshasa (OCHA) during United Nations Mission for the DRC (MONUC) weekly news conference on Wednesday. MONUC and OCHA carried out a joint mission to Tshikapa, a territory in southeastern DRC, to investigate the situation of the people expulsed from Angola.
« Families were separated before crossing the river border between the DRC and Angola. Women were searched through. They were systematically beaten and raped. Most of them were asked to choose between their own safety or their children?s. Some mothers were forced to throw their children into the river. Children were purged in order to recover swallowed diamonds; Men were imprisoned and manhandled», said OCHA?s representative, Isaac Gilbert Gitelman. Sixty-five thousand people were expelled and the number could go as high as 100,000 in the next few days, he estimated, describing the expulsions as a « gross human rights abuse. »
Before introducing OCHA?s representative to the news conference, the MONUC spokesman earlier briefed the press on the activities of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for the DRC; The SRSG left Kinshasa Wednesday for Goma and Bukavu, north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. William Swing travelled with the United Nation?s Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Wendy Chamberlin.
« The visit will help the head of MONUC to make an assessment of what is going on in North and South Kivu, especially regarding the allegations on the incursions of the FDLR troops into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi», said the spokesman, recalling MONUC?s decision in a press release issued the same day, « urging the Kivu Brigade to be vigilant and to step up its patrols» awaiting the findings of the ongoing verification operation in the DRC. The operation was launched on Tuesday, said Abou Thiam, the MONUC military spokesman, who further announced the return to Kinshasa of a MONUC mission dispatched to Ituri within the framework of the Disarmament and Community Reintegration, to which the population adhered favourably. MONUC also received a delegation from the Nigerian Military Academy, « which came to learn from the Mission?s experience in the field», said Commandant Thiam.
Before introducing OCHA?s representative to the news conference, the MONUC spokesman earlier briefed the press on the activities of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (SRSG) for the DRC; The SRSG left Kinshasa Wednesday for Goma and Bukavu, north east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. William Swing travelled with the United Nation?s Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees, Ms. Wendy Chamberlin.
« The visit will help the head of MONUC to make an assessment of what is going on in North and South Kivu, especially regarding the allegations on the incursions of the FDLR troops into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo and Burundi», said the spokesman, recalling MONUC?s decision in a press release issued the same day, « urging the Kivu Brigade to be vigilant and to step up its patrols» awaiting the findings of the ongoing verification operation in the DRC. The operation was launched on Tuesday, said Abou Thiam, the MONUC military spokesman, who further announced the return to Kinshasa of a MONUC mission dispatched to Ituri within the framework of the Disarmament and Community Reintegration, to which the population adhered favourably. MONUC also received a delegation from the Nigerian Military Academy, « which came to learn from the Mission?s experience in the field», said Commandant Thiam.
