You see, Secretary Clinton, people in Central Africa really believe that if they meet an American, especially a writer, that we can get messages through to our government. My team sent you a detailed letter through the State Department from representatives of the CNDP and it was ignored, but now that their former leader, General Laurent Nkunda, is under illegal house arrest in Rwanda I can understand how you would not want to be involved in that mess.
Is that why you are bypassing Rwanda on this trip?
Human Rights Watch has been very critical of the government in Rwanda. So perhaps you will take their suggestions to heart. At the top of the list is the immediate arrest of Bosco Ntaganda, a general in the Congolese armed forces who is sought on a warrant from the International Criminal Court. Ntaganda is currently playing a senior role in operations supported by UN peacekeepers. Bosco was instrumental in the toppling of Laurent Nkunda and even the Interim Report of the Group of Experts, which was released in May and ignored by the Security Council, explains in great detail how things have gotten much worse since the joint Rwandan/Congolese operation of last January.
Baki I'lkin's report detailed massive airlifts of arms and ammunition to the Congolese military (FARDC) through Khartoum, Sudan. The Group of Experts obtained information to the effect that arms and ammunition were transported to FARDC in December 2008 and February 2009. The military equipment was loaded at Khartoum International Airport on to a Boeing 707 aircraft registered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that had been requisitioned by the Ministry of Defense of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in September 2008. Flights of the aircraft occurred on 4 and 5 December 2008, and on 12 and 14 February 2009. The Group has submitted a request to the Permanent Mission of the Sudan for further clarification. The Group is concerned that continued violations of paragraph 5 of resolution 1807 (2008) could further hinder mechanisms to promote effective stockpile management by FARDC, which is, as you know, the regular Congolese army. FARDC has been involved in massive human rights violations in eastern Congo. I hope you have been briefed on this. This is a stunning report, especially given the tremendous US presence in Sudan, and a United Nations base at Khartoum.
The Special Rappateur has asked for serial numbers, identification numbers, and marking codes. It is hard to imagine that the recent airlifts of munitions from Sudan to Congo could have gone unnoticed by the State Department and its agents, given our intense military and espionage presence in the region. Do you think you might be able to ask Kabila for these serial numbers?
A US-based public relations representative for the Kabila government, Joel Frushone, asked me to interview one of Kabila's ministers recently. I will not publish her name because Kabila will probably punish her for not winning me over. My sense was that she was a good woman in an impossible job. I asked her to get the serial numbers for me, but no luck. The minister detailed all kinds of programs that Kabila has ostensibly put into place for women and children. Make sure you ask if there is any money in the Kabila budget for this. When I asked the question, the minister was embarrassed to say there was no funding even though Kabila has made a big show about all of the laws he has in place now for women and children. It is really a sick joke considering it is the Congolese army which is committing so many of the atrocities.
You will easily recognize FARDC soldiers if you can break away and risk your safety for a few hours in secret in Goma. They are the guys staggering drunk through the streets and shooting out the windows of foreign aid vehicles. Villagers reported in late July that Caritas Internationalis aid worker Ricky Agusa Sukaka, 27, was shot dead in Musezero, North Kivu, on the way home from work. He was a Congolese national and was stopped by two men wearing Congolese army uniforms before he was killed. They wanted his T-shirt. Do you have any State Department T-shirts you could hand out? It might save a few lives.
Lesley-Anne Knight, Secretary General of said, "Ricky Sukaka bravely worked in a war zone to help others rebuild their lives. The brutality and killing in Congo has got to stop. Caritas calls on all the groups involved to sit down at the negotiating table and work for a lasting peace."
Violent clashes between the army and rebels have left almost one million people displaced in North and South Kivu. Armed groups frequently inflict killings, rapes, looting and violence on a population which remains largely without protection.
Those who leave their homes fearing for their lives often end up in camps where they have to rely on external help to access basic necessities such as food, water and clothes.
Here is a link to a HRW letter sent to you that you may or may not have had the opportunity to review. This quote might be all that you have time to read:
Your visit to the DRC provides an excellent opportunity to focus a spotlight on the prevalence of sexual violence in the eastern Congo. Despite improved relations between Congo and Rwanda, the situation in eastern Congo has become increasingly catastrophic for the civilian population, especially for women and girls. Since the launch of military operations in December 2008 against the Rwandan Hutu militia, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and the Ugandan armed group the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), rebel forces and Congolese army troops altogether have killed more than 1,500 civilians and raped thousands of women and girls. More than a million people have fled for their lives from these conflict areas, adding to the tens of thousands of others displaced from earlier waves of violence.
Much has been done recently to raise awareness of the use of rape as a weapon of war in Congo, where, since 1998, tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped. Despite such efforts, the prevalence of rape is not decreasing. In nearly all the health centers, hospitals, and rape counseling centers visited by Human Rights Watch in nine frontline locations since January, rape cases had doubled or tripled since the recent resumption of military operations. While all sides continue to use rape and other sexual violence as a weapon of war, soldiers from the Congolese army have perpetrated the majority of rapes.
Military operations, supported by UN peacekeepers, against the foreign rebel groups are not adequately taking into account protection of the civilian population, including women and girls most at risk, and insufficient pressure has been exerted on the Congolese army to stop abuses or punish those responsible. To date, no generals have been prosecuted for crimes of sexual violence. In early July 2009, the government publicly proclaimed a policy of "zero tolerance" for human rights violations by the army. While a step in the right direction, making such a policy a reality will require investigation and prosecution of senior army officials allegedly involved or complicit in sexual crimes.
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