DRC-RWANDA: RIGHTS BODY URGES KIGALI TO HELP CURB RIGHTS ABUSES IN EASTERN CONGO

October 15, 2003 - (IRIN) - Human rights NGO Amnesty International has called upon the Rwandan government to use its influence on armed elements operating in neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help curb human rights abuses throughout the region.

"While the Rwandese government has admitted that human rights abuses have occurred in territory under its control, it has consistently claimed that these abuses were committed by individuals, not by the military as an institution," Amnesty said on Tuesday. "The Rwandese government claims to have arrested a number of individuals which it is holding in military prisons. Despite these arrests, little action has been taken against the majority of alleged offenders from the security services."

Amnesty said it regretted that Rwanda had failed to systematically investigate alleged human rights abuses committed by its own forces during the 1990 to 1994 armed conflict and genocide, and in the DRC from 1996 to present.

Amnesty called on Kigali to ensure that armed forces under its control, or armed political groups that it supported, immediately stopped recruiting, training and using child soldiers, and to comply fully with the arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council on Congo's Ituri District and North and South Kivu provinces.

It urged Rwandan authorities to thoroughly investigate all allegations of human rights violations committed by its forces in the DRC, with suspects brought to justice in trials that met internationally recognised fair trial standards, but which exclude the death penalty.

It also asked Rwanda to use its influence over armed groups to ensure they ceased all sexual violence against women and girls, and to initiate full investigations into allegations of acts of sexual violence committed by its forces.

"The findings of such investigations should be made public with due respect to protect the safety, physical and psychological well-being, dignity and privacy of victims and witnesses who bring complaints of sexual violence," Amnesty said.

The NGO also asked Kigali to ensure that minerals entering Rwanda from the DRC had not been obtained in a manner that contributed to human rights abuses.

[For the complete Amnesty statement, go to http://web.amnesty.org]

From http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=37227&SelectRegion=Great_Lakes&SelectCountry=DRC-RWANDA