SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR DENOUNCES NEW VIOLENCE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Commission on Human Rights
59th session
18 March 2003

The Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Commission on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Professor Iulia Motoc, is greatly concerned about the summary executions, kidnappings, disappearances, rapes and massacres of civilians following violent confrontations in Ituri on 6 March 2003 between forces of the Congolese Patriotic Union (UPC) and the Uganda Peoples Defense Forces (UPDF).
The Special Rapporteur condemned anew these serious threats to the right to life and to physical integrity, which were contrary to international norms of human rights and international humanitarian law.
Ms. Motoc called upon the protagonists to implement the peace accords and to set up the Ituri Pacification Commission as well as a security mechanism for the western flanks of the Ruwenzori Mountains.
The Special Rapporteur called upon all the actors involved in the Ituri conflict to end the violence against civilian populations and impunity, and to permit the establishment of a climate of peace and national reconciliation in the Ituri region.
The Special Rapporteur noted with satisfaction the return of calm to the village of Bunia, which had allowed humanitarian organizations access to the population for the supply of food aid.