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Congo (Kinshasa): U.S.-Trained Battalion Implicated in Rapes
AfricaFocus Bulletin
May 23, 2013 (130523)
(Reposted from sources cited below)
Editor's Note
"A Congolese army battalion that received its formative
training from the U.S. military went on to commit mass
rapes and other atrocities last year, a U.N.
investigation has found. Members of the 391st Commando
Battalion, a unit created in 2010 with extensive support
from the U.S. government, joined with other Congolese
soldiers to rape 97 women and 33 girls as they fled a
rebel advance in eastern Congo in November, according to
the United Nations. U.S. Special Operations forces had
spent eight months training the 750-member battalion in a
bid to professionalize Congo's ragtag military, which has
a long history of rights abuses, including raping and
killing civilians." - Washington Post, May 13, 2013
Sexual violence by military forces against civilians or
within their own ranks is a phenomenon which has plagued
armies throughout history and around the world. There is
increasing national and international attention to these
abuses, with new revelations often featured in the media.
Governments have responded by introducing a wide range of
training programs, as part of what is now often labeled
"security sector reform." But as illustrated by this new
UN report from the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
trainings on the responsibility to curb sexual violence
are unlikely to have much effect on their own. Far more
significant is whether the conditions soldiers are put
into are changed, whether military and societal values
are genuinely transformed, and, most significantly, if
there is effective discipline and sanctions against such
behavior.
The recent UN report, citing violence by both rebel M23
combatants and the Congolese army, is only unusual in its
direct linkage to an elite battalion recently trained by
the U.S. military, including training specifically
intended to combat such abuses.
This AfricaFocus Bulletin contains a UN news release on
the report, excerpts from an article in the U.S. military
newspaper Stars and Stripes, and excerpts from the full
UN report.
See for full article quoted above:
"U.S.-trained Congolese troops committed rapes and other
atrocities, U.N. says" by Craig Whitlock, Washington
Post, May 13, 2013
http://tinyurl.com/q9tnlnt
For previous AfricaFocus Bulletins on the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, visit http://www.africafocus.org/country/congokin.php
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UN report confirms nearly 200 women and girls raped by
Congolese troops, rebels
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44854
8 May 2013 - Congolese armed forces, known by the French
acronym FARDC, raped more than 102 women and 33 girls,
some as young as six years old, as they fled the advance
M23 rebels in country's restive eastern region in
November 2012, according to a joint UN report released
today.
The report, which details victim and eyewitness accounts
of mass rape, killings, arbitrary executions and other
gross violations of human rights, was authored by the UN
Joint Human Rights Office comprised of the UN
Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (MONUSCO) and the office of the High Commissioner
for Human Rights in the DRC.
While the report also cites M23 rebels for committing
atrocities, it notes that the serious rights violations
committed by FARDC soldiers, in particular, were
"perpetrated in a systematic manner and with extreme
violence" and may constitute international crimes under
human rights law, as well as crimes under Congolese
criminal law.
"Those responsible for such crimes must know that they
will be prosecuted," UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights Navi Pillay said in a statement, calling the
sexual violence outlined in the report "horrifying" in
scale and systematic nature.
The joint investigation attributes poor discipline among
soldiers and officers, as well as improper training and
inadequate vetting mechanisms for what happened.
The investigation also expresses serous concern about the
failure of the Congolese army to protect civilians, which
it says stems from a lack of vetting procedures which
allowed former rebels to integrate into the national army
without verification of the human rights records.
Most of the cases documented happened on 22 and 23
November 2012 in and around the town of Minova in South
Kivu and followed a similar modus operandi: "FARDC
soldiers entered houses, usually in groups of three to
six, and, after threatening the inhabitants, looted
whatever they could find. One or two of the soldiers
would leave with the looted goods and at least one would
stand guard as the remaining FARDC soldiers raped women
and girls in the house."
"Victims were threatened with death if they shouted; some
were raped at gunpoint. Most victims were raped by more
than one soldier. Almost all cases of rape documented by
the UNJHRO were accompanied by death threats and
additional acts of physical violence," the report
continued.
During the period of their occupation of the towns of
Goma and Sake in North Kivu, M23 combatants also
perpetrated serious violations of international
humanitarian law and gross human rights violations,
according to the report. The UN investigation documented
at least 59 cases of sexual violence, 11 arbitrary
executions, recruitment of children, forced labour, cruel
inhuman and degrading treatment and looting by M23
combatants.
Noting that the DRC authorities have made efforts to
investigate the violations, Ms. Pillay urged DRC
authorities do more to ensure justice for the victims and
re-establish the confidence of the civilian population in
the Congolese justice system.
Authorities suspended for further investigation the
commanding officers of two of the battalions implicated
in the rapes after MONUSCO sent a letter to FARDC's chief
of staff requesting the formal suspension of support to
these units.
Since then, the Government said it had launched
investigations and recorded some 400 testimonies from
victims, witnesses and suspects. It added that several
arrests had been made as an interim internal disciplinary
measure, and a number of officers allegedly involved in
these acts had been suspended and put at the disposal of
the Military Prosecutor for the purposes of the
investigation.
Among these officers are the commanding officers and
deputy commanding officers of the two main battalions
suspected of committing these acts, as well as officers
of eight other units.
The head of MONUSCO and the UN Secretary-General's
Special Representative in the DRC, Roger Meece welcomed
the measures taken by the authorities and affirmed UN's
continued support for an independent, credible judicial
investigation and the Congolese armed forces.
Mr. Meece added that future efforts to reform the
security sector must include a systematic verification of
the human rights records of combatants and their
commanders in order for the Congolese army to fully
ensure the protection of civilians.
On 30 March, Special Representative of the SecretaryGeneral
on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Zainab Hawa
Bangura, signed an agreement with Prime Minister Augustin
Matata Ponyo Mapon to prevent sexual violence.
The Joint Communiqué lists commitments made by the
Government, including fighting impunity for crimes of
sexual violence, accelerating security sector reform
efforts, creating vetting mechanisms when integrating
former combatants into the national army, ensuring a
better control of mineral resources, and greater support
for services to survivors.
"US-trained Congolese battalion among units accused of
rape"
by John Vandiver, Stars and Stripes, May 10, 2013
Brief excerpts from article (available at
http://tinyurl.com/p4bgdde)
In 2010, AFRICOM deployed special operations forces to
Congo to train a battalion of troops that was to function
as a rapid reaction force, capable of responding quickly
to a crisis in the volatile nation that's been referred
to as the rape capital of the world. AFRICOM and U.S.
contractors continued that training mission into 2011.
Initially, the Congolese battalion was deployed to take
part in efforts to counter the rebel Lord's Resistance
Army efforts, but in 2012 the troops were diverted as
part of an effort to confront the rebel group M23, which
had seized territory in the country's east.
For their part, AFRICOM and other U.S. officials went
into their 2010-2011 training mission knowing about the
checkered past of the Congolese soldiers they were
training. About 70 percent of the 750-strong battalion
was affected by sexual violence, either as victims,
witnesses or perpetrators, according to a U.S. trainer
involved in efforts to re-educate the battalion.
...
As part of the training effort, a sexual violence
prevention program was created by a team of U.S. trainers
that included AFRICOM experts.
The program encouraged solders to discuss their
experiences with rape, whether as victims or
perpetrators, and the painful ramifications those actions
have on communities. The reasons for taking part in such
terrible violence ranged from following orders to being
numbed by years of unrelenting war, according to a U.S.
trainer.
"Some of them said, in war you cease to be human," said
Emmanuel Muhozi, a trainer at the time. And in Congo,
"there's nothing in the society to discourage this kind
of behavior. It's hard to change the core of a society,
but I think more can be done here."
The U.S. spent $15 million to build the battalion, just
one piece of a multi-million dollar security sector
reform effort in the country.
Excerpts from full UN report
Available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/UNJHROMay2013_en.pdf
Summary
In April 2012, a mutiny of the Forces armées de la
République démocratique du Congo (FARDC) in North Kivu,
initiated by General Bosco Ntaganda, led to the creation
of the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23) rebellion. After
occupying part of Rutshuru territory from July 2012, the
M23 rebellion seized the towns of Goma and Sake on 20 and
22 November 2012 respectively, while troops from the
FARDC retreated towards Minova, South Kivu province. In
partial compliance with the communiqué issued on 24
November 2012 by the International Conference on the
Great Lakes Region (ICGLR), M23 combatants began to
withdraw from Goma and Sake on 1 December 2012.
The present report outlines gross violations of human
rights and serious violations of international
humanitarian law, including killings and arbitrary
executions, mass rape, and violations resulting from
widespread looting, committed by FARDC soldiers during
combat and retreat, and by combatants of the M23 during
combat and the period of occupation of Goma and Sake
between 15 November and 2 December 2012. The findings of
this report are the result of increased monitoring
activities and of several field investigations conducted
by the United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO)
during which more than 350 interviews were conducted with
victims and witnesses.
The violations of human rights law and international
humanitarian law committed by FARDC soldiers in
particular were perpetrated in a systematic manner and
with extreme violence, mostly as FARDC units retreated
from the front lines and regrouped in and around the town
of Minova, Kalehe territory, South Kivu province. In this
context, at least 102 women and 33 girls were victims of
rape or other acts of sexual violence perpetrated by
FARDC soldiers. FARDC soldiers were also responsible for
the arbitrary execution of at least two people,
violations of the right to physical integrity of at least
24 civilians, cases of forced labour and the widespread
looting of villages.
During the period of occupation of Goma and Sake by the
M23, combatants of this armed group perpetrated gross
human rights violations and serious violations of
international humanitarian law. The UNJHRO documented at
least 59 cases of sexual violence, of which 58 were cases
of rape by M23 combatants in Goma and surrounding areas.
At least 11 civilians were arbitrarily executed and at
least a further two were victims of attempted arbitrary
execution by the M23. The UNJHRO also documented cases of
recruitment and use of children, forced labour, cruel
inhuman or degrading treatment, and looting by M23 forces
during the same period. MONUSCO continues to support the
judicial investigation by the Military Prosecutors in
South Kivu and North Kivu provinces into the allegations
of sexual violence, arbitrary executions, rights to
property violations and other human rights violations by
FARDC soldiers. In December 2012, 11 FARDC soldiers were
arrested in connection with these incidents, including
two for murder, but only two for related cases of rape.
Furthermore, 12 senior army officers have been suspended
to date in relation to the investigations into the
incidents in Minova. The recommendations made in this
report are aimed at ending the violence, and bringing the
alleged perpetrators from all sides to justice.
...
I. Introduction
1. On 15 November 2012, renewed fighting broke out
between combatants of the Mouvement du 23 mars (M23)
armed group and soldiers of the Forces armées de la
République démocratique du Congo (FARDC) to the north of
the town of Goma, North Kivu province. After five days of
combat, M23 rebels seized and occupied the town of Goma
on 20 November 2012, advancing to the town of Sake,
Masisi territory, on 22 November 2012. FARDC soldiers
meanwhile retreated towards Minova, Kalehe territory,
South Kivu province, where they regrouped. On 1 December
2012, following the International Conference on the Great
Lakes Region (ICGLR) communiqué of 24 November 2012, M23
rebels began to withdraw from Goma, a process which
continued the following day.
2. The United Nations Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO)1
received several allegations of violations of human
rights and international humanitarian law, including
sexual violence, arbitrary executions and violations
resulting from widespread looting, reportedly committed
by both FARDC soldiers during combat and retreat, and by
combatants of the M23 during combat and the period of
occupation of Goma and Sake. Once informed of such
allegations, the UNJHRO increased its monitoring and
investigation activities in and around Goma. The present
report focuses on the human rights violations that
occurred between 15 November and 2 December 2012 during
the fall of Goma and Sake, North Kivu, and the retreat of
FARDC towards Minova, South Kivu.
3. The information contained in this report only reflects
the cases confirmed by the UNJHRO in the context of the
constraints outlined below. Thus, this report does not
intend to present a comprehensive examination of the
human rights situation in all areas affected by the
conflict between the M23 and the FARDC during the period
from 15 November to 2 December 2012.
...
III. Context of the combat and of actors present in the
area
8. For years, the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu
have experienced cycles of violence and armed conflict
centred on the huge mineral wealth and fertile land of
this part of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). Weak state institutions, including the national
army, police and justice institutions; persistent
impunity; and the interference of external actors3 have
undermined efforts to restore security in that region.
The security situation in North Kivu and South Kivu
provinces has deteriorated since April 2012, concomitant
with the emergence of new armed groups, including the
M23, and the resurgence of activities of older ones such
as the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda
(FDLR), and the Raia Mutomboki.
9. The M23 was formed on 6 May 2012, when former rebels
from the Congrés national pour la défense du peuple
(CNDP), led by General Bosco Ntaganda, mutinied from the
national army which they had integrated in 2009. The
group's founders cited the supposed failure of the
agreements of 23 March 2009 according to which some
elements of the CNDP integrating into the national army
were to be given key military positions. M23 leaders
consider that these engagements were not respected
referring to unpaid wages and poor living conditions of
integrated soldiers and alleging the killing of former
CNDP soldiers in Dungu, Oriental Province. Tensions also
arose as, during the period of integration, the
government attempted to deploy former CNDP officers
outside of the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu and
dismantle parallel chains of command - residual of the
CNDP hierarchy - within the army.
10. A number of senior officers in the M23 are allegedly
responsible for gross human rights violations, going
back, in many cases, for years. For example, Bosco
Ntaganda, a senior M23 commander indicted by the
International Criminal Court (ICC), including for the
enlistment, conscription and use of children while
commander of the Forces patriotiques pour la libération
du Congo (FPLC) rebel group in Ituri district, Orientale
province, in 2002 and 2003, handed himself over to the
United States Embassy in Kigali, Rwanda, on 18 March
2013, where he requested a transfer to the International
Criminal Court (ICC). Sultani Makenga, another senior M23
commander, has been implicated in the recruitment and use
of child soldiers, and is believed to be responsible for
the Kiwanja massacre of 4-5 November 2008, when CNDP
troops executed at least 67 civilians (mainly young men)
in Kiwanja, North Kivu.
11. The FARDC also has a poor human rights record and its
soldiers have for years been responsible for many gross
human rights violations. Poor discipline of soldiers and
officers alike stems in part from the repeated
integration of former rebels into the national army
without formal training, or vetting mechanisms to ensure
accountability. The FARDC lacks basic equipment and
logistics, soldiers are poorly and irregularly paid,
while allegations of corruption, particularly among
senior officers, are rampant.
12. Combat between the mutineers and FARDC began in April
2012 in Masisi territory and, on 6 July 2012, the M23
seized the town of Bunagana, Rutshuru territory, North
Kivu province. Two weeks later, the M23 took the towns
of Rutshuru and Kiwanja, Rutshuru territory, some 70 km
from Goma. After a lull, fighting broke out again on 15
November 2012 in areas to the north of Goma. Following
five days of combat, the M23 seized the city of Goma on
20 November 2012, and the town of Sake on 22 November
2012.
13. The FARDC units which were engaged in fighting with
the M23 in Kibumba and Munigi, north of Goma, from 15
November 2012 were the 804 and 810 regiments and 391 and
41 battalions from the 8th Military Region (North Kivu)
and the 10062 Battalion from the 10th Military Region
(South Kivu) which was sent as reinforcement. These units
retreated to Sake on 18 November 2012. Soldiers of the
802 regiment and the Republican Guard were deployed to
defend Goma airport and held their positions until 19
November 2012. At the same time, the 41 and 391
battalions under the operational command of the 8th
Military Region were sent to Minova, in South Kivu
province, in order to establish control in case the M23
attacked from Masisi territory. On 20 November 2012,
soldiers of FARDC 802 and 804 regiments were engaged in
fighting in the western Ndosho area of Goma. Following
the fall of Sake to the M23 on 22 November 2012, about
6,000 to 8,000 FARDC soldiers, with dependents, retreated
towards Bweremana, Masisi territory, North Kivu province,
and Minova, South Kivu province, where the operational
centre of the 8th Military Region was subsequently
installed. FARDC units - 41 battalion, 391 battalion and
802 regiment - returned to Sake on 1 December 2012. By
mid-December 2012, most units of the 8th Military Region
had left Minova and surrounding villages.
...
VI. Measures taken by Congolese authorities
35. On 25 November 2012, following reports of mass rapes
in and around Minova, Kalehe territory, South Kivu
province, the Head of the Congolese Land Forces, General
François Olenga, visited Minova where he met with senior
FARDC officers and called for the army to respect its
code of good conduct and human dignity.
36. On 7 December 2012, the Senior Military Prosecutor's
office of South Kivu deployed a military prosecutor to
Minova. Eleven FARDC soldiers have been arrested to date
and are awaiting trial, although only two have been
arrested on charges of rape and two on charges of murder.
A Joint Investigation Team, comprised of military
magistrates from both North Kivu and South Kivu, MONUSCO
and NGO staff, travelled to Minova and surrounding
villages from 6 to 13 February 2013. On that occasion,
military investigators took testimony from several
hundred victims, including a large number of victims of
sexual violence. In order to ensure that the alleged
perpetrators are handed over to the judicial authorities,
military prosecutors are closely liaising with the
provincial FARDC authorities.
37. At the end of March 2013, 10 senior officers were
suspended in relation to the Minova incidents pending
investigations. The individuals, all FARDC unit
commanders, including the commanders of the 41 and 391
battalions, were to be put at the disposal of military
justice authorities. The deputy commanders of the 41 and
391 battalions were subsequently suspended, thus bringing
the total number of suspensions of senior officers to 12.
AfricaFocus Bulletin is an independent electronic
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African issues, with a particular focus on U.S. and
international policies. AfricaFocus Bulletin is edited by
William Minter.
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