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Amnesty International Report 2003 - Congo

Covering events from January - December 2002

REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
Head of state and government: Denis Sassou-Nguesso
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice
International Criminal Court: signed

The human rights situation deteriorated significantly during 2002 after armed conflict erupted again in April. Hundreds of unarmed civilians were unlawfully killed and hundreds of women raped by government soldiers and opposition combatants. Tens of thousands of people were internally displaced by fighting in the Pool region and in the capital, Brazzaville.

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Background

In March, Denis Sassou-Nguesso won an overwhelming majority of votes in the presidential election. The result was contested by local human rights and political groups who accused the government of manipulating the register of voters and election-rigging.

A few days after the election, fighting broke out in the town of Mayama, Pool region, between the Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC), Congolese Armed Forces, assisted by Angolan forces, and the opposition Ninja militias. On 4 April, two people were killed and 12 wounded in an attack on a passenger train travelling from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville. The government blamed the attack on members of the Ninja militia, led by the Reverend Frederic Bitsangou (also known as Ntoumi). Ninja representatives countered that these clashes had been provoked when government troops arrived in the village of Vindza, to arrest their leader.

On 28 May, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights voiced concern at the deteriorating situation, particularly in the Pool region where both parties were showing blatant disregard for the safety and human rights of the civilian population.

Unlawful killings

Hundreds of unarmed civilians were unlawfully killed or wounded in the Pool region and in Brazzaville between early April and the end of the year. Many of the victims were killed by members of the FAC, who used helicopters equipped with rockets to fire on villages where opposition forces were alleged to be concentrated.

In early June, dozens of people in the villages of Zandu and Matoumbou were killed when government helicopters bombed the village, after which soldiers machine-gunned houses and fired on people fleeing into the forest. Dozens of people were killed and at least 10,000 people fled following two days of fighting in mid-June between government forces and Ninja militias in Brazzaville.

Internally displaced people

At least 50,000 people were internally displaced by the fighting between the security forces and opposition militias in the Pool region and in Brazzaville. Houses were destroyed and villages burned, preventing people who fled from returning to their home. In Kinkala and Kindamba, where fighting started in early April, the government did not allow humanitarian aid workers to reach those displaced by the fighting for more than two months. During this period those who remained in the refugee camp suffered from malnutrition and at least 10 people died of starvation, when aid failed to reach them. On 11 June, UN agencies reported that at least 20,000 people in urgent need of humanitarian aid remained in inaccessible areas of the region.

Hundreds of displaced women were raped. Women in a camp in Kimdamba were reportedly gang-raped by FAC soldiers.

Dozens of young men were reportedly abducted from camps for internally displaced people. Their fate and their whereabouts remained unknown at the end of the year.

'Disappearances'

At least 353 refugees who "disappeared" after returning from the Democratic Republic of the Congo in May 1999 remained unaccounted for. In early 2002, relatives of the "disappeared" reported that the victims had been extrajudicially executed and their bodies secretly disposed of. A parliamentary commission of inquiry set up in August 2001 to investigate the "disappearances" had not published its report by the end of 2002. On 15 October an examining magistrate of Brazzaville's High Court said that the judiciary were beginning to interview relatives of the "disappeared" with a view to establishing responsibility and bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Political prisoners

• Dieudonné Ndjilambot, a police officer arrested in August 2001 in connection with an armed attack on the residence of the Minister of Defence, was held in solitary confinement at Brazzaville's central prison until August, when he was released. The Procuracy claimed that as a senior police officer he had immunity from prosecution which could only be removed by the Supreme Court. However, the authorities failed to explain why this immunity could not protect him from unlawful detention. There were reports that political authorities had instructed the judiciary to detain him indefinitely.
• Joseph Melloh Mindako, a Cameroonian journalist and environmentalist, was arrested on 13 May 2002 and detained by the Congolese authorities as a prisoner of conscience for three months. At the time of his arrest at Pokola near Ouesso, northern Congo, he had been taking photographs of commercial timber extraction and hunting in the forest. He was detained at Ouesso and accused of filming without an official permit. In mid-June he was transferred to Brazzaville's central prison where he was held for 48 days. He was subsequently accused of spying and reportedly charged with endangering the security of the state. On 12 August the Brazzaville High Court sentenced him to 45 days' imprisonment and ordered his release and expulsion from the country. The Court also issued an order prohibiting him from returning to the Congo for five years.

AI country visits

AI delegates visited the country in January and February.