Congolese Activist Detained and Beaten in Eastern DRC

(New York, 15 November 2001) The head of a Congolese non-governmental
organization from Uvira has been detained and severely beaten by the
rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) Human Rights Watch said today.

Security agents in Bujumbura, the capital of Burundi, arrested Jules
Nteba Mbakumba of the
Association Elimu, an NGO conducting adult education, on October 31 and
handed him over to security agents in Uvira. Human Rights Watch
researchers in the region witnessed Mr. Nteba, bound and guarded,
entering the Direction Generale de Migration (DGM) security agency in
Uvira. Security personnel in the DGM assured
Human Rights Watch representatives of Mr. Ntebas
well-being while refusing to disclose the place where he would be held.

According to local sources, Mr. Nteba has been beaten in detention. We
are concerned about the safety of Jules Nteba. Any person arrested on a
criminal charge must be brought without delay before a judicial
authority and tried within a reasonable time or released, said Alison
Des Forges, senior adviser at the Africa division of Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch has learned that since his arrest, Mr. Nteba has been
held in several different venues, including the Rwandan military camp in
Kavimvira, near Uvira, and reportedly at the private home of the
Director of the DGM. On November 8 he was transferred to Brigade
Speciale de Recherche (BSR) in Bukavu, and on November 9, Human Rights
Watch learned he was transferred to Goma and detained in a
dungeon called Vicious Dog.

In early August, RCD authorities charged the Association Elimu with
producing leaflets for the Mai Mai rebels on their computer. The
organization's office was searched and its computers and software
seized. Following these accusations, Mr. Nteba received regular threats,
and other members of Elimu were detained in Uvira. On October 11, he was
arrested and detained in Bujumbura in connection with these accusations,
but freed several days later following an interrogation
by the public prosecutor in Burundi.

Uvira and Bukavu are located in the territory held by the RCD-Goma, and
occupied by Burundian and Rwandan armies supporting the RCD. The RCD and
its Burundian and Rwandan allies are fighting against the government of
President Kabila. They are also fighting against several armed
opposition groups, including Congolese Mai Mai rebels, and their
Burundian allies the National Liberation Forces (Forces
Nationales pour la Libiration, FNL) and the Forces for the Defense of
Democracy (Forces pour la Difense de la Dimocratie, FDD).

For more information on abuses against human rights activists in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, please see:

Eastern Congo: Rebels' Persecution of Rights Activists (HRW Press
Release, August 21, 2001) at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/08/drc0821.htm

Congo: Activist Held in Kinshasa (HRW Press Release, 22 June 2001) at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/06/drc0622.htm

Congo: Human Rights Activist in Kinshasa Detained Since February (HRW
Press Release, April 12, 2001) at
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/04/congoarrest417.htm

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