Congo: Ituri Civilians Need U.N. Protection

(New York, March 19, 2002) -- The U.N. Organization Mission in Congo
(MONUC) should immediately send more military and civilian observers to
the strife-torn Ituri province in northeastern Congo, Human Rights Watch
said today in a letter to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The latest flare-up of the deadly interethnic conflict between Hemas and
Lendus has resulted in hundreds of civilian killings and the
displacement of thousands.

From the onset of the conflict in 1999 to the current spiral of
killings, leadership disputes within the splinter Congolese Rally for
Democracy-Liberation Movement (RCD-ML) and manipulation by the occupying
Uganda army have combined to stoke the violence, Human Rights Watch
said.

To dissuade the RCD-ML and Ugandans from causing more harm to
unprotected civilians, and thus help in mitigating the conflict, the
letter recommended that, under the terms of its current mandate, MONUC
should send more military and civilian observers to the region to
monitor the behavior of militia forces on the ground. Given the rapidly
deteriorating situation, Human Rights Watch also called on the office of
the Secretary-General and the Security Council to increase political
pressure on all parties to the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement so the
governmental actors will more likely insist that local forces under
their sway also adopt the necessary measures to end abuses against
civilians.

A copy of the letter is available at:
http://hrw.org/press/2002/03/congo031802-ltr.htm

For further information, please contact:
In New Jersey, Suliman Baldo: +1-973-429-2534
In London, Urmi Shah: +44-20-7239-0293

--
Human Rights Watch
Africa Division
Phone: +1-212-216-1834 (direct)
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
http://hrw.org/africa/index.php