Promote Peace in D.R. Congo
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Demanding Rights for Congolese Children |
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Commentary
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Wednesday, 22 April 2009 |
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The child soldiers of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo (DRC) are not the only children who are taken
from their families and abused by the government and rebel groups. The
DRC also houses a large number of street children, many of whom run
away from their families because of abuses or starvation.
Unlike in the United States
and other nations, abusing a child is not illegal in the D.R. Congo.
There is no escape from the violence that goes on in a child’s life
either by relatives, teachers in schools, or anyone who finds any reason
to blame the child. The laws in place for these children are few and
many date back to colonial times. One law “forbids vagrancy or begging
by minors,” causing the police under a government order to round-up
these children periodically and, according to Human Rights Watch, hold
them “in overcrowded and unsanitary police lock-ups. Once in detention,
children are often kept together with adult criminals and receive little
or no food or medical attention. They are rarely charged with crimes,
but instead are released back to the streets after several days or weeks,
in part because the state has no alternatives to prison or the street
for vagrant children.” It is not unusual to see police using children
to perform tasks such as digging and cleaning latrines. Once the tasks
are performed the children are released back onto the street. The police
may also force the children to pay bail in order to be released. Many
of the children do not have money to pay for the bail and are locked
up for days or even weeks.
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Peace and Progress in North Kivu Eastern D.R. Congo |
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Commentary
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Thursday, 16 April 2009 |
Posted on April 16,2009
In Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province and surrounding towns, there are many signs of hope. Since the announcement of the capture of the National Congress for People’s Defense (CNDP) rebel leader Laurent Nkunda on January 23, and the slow integration of CNDP and other rebel groups into the Congolese national army, people are more optimistic and have stated to rebuild their lives. “Peace is what we need so that those who survived the massacres and the bombing can go about their lives and those who lost their loved ones can have time to mourn them,” Sifa Kahindo told Africa Faith and Justice Network. Sifa buys fabrics to make women’s clothing and resells them to make a profit of about a $2 for each piece.
A Postcard of the City of Goma
Touring the city of Goma today, the presence of the United Nation’s Peacekeeping Mission (MONUC in French acronym) is one of the remaining pieces of evidence pointing to years of war in the Congo. Otherwise, Goma’s main roads are congested by cars and motorbikes. New and big homes have or are being built. Shops are full of imported goods. Markets are filled with produce from remote villages, western style supermarkets and bakeries are found in downtown, and internet service is available in cafes, offices, private homes, and rental apartments. Rwanda-D.R.Congo cross-border commerce between Gisenyi and Goma continues to improve. Many Rwandan undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in Congolese institutions commute everyday from Gisenyi to Goma. A few families of Tutsi ethnicity who fled the war fearing ethnic retaliation have started to move into the city.
The presence of international non-profit organizations has injected a huge amount of money into the city’s economy and has boosted business and employment industries such housing, hotels, car rental, and construction to name just a few. Though difficulties may arise when those NGO’s leave, for the time being, it is a trigger for development in war-weary eastern Congo.
Taken in the context of the war, these are all signs of hope for peace. However, the challenge before the Congolese people, no matter one’s ethnic background, is to try to move past the war and to learn how to live together peacefully.
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Negligence Within the Congolese Military |
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Commentary
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Tuesday, 14 April 2009 |
Updated April 16, 2009
Now that Laurent Nkunda is out of the picture and some other rebel groups have been integrated into the Congolese national army, what is the Congolese government’s excuse for neglecting to take care of the state’s men in uniform (FARDC in French acronym)? Consider the case of the Congolese soldiers deployed in the North Kivu province, where AFJN staff just spent more than a month. In this particular area, the harsh reality is that in every sector there is evidence of great suffering of Congolese soldiers, despite the relative end of hostilities between the FARDC and rebel groups.
In Goma, the capital of the North Kivu province, and especially in and around Katindo military base, soldiers’ families live in unbelievably poor conditions. In Himbi, a wealthy suburb of Goma, military families live in an unfinished complex with no doors and emergency toilets in their front yard, right in front of the house of late president Mobutu Sese Seko (now provincial government offices). In different localities such as Kibumba, Rutshuru, Nyamilima, and Masisi just to name a few, soldiers, their wives and children are seen on the move carrying their small mattresses and kitchen utensils to their new location at any given time.
As a result of these deplorable conditions, the unpaid and hungry soldiers have become enemies of the people they are supposed to protect. In Rutshuru town, AFJN spoke with a man who was recently approached on his farm by two soldiers who asked him for his cell phone. As a pretext, they initially accused him of using his phone to talk with members of the Force Democratic for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). It has become all too common in DRC for soldiers to coerce people into giving them their belongings. The most popular items acquired are cell phones. Soldiers can then sell these stolen phones to get money to support themselves and their families. Instead of feeling secure upon meeting a Congolese soldier, especially at night, you feel uneasy because you may be encountering a thief and a dangerous enemy.
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Congo: The Bleeding Heart of Africa
Send Faxes to Your Representatives for Peace in Congo and Rwanda!
D.R. Congo Brief History Profile
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