A new police unit in Lubumbashi, in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, appears to have made significant progress in tackling crimes of sexual violence, but the scale of the problem it faces is daunting.
The police unit, which was set up in April 2010 in order to provide greater protection for women and children, recorded 2,000 cases of sexual violence in Lubumbashi alone during the first five months of its operation.
"Every two days, someone is arrested for a rape committed on a young girl or their own child," said Captain Aloïs Kalasa, the commander of the police unit. "The most common cases are those of people who rape their own children, and we see parents even making their own children pregnant."
The police unit, which is located in the Bel Air neighbourhood of Kampemba in Lubumbashi, is funded by the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA.
"The purpose of our unit is to prevent sexual violence and track perpetrators of such crimes, in order to bring them before competent judicial bodies," Kalasa said.
Among the cases that have been reported to the police unit is that of Jeanne Mbelu, whose husband raped their 15-year-old daughter.
"One night, I had an argument with my husband," Mbelu said. "The argument was so bad that he beat me up, and I had to flee the house."
She said that she went to the local church, with the thought of spending the night there, but she felt too ashamed to enter because of her injuries. She decided to return home instead.
"When I got there, around 11pm, my daughter heard me knocking and opened the door crying," she said. "I asked her what had happened and she said that her father had raped her. She said, 'He often does this. Every time you spend the night at the church, he calls me and says I have to replace my mother'. I couldn't stand to hear that so the following day I went to the special police unit. He was arrested and he is now serving a 20-year prison sentence."
Prisca, not her real name, who has also been the victim of sexual violence, says that the police unit has helped her pursue justice.
"My mother died when I was eight and my father never remarried," the 16-year-old said. "I have two sisters. I am the oldest. The other two are 14 and 12. My father said that we had to sleep with him, and if we did we would get a lot of money since it would bring him happiness and luck. Each day, he would sleep with one of us. Unfortunately, I became pregnant. My father was frightened and wanted to run away, but our neighbours caught him and we reported him to the women's protection police unit."
Speaking to IWPR from the police station where he is being detained, her father said, "I beg for forgiveness. I ask all parents not to do what I did. I want to say that I did this under the influence of beer. I wish my daughters would forgive me, I deserve to be sent to prison, I acknowledge I did bad things."
Other cases of sexual violence have occurred at schools, where some teachers abuse their students, sometime promising good marks in return for their compliance.
Francine, 12, says that she was one such victim.
"The teacher told me to stay in the classroom after the end of the class in order to clean the room," she said. "When I stayed, he pressured me into having sexual intercourse with him, saying that he would give me more marks than anybody else in the class."
Francine said that this sort of the abuse happened on more than one occasion.
"One day, when I was staying late at school, my mother came and found out what had been happening," she said. "She went immediately to the police."
But there is some concern that only a small number of the thousands of cases the police investigate result in convictions.
Kalasa says his unit is doing all it can to address the problem and that, given time, their work will be able to have a real impact.
"The purpose of our unit is to bring alleged rapists into custody and, within a period not exceeding 48 hours, transfer them to the prosecutor's office so that they can be judged," he said.
"I assure you that in all cases we receive, we do our job. It is true that if you go to the prison, you will not find 2,000 prisoners convicted of rape, but at least we have done our job. Today we continue to record instances of rape and I can
tell you that the frequency has not diminished all that much."
Jackie Kabera, who heads a governmental body for the protection of women and families, welcomes the work that the police unit is doing, but says that the manner in which it investigates cases needs to be improved.
Given the stigma that surrounds rape, Kabera is critical of the heavy-handed way in which the police sometimes conduct investigations.
"The police unit should review the way it works by applying some guiding principles, notably confidentiality," she said. "Cases of sexual violence should not be publicised excessively."
In particular, she says the police regularly carry out raids on hotels without regard for people's privacy.
"Police officers should not look for sexual violence cases in hotels," Kabera said. "The private life and dignity of others should be respected."
She suggested that minors, and those who take them to hotels, should be arrested discreetly, at the entrance or exit of the premises, and that the police should target hotel managers, who allow these practices to take place.
Kalasa, though, said that raids on hotels were part of his unit's remit, and claimed that the media was to blame for any sensationalism regarding such crimes, "The responsibility of the confidentiality of sexual violence cases that are pending investigation lies with journalists, who speak in the heat of the moment about sexual violence."
Heritier Maila is an IWPR-trained journalist.
MJPC
Saturday, June 29, 2013
FMU - A CONGOLESE INTEGRATED AGROPASTORAL FARM LOCATED IN KAWIZI (UVIRA)
FMU - A CONGOLESE INTEGRATED AGROPASTORAL FARM LOCATED IN KAWIZI (UVIRA): FMU is an integrated agropastoral farm created in response to the need for new strategy for eradicating hunger and malnutrition in eastern Congo (UVIRA). The farm is located in Kawizi -Uvira in South Kivu Province, approximately 124 km from Bukavu (province capital of South Kivu), a few kilometers from Ruzizi River, extreme north end of Lake Tanganyika & 25 Km from Bujumbura, capital city of Burundi.
FMU - A Congolese Integrated Agro-Pastoral Farm located in
FMU - A Congolese Integrated Agro-Pastoral Farm located in Kawizi-Uvira /South-Kivu www.fermeduvira.org
FMU - A Congolese Integrated Agro-Pastoral Farm located in Kawizi-Uvira /South-Kivu www.fermeduvira.org
Sunday, July 1, 2012
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Empowerment Magazine seeks Freelance Volunteer contributors and Photographers http://sacpros.org/VolunteerOpportunities.aspx
Empowerment Magazine seeks Freelance Volunteer contributors and Photographers http://sacpros.org/VolunteerOpportunities.aspx
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Un site Web où vous pourriez trouver de l'information utile sur l'immigration aux USA
www.newusimmigrants.com (NewUSimmigrants.com)
Un site Web où vous pourriez trouver de l'information utile sur l'immigration aux USA www.newusimmigrants.com
Un site Web où vous pourriez trouver de l'information utile sur l'immigration aux USA www.newusimmigrants.com
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
PROJET DE CONSTRUCTION DU CENTRE DE RÉADAPTATION PSYCHO-SOCIAL D'UVIRA A KAWIZI
PROJET DE CONSTRUCTION DU CENTRE DE RÉADAPTATION PSYCHO-SOCIAL D'UVIRA A KAWIZI
http://www.santementaleuvira.org/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.santementaleuvira.org/Pages/default.aspx
Monday, May 30, 2011
CENTRE DE READAPTATION PSYCHO-SOCIAL D'UVIRA
|
Sunday, February 27, 2011
La vérité sur le coup d'Etat déjoué contre le président Kabila
En lisant les nouvelles tel que présenté par le ministre congolais de l'information, Lambert Mende, il faut se demander si ce n'était pas une mise en scène pour justifier des mesures sévères qu'ils sont en train de planifier pour interdire toutes sortes de manifestations contre le président Kabila et son regime. C'est vraiment difficile de croire qu'un coup d'État peut être rêvé par des machettes au palais présidentiel et sutout si ces personnes n'étaient pas aussi membres de l'entourage présidentiel.
www.NewCongoNews.net
Suivez-nous sur Twitter: http://twitter.com/NewCongoNews
Retrouvez-nous sur Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewCongoNews
www.NewCongoNews.net
Suivez-nous sur Twitter: http://twitter.com/NewCongoNews
Retrouvez-nous sur Facebook: www.facebook.com/NewCongoNews
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Plus d'excuses Compatriotes Congolais/es
Le Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU vient d'adopter une résolution à l'unanimité qui envoie un message fort aux dictateurs Africains que la Cour Pénale Internationale attend ceux qui oseront opprimer leur peuple pour avoir exercé leurs droits et libertés fondamentaux
Sunday, February 20, 2011
IWPR: Lubumbashi Police Tackle Sexual Violence
Lubumbashi Police Tackle Sexual Violence
Hundreds of cases investigated by officers, but so far few prosecutions.
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IWPR: Bemba's CAR Visit Allegedly Led to Drop in Crime
Bemba's CAR Visit Allegedly Led to Drop in Crimes
ICC trial hears how abuses by Congolese troops diminished after the accused spoke to them. By Wairagala Wakabi - International Justice - ICC ACR Issue 287, 31 Jan 11
Two prosecution witnesses this week testified that the number of atrocities carried out by troops in the Central African Republic, CAR, decreased after a visit by former Congolese vice-president Jean-Pierre Bemba.
Bemba is on trial at the International Criminal Court, ICC, over his alleged failure to control his troops which prosecutors say carried out massive rape, killings and plunder during 2002 and 2003. He has denied all five charges against him.
The two witnesses who testified this week both spoke of how Bemba visited Bangui, the capital of CAR, in November 2002 and addressed both his soldiers and local residents. They stated that residents informed Bemba of alleged atrocities by his Movement for the Liberation of Congo, MLC, troops. The MLC troops were in CAR at the invitation of the country's then president Ange-Félix Patassé, who sought their assistance to put down an attempted coup. At the time, the MLC was a rebel group fighting the Congolese government. Both witnesses also recounted how, before Bemba's visit, they were raped by soldiers who they said belonged to the MLC, the group which the accused founded and commanded.
Witness 23 said he was sodomised by three soldiers in front of his wives and children. The soldiers then raped his wives and children, he said. For her part, Witness 81 stated that she was raped by four soldiers one week after she gave birth. Witness 81 recalled that Bemba addressed a rally at a school in a suburb of Bangui. She said Bemba had told the people to defend themselves if they were attacked by MLC soldiers.
"After Bemba's visit, did the abuse and crimes committed by the Banyamulenge [Congolese soldiers] stop?" asked Marie-Edith Douzima-Lawson, one of the legal representatives of victims participating in the trial. The witness replied, "It stopped."
When Douzima-Lawson asked if the crimes had stopped completely, Witness 81 answered, "In our neighbourhood, it stopped. Because the people, when they tried to do anything, the people would come out with machetes and other weapons so they no longer bothered them." Earlier, Witness 23 had stated that crimes committed by MLC soldiers against CAR civilians also diminished after Bemba's visit. He said Bemba flew by helicopter to a school yard, then used a CAR presidential car to travel to the military headquarters of his troops. The witness added that Bemba then addressed his soldiers at a maternity clinic.
The witness said that at the gathering, which was also attended by the local civilian population, Bemba - who was dressed in military fatigues – spoke to his troops in the Congolese language Lingala. He then addressed the local population in French, the witness added."Do you know what Bemba told his troops?" prosecution lawyer Thomas Bifwoli asked.
"No, I don't understand Lingala. If he spoke to them in French, I could have understood [something]," the witness answered.
"But I do know that after speaking to his troops, the abuse and violence diminished. I can tell you that, but as for the contents of his speech, I have nothing to tell you."
According to this witness, offences committed by the Congolese soldiers did not completely cease after the MLC leader's visit. He said the crimes that continued to be committed included snatching valuables from civilians who ventured outside their houses in the evenings, as well as some other incidences of violence and abuse.
Witness 23 also explained how people in his neighbourhood selected a representative to present their complaints to Bemba.
"On that day, we selected a person to act as a delegate and he was from the same neighbourhood. He was to represent us and went to the meeting to mention our complaints to him… We selected this person to speak about cases of theft, of rape, about the killings that had taken place, the numerous acts of abuse that had taken place, beatings too."
Asked if Bemba said anything after the neighbourhood delegate presented the complaints, the witness replied, "He said that he would take care of the matter. He was going to assemble his men and speak to them to resolve the situation. That is what he told us to reassure us."
Giving testimony the following day, the witness described how a commander in Bemba's militia said that Patassé ordered soldiers to kill young boys. He said the killings were to be carried out in areas where Patassé believed the population supported General Francois Bozizé, who was attempting to overthrow his government. It was Patassé who invited Bemba's MLC troops into the country to help him beat back the coup attempt.
The witness said an MLC corporal, who was one of the commanders of the militia, was the one who talked of Patassé's alleged order to kill young boys.
"He said that the president had given the order to come to kill the boys of two years and up because it was there that the rebels were installed and from there, they were carrying out incursions," he said, adding that the MLC corporal went on to say that, because they had not found rebels in the area, troops became angry and started committing atrocities against civilians.
Bozizé is the current president of the CAR, having deposed Patassé in 2003.
Defence lawyer Nkwebe Liriss then claimed that at the time Bemba's troops entered CAR, there were several groups fighting on Patassé's side. He said among these were the presidential guard, the regular army, and the United Presidential Security, USP. There were also Libyans who fought on Patassé's side, he said.
Liriss added that a Patassé aide, Abdoulaye Miskine, ran another militia group outside the army, while the Movement for the Liberation of the Central African People, MLPC - the political party led by Patassé - also included a number of men who were not part of the regular army. The defence argues that any of these groups could have committed the crimes attributed to Bemba's soldiers.
Witness 23 had told the trial, presided over by Judge Sylvia Steiner, that the MLC fighters arrived in the Bangui suburb of PK12 on November 7, 2002, just after Bozizé's troops had withdrawn from the area.
However, Liriss countered that a military source who was personally involved in the conflict had told him that the MLC could not have captured the neighbourhood of PK12 on November 13, less than two weeks after their entry into the country.
The trial continues this week when the prosecution calls its eighth witness.
Wairagala Wakabi is an IWPR reporter.
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Institute for War & Peace Reporting. 48 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, UK. Registered with charitable status in the United Kingdom (charity reg. no: 1027201, company reg. no: 2744185); the United States under IRS Section 501(c)(3); and The Netherlands as a charitable foundation.
Ex-Child Soldiers in DRC Drawn Back Into Military Ranks
Ex-Child Soldiers in DRC Drawn Back Into Military Ranks
Youngsters struggling to adapt to civilian life feel they have little option but to return to fighting.
By Erick Kenzo - International Justice - ICC ACR Issue 288, 8 Feb 11
A lack of community support and persistent discrimination is being blamed for the re-recruitment of former child soldiers by the army and militias in Masisi territory, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.
Former child soldiers are being especially targeted in Kitchanga, 80 kilometres north-west of Goma. The town used to be a stronghold of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP, a rebel group which has now been officially integrated into the armed forces.
Observers say that a factor behind this phenomenon is the frustration that many former CNDP soldiers feel about the ranks they have been offered as part of their incorporation into the national army.
Since January 2009, when the national army signed a peace deal with the CNDP, former rebel soldiers have been offered positions within the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo, FARDC, the national army – but often at a lower rank than they enjoyed previously.
The government argues that such downgrading of rank is justified on the grounds that many of the original military grades were obtained without any formal training.
Former rebel commanders who feel their authority has been reduced are said to be re-recruiting child soldiers as a way of boosting their influence within army units and as a means of protecting themselves in the event of the peace process unravelling.
"It is likely that former CNDP commanders inside the FARDC continue to recruit child soldiers into their own units in order to strengthen their position in case there is a return to conflict," said Isabelle Guitard, a researcher with the NGO Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Militia units are also keen to get their hands on former child combatants because of their previous fighting experience.
The national army as well as other armed groups have a long history of using child soldiers in DRC's various wars. Thanks to international efforts in the past few years, thousands of child soldiers have been demobilised and reintegrated into the community.
But according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, as many as 7,000 children may still be serving in the national army and militia groups.
Those that have managed to leave face discrimination from their family and friends, which makes it easier for army and militia commanders to re-recruit them.
"Our parents see us as barbarians and thieves," Kalondji, one former child soldier who now lives in Goma, said.
Kahindo Alphonsine, the mother of a former child soldier from Mabanga in south Goma, explained how difficult it is for children who have been used to fighting to readjust to civilian life.
"Since my child left the army, he doesn't listen to anything," she said. "He became an alcoholic. He doesn't want to work. He goes out every morning in good shape but always comes back drunk. I did everything for him but he doesn't want to change. I gave him money to start a fishing business in Vitchumbi, but he drank all the money away."
Mwisha Kitsa, a local trader who owns a clothes shop in the centre of Goma, told IWPR that many people in the community view child soldiers with distrust.
"These children are normal children when they are still in the family, but after serving in the army they have a very different and strange behaviour when they come back," he said. "I consider them like Maibobo (street children): dangerous, bandits. I do not trust them, and I cannot hire them since they could run away with my belongings."
He concluded by referring to a Swahili saying, "If a domestic chicken goes into the forest, it becomes immediately wild."
For their part, children who have served as soldiers say that they often feel abandoned and neglected when they cease to be part of the military life that they have grown accustomed to.
"I live with my family, but they do not trust me. They treat me as if I was a barbarian. But it's not just my family. People do not trust us because they regard children who entered the army to be undisciplined people," Kalondji said.
"Sometimes, when I go out to look for a job, people tell me that they cannot hire a former soldier since we are thieves. Instead of suffering like this, among civilians, I prefer to be back in the army."
Kalondij says that while he was serving as a child soldier, he was shot and wounded in the leg, which makes it even more difficult for him to find employment and survive on his own.
To prevent child soldiers rejoining military groups, orientation and transit centres have been set up to provide support to those that are having difficulty adjusting to civilian life.
Ndikumani Celestin, who runs one such centre in Goma, spoke about the importance of rehabilitating child soldiers.
"Our centre is a transit point for preparing the return of these children to their respective families," he said. "It is a counselling centre that helps them adapt to the conditions of daily life. We are trying to make them understand that the army is not their place and how they should behave when they are with their families."
Celestin says that a child usually stays with the centre for between two days and three months, before being returned to the community, depending on their particular situation.
>
> But he admitted that sometimes, in cases where former child soldiers' safety could be threatened if they went home, the duration of the stay can be even longer.
"Sometimes, children might stay a year or a year-and-a-half, and that's where we have a problem," he said.
Children who are forced to stay in the centre for extended periods of time say they are frustrated that they can't start building a future for themselves.
Adellard Kasereka, who comes from Kibirizi, some 200 km north of Goma, says he was forced to fight in a Mai Mai militia group. When he was decommissioned in 2009, the United Nations mission in DRC, MONUSCO, brought him to Goma.
"I have been in the centre since 2009, but I'd rather go back to my village where I can farm," he said. "Here, I only eat and do the laundry and learn the Ntore dance (a traditional Rwandan dance). We are like prisoners. Why are we locked in here at the centre? I want to be sent back to Kibirizi."
Erick Nzaisenga, from neighbouring Burundi, takes a similar view. He fought for the CNDP in Katale, 100 km outside of Goma, before being brought, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, to the Goma transit centre.
"I found out that many of my relatives had died," he said. "I have no family in Goma. The ICRC says they will send me back to Burundi, where I still have a brother, but I don't know when that will happen. We learn how to behave once we're back in our families and how to dance and how to draw. I do not want to go back to the army since I did not like it, but I suffer here. I want to go home and to see my family again."
Observers say that the reintegration of former child soldiers is fundamental to keeping them out of the military and, for its part, the Congolese military claims to be taking the question of child soldiers seriously.
Lieutenant Gratien Nshagali, from the 8th Military Region in Goma, who is in charge of demobilisation and reintegration, recognises that there is still a problem, particularly in areas outside the city.
Nshagali said the enlistment of child soldiers started again when ex-militiamen absorbed into the army found that the ranks they had previously held were downgraded.
"[They] felt dissatisfied, and expressed this by recruiting child soldiers. This situation is getting more and more complicated. Even though people are concerned, they don't know what to do. Children are used as if they were puppets because they are so vulnerable," he said.
Muhima, who is in charge of morale and discipline within the 8th Military Region, says that the military is stepping up efforts to curb the use of child soldiers in the army.
"Since the situation of child soldiers and their reintegration is becoming more visible, mechanisms to eradicate this practice of using children are being examined," he said.
Erick Kenzo is an IWPR-trained journalist.
This electronic mail message and any attached files are intended solely for the named recipients and may contain confidential and proprietary business information of the Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR) and its affiliates. If you are not the named addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this e-mail.
>
> Institute for War & Peace Reporting. 48 Gray's Inn Road, London WC1X 8LT, UK. Registered with charitable status in the United Kingdom (charity reg. no: 1027201, company reg. no: 2744185); the United States under IRS Section 501(c)(3); and The Netherlands as a charitable foundation.
Youngsters struggling to adapt to civilian life feel they have little option but to return to fighting.
By Erick Kenzo - International Justice - ICC ACR Issue 288, 8 Feb 11
A lack of community support and persistent discrimination is being blamed for the re-recruitment of former child soldiers by the army and militias in Masisi territory, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.
Former child soldiers are being especially targeted in Kitchanga, 80 kilometres north-west of Goma. The town used to be a stronghold of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP, a rebel group which has now been officially integrated into the armed forces.
Observers say that a factor behind this phenomenon is the frustration that many former CNDP soldiers feel about the ranks they have been offered as part of their incorporation into the national army.
Since January 2009, when the national army signed a peace deal with the CNDP, former rebel soldiers have been offered positions within the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo, FARDC, the national army – but often at a lower rank than they enjoyed previously.
The government argues that such downgrading of rank is justified on the grounds that many of the original military grades were obtained without any formal training.
Former rebel commanders who feel their authority has been reduced are said to be re-recruiting child soldiers as a way of boosting their influence within army units and as a means of protecting themselves in the event of the peace process unravelling.
"It is likely that former CNDP commanders inside the FARDC continue to recruit child soldiers into their own units in order to strengthen their position in case there is a return to conflict," said Isabelle Guitard, a researcher with the NGO Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers.
Militia units are also keen to get their hands on former child combatants because of their previous fighting experience.
The national army as well as other armed groups have a long history of using child soldiers in DRC's various wars. Thanks to international efforts in the past few years, thousands of child soldiers have been demobilised and reintegrated into the community.
But according to the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, as many as 7,000 children may still be serving in the national army and militia groups.
Those that have managed to leave face discrimination from their family and friends, which makes it easier for army and militia commanders to re-recruit them.
"Our parents see us as barbarians and thieves," Kalondji, one former child soldier who now lives in Goma, said.
Kahindo Alphonsine, the mother of a former child soldier from Mabanga in south Goma, explained how difficult it is for children who have been used to fighting to readjust to civilian life.
"Since my child left the army, he doesn't listen to anything," she said. "He became an alcoholic. He doesn't want to work. He goes out every morning in good shape but always comes back drunk. I did everything for him but he doesn't want to change. I gave him money to start a fishing business in Vitchumbi, but he drank all the money away."
Mwisha Kitsa, a local trader who owns a clothes shop in the centre of Goma, told IWPR that many people in the community view child soldiers with distrust.
"These children are normal children when they are still in the family, but after serving in the army they have a very different and strange behaviour when they come back," he said. "I consider them like Maibobo (street children): dangerous, bandits. I do not trust them, and I cannot hire them since they could run away with my belongings."
He concluded by referring to a Swahili saying, "If a domestic chicken goes into the forest, it becomes immediately wild."
For their part, children who have served as soldiers say that they often feel abandoned and neglected when they cease to be part of the military life that they have grown accustomed to.
"I live with my family, but they do not trust me. They treat me as if I was a barbarian. But it's not just my family. People do not trust us because they regard children who entered the army to be undisciplined people," Kalondji said.
"Sometimes, when I go out to look for a job, people tell me that they cannot hire a former soldier since we are thieves. Instead of suffering like this, among civilians, I prefer to be back in the army."
Kalondij says that while he was serving as a child soldier, he was shot and wounded in the leg, which makes it even more difficult for him to find employment and survive on his own.
To prevent child soldiers rejoining military groups, orientation and transit centres have been set up to provide support to those that are having difficulty adjusting to civilian life.
Ndikumani Celestin, who runs one such centre in Goma, spoke about the importance of rehabilitating child soldiers.
"Our centre is a transit point for preparing the return of these children to their respective families," he said. "It is a counselling centre that helps them adapt to the conditions of daily life. We are trying to make them understand that the army is not their place and how they should behave when they are with their families."
Celestin says that a child usually stays with the centre for between two days and three months, before being returned to the community, depending on their particular situation.
>
> But he admitted that sometimes, in cases where former child soldiers' safety could be threatened if they went home, the duration of the stay can be even longer.
"Sometimes, children might stay a year or a year-and-a-half, and that's where we have a problem," he said.
Children who are forced to stay in the centre for extended periods of time say they are frustrated that they can't start building a future for themselves.
Adellard Kasereka, who comes from Kibirizi, some 200 km north of Goma, says he was forced to fight in a Mai Mai militia group. When he was decommissioned in 2009, the United Nations mission in DRC, MONUSCO, brought him to Goma.
"I have been in the centre since 2009, but I'd rather go back to my village where I can farm," he said. "Here, I only eat and do the laundry and learn the Ntore dance (a traditional Rwandan dance). We are like prisoners. Why are we locked in here at the centre? I want to be sent back to Kibirizi."
Erick Nzaisenga, from neighbouring Burundi, takes a similar view. He fought for the CNDP in Katale, 100 km outside of Goma, before being brought, with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, to the Goma transit centre.
"I found out that many of my relatives had died," he said. "I have no family in Goma. The ICRC says they will send me back to Burundi, where I still have a brother, but I don't know when that will happen. We learn how to behave once we're back in our families and how to dance and how to draw. I do not want to go back to the army since I did not like it, but I suffer here. I want to go home and to see my family again."
Observers say that the reintegration of former child soldiers is fundamental to keeping them out of the military and, for its part, the Congolese military claims to be taking the question of child soldiers seriously.
Lieutenant Gratien Nshagali, from the 8th Military Region in Goma, who is in charge of demobilisation and reintegration, recognises that there is still a problem, particularly in areas outside the city.
Nshagali said the enlistment of child soldiers started again when ex-militiamen absorbed into the army found that the ranks they had previously held were downgraded.
"[They] felt dissatisfied, and expressed this by recruiting child soldiers. This situation is getting more and more complicated. Even though people are concerned, they don't know what to do. Children are used as if they were puppets because they are so vulnerable," he said.
Muhima, who is in charge of morale and discipline within the 8th Military Region, says that the military is stepping up efforts to curb the use of child soldiers in the army.
"Since the situation of child soldiers and their reintegration is becoming more visible, mechanisms to eradicate this practice of using children are being examined," he said.
Erick Kenzo is an IWPR-trained journalist.
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Beaucoup de Congolais attendent de voir ce jour avec impatience
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Absolument non!
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Que Kabila le Veuille ou Pas !!!!
Que Kabila le veuille ou non, un jour la république démocratique du Congo aura un gouvernement responsable qui assumera ses responsabilités de proclamer une journée nationale de commémoration pour les 6 millions de personnes tuées injustement. C'est tout simplement trop de gens tués pour lui de penser que c'est une page de l'histoire fermée.
http://widgets.causes.com/causes/553560-i-support-call-for-proclamation-of-a-memorial-day-in-congo-for-the-6-millions-dead
Amédé Kyubwa, M.A., M.P.A. Executive Director
Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the D.R. of Congo (MJPC)
Mobilisation pour la Justice et La Paix en R.D. Congo (MJPC)
Phone (916) 753- 5717 Fax (916) 487- 4716 akyubwa@mjpcongo.org
"Be the change you want to see in the World" Mahatma Gandhi
Visit Our Web Sites:
http://widgets.causes.com/causes/553560-i-support-call-for-proclamation-of-a-memorial-day-in-congo-for-the-6-millions-dead
http://www.journeedecommemoration.org/
Amédé Kyubwa, M.A., M.P.A. Executive Director
Mobilization for Justice and Peace in the D.R. of Congo (MJPC)
Mobilisation pour la Justice et La Paix en R.D. Congo (MJPC)
Phone (916) 753- 5717 Fax (916) 487- 4716 akyubwa@mjpcongo.org
"Be the change you want to see in the World" Mahatma Gandhi
Visit Our Web Sites:
- Official web site of MJPC: http://www.mjpcongo.org/
- Online Museum of victims of war in Congo: http://www.yoursilenceoncongo.org/
- The petition to arrest NKUNDA: http://www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html or http://www.arrestnkundanow.org/
- Petition to arrest NTAGANDA: http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/24459.html or http://www.arrestntagandanow.org
- Compensation of Victims of Sexual Violence Crimes in Eastern DRC. http://www.gopetition.com.au/online/26180.html or http://www.fivvsc.org
- Our Blog: http://www.arrestnkundanow.blogspot.com/
Monday, January 17, 2011
En ce jour du souvenir douloureux de l'assassinat sanglant de notre premier ministre, E.P. LUMUMBA
Ce jour du souvenir douloureux de l'assassinat sanglant de notre premier ministre, E.P. LUMUMBA, nous interpelle et nous pousse á agir individuellement et collectivement pour reclamer une journée de commémoration en mémoire des 6 millions de personnes récemment tuées et nous n'avons pas toujours de journée officielle de deuil. http://WWW.JOURNEEDECOMMEMORATION.ORG
Saturday, January 15, 2011
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