Triangle of Death (DRC)

In 2003 a defense group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo called the Mai Mai launched an insurgency against DRC’s new transitional gouvernment and its army. Since that time hundreds of people have been brutaly killed and more than 150 000 have fled their homes in parts of the Katanga province. The Mai Mai have murdered local chiefs, government officials, persons who register to vote in upcoming elections, and people they accuse of sorcery, many of those have been killed in horrific public cermonies. In response to these killings the gouvernment troops round up hundreds of civillians, men, women and children alike, whom they accuse of being Mai Mai. These civillians are all raped, tortured and killed. The Human Rights Watch reports the residents descriptions of how they were trapped between the abuses of the Mai Mai on one side and those of the DRC army on the other. The people living in this region calls it “the triangle of death“. When the Mai Mai come to one village they will ask the residents to join them, often with torture, rape and demonstrated killings. Sometimes they will toss their magical water (which turns a man into a Mai Mai) on residents unwillingly. Then when the gouvernment troops come to this same village, asking who has had magical water tossed on oneself, these villagers will step forward and recive further torture, rape and often death. There have even been reports of persons who have escaped after being raped and tortured by the Mai Mai, only to be imprisoned by the gouvernment troops for “participating” in the Mai Mai movement.

 

“I fled from the Mai Mai who had raped me and ran to Mitwaba. Then once I got to Mitwaba the government soldiers arrested me and said I was a Mai Mai since I had been with them. I told them that the Mai Mai had forced me to stay with them, but it didn’t matter. The soldiers put me in prison for two weeks and hit me every day and raped me. Every time there was a guard rotation I was raped again. Often it was three or four soldiers one after the other. They also beat me with bamboo sticks on my back and my buttocks. Sometimes the beatings would last for more than an hour. I was kept in a cell with other women and they were raped and beaten as well. At the time I was arrested I was four months pregnant but I aborted in prison due to the beatings and the rape. I still don’t feel well even though it has been a year since I was released.”

–Former 26 year old female prisoner held at Mitwaba prison

This is truly the triangle of death. But what can we do? What has to be done?
Well.. first of all the DRC gouvernment must instruct the Ministry of Defense to immediatly investigate and hold accountable soldiers responsible for war crimes in central Katanga. Also the Ministry of Justice must be instructered to hold accountable Mai Mai leaders responsible for the same sort of crimes in the same region. You can contribute to this happening as fast as possible by writing to either:
The DRC gouvernment representatives in the United Nations and request that urgent judical action be taken against both the DRC army and the Mai Mai for Human Rights abuses, drcongo@un.int 
The Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ambassador William Swing, requesting him to urge the DRC army to bring justice to Human Rights abusers in central Katanga, info@monuc.org  
Please be advised to write in either English or French.

More on this in the upcoming DRC/Rwanda section
(I am working on it on all spare time I have)
While waiting you can read the Human Rights  Watch press release here

– Kajsa, Admin Twende Twende
admin.twende.twende@gmail.com