DR Congo president declares amnesty for former M23 rebels
(AFP) - 1 day ago
Kinshasa -- The president of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Joseph
Kabila, announced an amnesty on Wednesday for former members of the
defeated M23 rebel army.
The amnesty covers "acts of insurgency, acts of war and political
offences" committed in the DR Congo up to December 20, 2013, when the
bill was approved by the government.
Announced on state television on Wednesday, the presidential order was
welcomed by the UN and Western countries as a way of moving on from
the conflict, which ended with an ignominious defeat for the M23
rebels in early November.
More serious crimes are excluded from the amnesty, including genocide,
crimes against humanity, terrorism, torture, sexual violence, child
conscription and embezzlement and looting.
But that did not prevent heavy criticism from local human rights
activists. The amnesty "trivialised serious crimes and human rights
violations," said the National Network of NGOs on Human Rights in the
DRC (Rhenadoc).
The announcement of the amnesty coincided with the arrival Wednesday
of Mary Robinson, UN special envoy for the Great Lakes region.
She was in Kinshasa on the first stop of an eight-day tour of the
region, aimed at pushing forward a peace agreement signed by 11
African countries in February 2013.
Under the agreement, they vowed not to support rebel movements in
neighbouring countries.
The UN and Kinshasa have accused both Rwanda and Uganda of actively
backing the M23 during the conflict that began in April 2012 following
a mutiny by former rebels that had joined the Congolese army.
The amnesty law is seen as key to encouraging the return of former
rebels who fled across the border in the wake of their defeat at the
hands of the national army and a special UN intervention force.
Close to 1,300 former rebels, who once made up the strongest army in
the mineral-rich but impoverished Kivu region, have been left in limbo
in a camp in Uganda since the end of the fighting.
Former rebels will now have six months to approach the government and
vow "in writing, on their honour, not to commit any acts that come
under the present amnesty".
The law will not safeguard the former rebels from civil lawsuits
brought by victims of the conflict.
In a joint statement by representatives of the UN, EU, US and African
Union, the amnesty was welcomed as "a positive signal" and a "historic
achievement"
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SIBOMANA Jean Bosco
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