RIK calls for the immediate arrest of General NKUNDA for Crimes against Humanity

Nov. 17, 2008 - PRLog -- The Rally for the Independence of Kivu (RIK) condemned in the strongest terms the recent
orchestrated terrible massacres of civilians in North Kivu and the generalized unprovoked attacks launched by General NKUNDA that have forced more than million people to leave their homes and called on the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in DR Congo (MONUC) to rectify the situation by arresting this notorious war criminal NKUNDA urgently. According to the spokesperson of RIK, Amede Kyubwa, it is imperative that those who have committed war crimes be treated as criminals by the UN, not only to ensure the safety of people in the provinces of KIVU, but also for the very integrity of the UN.  

In September 2005 the government issued an international arrest warrant for General Nkunda, who had been implicated in numerous war crimes and other serious human rights abuses. In past investigations, Human Rights Watch has documented summary executions, torture, and rape committed by soldiers under Nkunda’s command, in Bukavu in 2004 and in Kisangani in 2002. Kunda has also been accused by Save the Children and Amnesty International for recruiting child soldiers some as young as 12 after abducting them from their homes. “Engaging in accepting demands from this veritable war criminal will create more war criminals and will call for additional crimes and crimes against humanity in the provinces of Kivu, said Mr. Kyubwa. He decried MONUC’s failure to take appropriate action to arrest NKUNDA despite evidence showing that they are engaged in holding regular secretive meetings predictable with this war criminal who has destroyed and continue to destroy the lives of thousands of innocent civilians including children and women in the KIVU.

RIK deplores the failure of both MONUC and the Congolese authorities to arrest General Nkunda in defiance of evidence that he launches attacks against civilians in pursuit of its objectives, engages in a cycle of violence and the establishment of a model of brutalization of civilians by acts including murder, kidnapping, rape, sexual violence, sexual slavery, as well as massive looting of homes, abduction of civilians, including children who are forcibly recruited as fighters and then used in attacks against civilian communities.

RIK is making an urgent appeal to MONUC to fulfill its international obligations and immediately arrest this war criminal who is causing suffering to so many innocent civilians in the provinces of KIVU including children and women and has been repeatedly implicated in numerous serious human rights abuses during the preceding years

RIK advocates for the independence of Kivu if Kinshasa does not end the circle of violence in the provinces of Kivu, but firmly believes that this must be pursued through negotiations and democratic means rather than by armed conflict.

For more information please call RIK spokesperson in the USA at (916) 753 5717 or visit the website: www.kivuyetu.org