From Africa Recovery, Vol.12#1 (August 1998), Briefs page

UN Security Council condemns Congo massacres

In a sharply worded presidential statement, the UN Security Council on 13 July declared that it "condemns the massacres, other atrocities and violations of international humanitarian law," including "crimes against humanity," carried out in Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo during the conflict of 1996-97.

Citing evidence collected by an investigative team of the UN Secretary-General, the Council also called on the governments of Congo and Rwanda to "bring to justice any persons found to have been involved in these or other massacres." Depending on their actions, the Council also expressed its readiness to consider "additional steps" to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Security Council statement came shortly after Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued the report of his investigative team. The team had first been deployed to Congo in August 1997 to examine allegations of massacres, especially of Rwandese refugees, but was withdrawn in April 1998 because it was not allowed to fully carry out its mission. It cites evidence of massacres of hundreds of refugees and concludes that all the parties to the violence in the country committed serious human rights violations, and that some killings by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of the Congo (which took power in May 1997) and its allies, including elements of the Rwandese army, constitute crimes against humanity. The governments of Congo and Rwanda both expressed serious concerns about the report's credibility.

In introducing the report, Mr. Annan noted the "vicious cycle of violations of human rights and revenge, fueled by impunity," throughout the Great Lakes region. "This cycle," he affirmed, "has to be brought to an end if lasting peace and stability are to be restored to the region. Those guilty of violations must be brought to book."

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