![]() Many referred to an “invisible hand” – seemingly professional killers came into their villages and hacked people to death in what appeared to be well-planned assaults. While government officials have insisted that the recent violence is the consequence of inter-ethnic tensions, baffled residents say that isn’t so. More than 200,000 people have been forced to flee their homes. ![]() We have documented terrifying accounts of massacres, rapes, and decapitation. Meanwhile, attacks on civilians have intensified in eastern Congo’s Ituri province over the past three months. Well-placed security and intelligence sources have told us that efforts to sow violence and instability are an apparently deliberate “strategy of chaos” to justify further election delays.Ĭongolese security forces shot dead nearly 300 people during political protests over the past three years. Since December, security forces have hit a new low by firing into Catholic church grounds to disrupt peaceful services and protest marches following Sunday mass. Congolese security forces have carried out or orchestrated much of the violence, in some cases by creating or backing local armed groups. Kabila has presided over a system of entrenched impunity in which those most responsible for abuses are routinely rewarded with positions, wealth, and power. President Joseph Kabila has delayed elections and used violence, repression, and corruption to entrench his hold on power beyond the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit on December 19, 2016. Much of the recent violence is linked to the country’s worsening political crisis. While Congo’s immense mineral wealth could help address the emergency and other basic needs of an impoverished population, income from any new investments are more likely to end up in the pockets of those in power. Hundreds of millions of dollars of mining revenue have gone missing in recent years, as Kabila and his family and close associates have amassed fortunes. Tens of thousands have fled into Uganda, Angola, Tanzania, and Zambia in recent months – raising the specter of increased regional instability.Ĭongo is Africa’s biggest copper producer and the world’s largest source of cobalt–which has tripled in value in the past 18 months because of the demand for electric cars. Today, some 4.5 million Congolese are displaced from their homes – more than in any other country in Africa. This appears related to a sinister attempt to attract foreign investment and further enrich those in power, while avoiding outside scrutiny.Ĭongolese security forces and armed groups have killed thousands of civilians in the past two years, adding to at least six million Congolese who have died from conflict-related causes over the past two decades – making the conflict in Congo the world’s deadliest since World War II. Government officials deny that there’s a humanitarian crisis. It is refusing to attend and encouraging others to stay home from today’s international conference in Geneva, a United Nations-led initiative to raise $1.7 billion for emergency assistance to over 13 million people in Congo affected by recent violence. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo is putting its own short-term interests over the well-being of the Congolese people. Human Rights Watch's Congo team will continue here to provide real-time updates, reports from the field, and other analysis and commentary to help inform the public about the ongoing crisis and to urge policymakers to remain engaged to prevent an escalation of violence and abuse in Congo - with potentially volatile repercussions across the region.Ī girl stands in an Internally Displaced Camp in Bunia, Ituri province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, April 9, 2018. While the deal could prove to be a big step toward Congo's first democratic transition since independence, there's still a long road ahead. It includes a clear commitment that presidential elections will be held before the end of 2017, that President Joseph Kabila will not seek a third term, and that there will be no referendum nor changes to the constitution. After much bloodshed and two years of brutal political repression leading up to and following the December 19, 2016, deadline that marked the end of President Joseph Kabila's constitutionally mandated two-term limit, participants at talks mediated by the Catholic Church signed an agreement on New Year's Eve 2016. ![]() The year 2017 will be critical for the Democratic Republic of Congo. For more information about Human Rights Watch’s reporting on Congo, please visit.
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