Rose Shukurami and her family

Rose Shukurami and her family

Rose Shukurami is a woman with striking cheekbones, challenging eyes, a jagged scar on her temple, and a hoarse whisper for a voice.  Ordinarily, she would seem like any other Banyarwandan-Congolese woman, but there is something different about Rose: her husband is a member of the FDLR.  Rose, her daughter Julienne, and her daughter’s two small children, were captured by the FARDC in a village near Luvungi.  When I met Rose, she was being kept in the FARDC military post in Luvungi, a sad group of crumbling buildings with soldiers in red tinsel milling about aimlessly, automatic rifles slung around their shoulders. I was with Arche inqueteur Juvernal Twaibu and Arche field supervisor Iledephonse Masumbuko Songolo to monitor the situation of POWs at the jail; however, on this visit there were no POWs, just Rose, her daughter, and the grandchildren, the youngest of whom was ill.  Thank goodness, they were not confined to the horrible cachot, or cell, but were instead only confined to the compound.  The family slept in a shabby room next to the cachot, but was given no food, and Rose was not permitted to seek medical assistance for her sick grandchild.

 Of course, it may seem ridiculous to imprison two women and two malnourished youngsters, but such is the logic of the Congolese military.  Mr. Songolo told the officer-in-charge that since Rose and her family were civilians, they needed to be taken to UNHCR’s reintegration program in Sange, where they could find food, medical treatment, and be taken out of Congo to Rwanda.  The officer-in-charge needed to release Rose and her family into his custody immediately, said Songolo, so he could bring them to Sange.

 We can’t just let her go,” sputtered the officer-in-charge, “She will rejoin her husband in the bush! The child that is ill may go to Sange to receive medical treatment, but the women and the other child must stay.”

 And so, a peculiar argument erupted, with Songolo and Juvernal pointing out the obtuseness of the officer’s position.  Somehow the officer did not comprehend that this thin grandmother and her descendents really posed little threat to the state of general security in the Congo, especially once in the custody of UNHCR and on the way back to Rwanda.  Finally, Michel Nguale, the section chief for the 8^th Brigade arrived.  Sangolo and Juvernal once again presented their case for the release of Rose and her family, but Commander Nguale would only make vague, non-committal statements, all along the lines of, “come back tomorrow and maybe I will release her”.  However, he did allow Songolo and Juvernal to ask Rose some questions before we left.

 Rose said that they had not been subject to any gross mistreatment by the FARDC soldiers at this post, but she had difficulty finding food.  In effect, if the situation did not change soon, they might starve.

 In Part Two, we will learn a bit about how Rose’s curious circumstances are related to the big picture in the Great Lakes Region.

FARDC soldiers guard the "jail" of Luvungi

FARDC soldiers guard the "jail" of Luvungi

After visiting the FARDC prison in Luvungi, I interviewed Arche inqueteur Juvernal Twaibu on what he had observed in the Luvungi jail and elsewhere.  Juvernal said that the jail in Luvungi was in “flagrant violation of its prisoners’ rights”.  Sanitation was bad, the prisoners had a very hard time getting food, wounded prisoners were refused medical treatment, and it was often hard for humanitarian workers to gain access to the prisoners.  Indeed, the visit we just had was the exception rather than the rule.

Juvernal continued enumerating the ways in which the FARDC violated the rights of their prisoners.

“The prisoners are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment,” he said, “There are international conventions that forbid torture of prisoners, but our army still tortures.”

Juvernal also told me of cases where the wives of imprisoned FDLR came to where their spouses were being held, only to be forced into relationships with the men who were guarding their husbands.

Does monitoring help the situation at all?  Juvernal seems to think so.

“There is a positive impact, despite the problems,” said Juvernal, “because often we arrive at the prison, we advocate on behalf of the wrongly imprisoned, and then people are liberated.”

I asked Juvernal about general human rights situation in the area.  The stories he told me were rather disheartening.

Juvernal told me that while sexual violations committed by the FARDC are not as bad as in other parts of Eastern Congo, there are still many problems concerning soldiers who marry minors, which is now against the law in Congo.  Juvernal also said that there are FARDC soldiers stationed on the Ngomo road to Bukavu who collaborate with bandits; they look the other way while the bandits waylay travelers in exchange for a cut of the plunder.

In Buhembe, FARDC soldiers came into the village in the middle of the night and set five houses on fire, with the occupants inside.  Fortunately, everyone was able to escape in time, but now these people are without homes.  The soldiers had burned the homes because they claimed the villagers of Buhembe were FDLR sympathizers who had given assistance to the rebels.  However, it can’t really be called “giving” out of “sympathy” when the FDLR are holding guns to your head.

Ten days ago, Juvernal told me, the 33^rd Brigade of the FARDC attacked a group of FDLR in the village of Kigushuwe.  Both FDLR and civilians fled the village into a nearby valley.  After a while, the FDLR sent a messenger to the commander of the 33^rd, telling him they wanted to lay down their arms and surrender.  Instead of accepting the offer to surrender, the FARDC commander began shelling the valley with mortars and killed over 60 people, many civilians included.  The commander shrugged off the civilian deaths, saying that if the civilians were in the same valley as the FDLR, they weren’t “real” Congolese.  After concluding this grisly tale, Juvernal shook his head.

“Our soldiers are not professionals,” he sighed.

The FARDC "jail" in Luvungi

The FARDC "jail" in Luvungi

Kimya-2 continues to burn up the Congolese countryside along the Haut Plateau, and lots of civilians are caught in the middle of the crossfire.  Thus, Arche d’Alliance is performing monitoring work in the war zone.  This includes following the IDP situation, inspecting jails to ensure humane treatment of prisoners, advocating for civilians who have been wrongly imprisoned, and documenting human rights violations committed by the combatants.  The information that Arche collects in the field is used by UNHCR and a host of other NGOs to assist in humanitarian efforts and to address violations of human rights.

On July 30^th I went with a team from Arche to follow the monitoring activities of inqueteurs in Luvungi and Songe.  These two towns are not too far from the front lines; soldiers in steel helmets are everywhere, and the streets are still thick with IDPs.  In Luvungi, I accompanied Arche inqueteurs Juvernal Twaibu and Camille Chekanabo as they monitored the situation of FDLR and civilian prisoners at the FARDC military post.

Since the FDLR is a Rwandan rebel group, Rwandan civilians who are caught in the zone of combat are often thrown in jail by the FARDC for simply being Rwandan.  A large part of Juvernal’s monitoring work is making sure that local FARDC commanders release civilians who have been unjustly imprisoned.  One of the goals of our visit ensure the release of a Rwandan man who, despite having lived in Congo since before 1994, had been arrested by the FARDC on the suspicion of collaborating with the FDLR.

When we arrived at the FARDC post of Luvungi, Juvernal immediately asked the commander why the Rwandan non-combatant in his charge had not been released.  The commander waved his arms in the air and insisted that the man had been released that morning.  The commander then agreed to answer some questions, but not on camera.

The commander, Michel Nguale, was the SD Chief of the 8^th Brigade.  He told me that the primary objective of the FARDC was to protect the civilian population and secure the frontier.  He claimed that instances of rape were rare, and that when they occurred, both the offending soldier and his commanding officer were severely punished.

I then asked Commander Nguale if I could see the cell where he kept his prisoners.  He acquiesced, and even allowed me to take pictures, but unfortunately allowed no Flip videos.   The “cell” was in a mud-brick house that was somewhere between ruined and falling apart.  There were 7 prisoners in a space that couldn’t have been bigger than 2×2 meters.  Juvernal told me that 6 of the men had been identified as FDLR, but one was just another Rwandan civilian that had the misfortune of being caught in the combat zone.  The cell was secured by pushing a bench against the door, and tin roofing had been nailed to all the windows.  There were two soldiers with AKs milling around.  Commander Nguale told me that when the prisoners needed to relieve themselves, the guard would escort them out of the cell to a latrine.  Juvernal asked the prisoners their names and how long they had been there; they said four days.  The entire time Commander Nguale decried the poor condition of the cell, but insisted that he “did not have the means” to make improvements.

6 FDLR and 1 civilian in the jail in Luvungi

6 FDLR and 1 civilian in the jail in Luvungi

What will happen to the FDLR prisoners?  They will be taken to the Rwandan frontier at Bukavu, where they will have the choice of either integrating into the Rwandan military or demobilizing and going back to civilian life in Rwanda.  This is done by MONUC’s DDR (Désarmement, Démobilisation, et Répatriation) program.  Part of Juvernal’s monitoring work is to ensure that the FDLR prisoners are moved out of their squalid jail and into the DDR program in a quick and orderly fashion.

Later, Juvernal told me that a lot of what the commander said was bongo kabisa, i.e., a large load of horse manure.  In Part II, Juvernal will give a more accurate picture of the human rights situation around the Haut Plateau.

Zawadi

Zawadi

When I visited the Luvungi CMC, I had the opportunity to observe the proceedings of a case brought before the local mediation group.  The details of the case highlight some of the problems facing marginalized peoples in Eastern Congo.

A young widow brought the dispute in question to the CMC; we will call her Zawadi.  Zawadi’s family had fled Rwanda in 1994 following the genocide, and at age 19 she had been given in marriage as the second wife to a much older man.  Now, she is 30 and has two children.  However, when her husband died recently, the two sons of her husband by his first wife did not give her enough land to support herself and her two children.  The two brothers maintained that she did not deserve any more land than what she was given, since she was both a second wife and a Rwandan refugee.

Statements had been taken from both parties by the CMC, and the day of my visit both Zawadi and one of the brothers were called before the CMC.  The CMC asked both individuals many questions about exactly how much land was given to the young widow.  Zawadi’s voice trembled a little as she described how her and her children were chased from their home by her husband’s family.  After many questions, the committee collectively shook their heads; the two brothers had indeed given Zawadi very little land to grow enough food for herself and her children.  The CMC told the first wife’s son that he was in the wrong, especially since he did not consider the potential fate of Zawadi’s children.

Zawadi has her case read out before the Luvungi CMC

Zawadi has her case read out before the Luvungi CMC

This case demonstrates just some of the difficulties that marginalized peoples face in Eastern Congo.  As a refugee, a woman, an ethnic minority, and a second wife, Zawadi faces many obstacles in Congolese culture and society.  It would be all too acceptable for her dead husband’s sons to run her off the family property, and she does not have the means to go to Uvira and file a case in court.  The CMC and Arche d’Alliance provide a medium for women like Zawadi to channel their grievances and receive justice before the community.  In addition, since the CMC is made up of important community figures trained in civil rights, it is more likely that the other party will listen to their decision and give Zawadi and her children the means to survive with dignity.

Members of the Luvungi CMC

Members of the Luvungi CMC

As many refugees stream back to their home territories in Congo since the (tentative) end of major hostilities, there is a great need for legal structures that will help returning families re-integrate and repatriate.  Since the judicial system is slow and overburdened, it is very difficult for repatriating refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to find legal assistance.

Thus, in order to combat these problems facing marginalized peoples in the rural milieu, Arche d’Alliance has created Comités de Médiation et Conciliation, or CMCs, in 24 different towns across the territories of Uvira and Fizi.  The CMC, a committee of ten, consists of local municipal leaders, representatives from women’s groups, a representative from the FARDC, a representative from the police, and other notable community and tribal leaders.  The CMC functions as an alternative resolution center for minor disputes involving property, harvests, debts, inheritances, and domestic quarrels.  An individual can bring their grievance to the CMC, which then investigates the matter from both sides and renders a non-binding, reasoned decision that it asks both parties to follow.  If one or both of the parties refuses to follow the decision, the CMC will pass the case off to Arche d’Alliance to be heard in court in Uvira.  An important aspect of a CMC’s decision is that it follows the letter of the law, since Arche d’Alliance trains the CMC on Congolese law and the rights guaranteed marginalized peoples (such as repatriating refugees and women) by the Congolese Constitution.

In addition, the CMC acts as an information distribution center; the CMC will help provide citizens of the community with information on public health, security, the constitution, and, if they are refugees, how they can go about reclaiming their land and reintegrate.

This past week I had the opportunity to visit the CMC in Luvungi, a small town about 40 minutes drive from Uvira, near the border with Rwanda.  I was visiting with Jean Mushaho and Martin Masumbuko, two Arche inqueteurs who make weekly visits to Luvungi.  The CMC in Luvungi is managed by Givernal Twaibu, a locally-based Arche d’Alliance inqueteur.  Givernal and the Luvungi CMC explained to me that they have heard 80 cases since the beginning of the year.  They also told me that nine times out of ten parties agree to the decision of the CMC; people in Congo are not opposed to well-reasoned conflict resolution, it is just that structures that facilitate such resolutions have long been absent.

Since the CMC is required to have several woman representatives, there is balance and justice for women.

“Respecting women’s rights is very important,” said Luvungi CMC member Nestorine Seremba, a nurse at a local dispensaire, “In Congo, the woman is the center of the family.”

One crucial service that Arche provides to returning refugees is assisting them in obtaining birth certificates for their children that were born abroad, in refugee camps in Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia.  Acquiring proper documentation is necessary if repatriating refugees want to send their children to school or make sure their children inherit their property someday.  Using the CMC as a local base, Arche helps refugees gain birth certificates for their children.  Arche will visit a CMC once a week, collect the necessary information, file for the documents in Uvira, and then bring them to the CMC once they are completed.

A repatriating refugee (left) signs for documents for his children

A repatriating refugee (left) signs for documents for his children

The day I was in Luvungi, a group of villagers from Katubota, a small village 10 km away, came to collect birth certificates for their children. Jean Mashaho explained to me that it would be very difficult for these villagers to get birth certificates without assistance from Arche.  Normally, obtaining a birth certificate would require a trip to Uvira, filling out lots of forms, paying lots of fees, and waiting around for the notoriously slow Congolese bureaucracy.

Birth certificates for children born in refugee camps

Birth certificates for children born in refugee camps

In something as small and simple as helping refugees get documents for their children, Arche is helping re-weave civil society in Eastern Congo.  This goes a long way in preventing conflict in the long run.

The CMC in Luvungi has been around since 2006, and its services attract people from villages as far as 30 km away.  In creating CMCs across South Kivu, Arche d’Alliance has laid down the foundations for justice and peaceful conflict transformation in a region that is desperately trying to escape chaos.  Even though Eastern Congo can sometimes feel like the Wild Wild West, the CMC is like the Lone Ranger, an example of justice and peace that everyone can follow and admire.

Secretary and one of the woman representatives of the Luvungi CMC

Secretary and one of the woman representatives of the Luvungi CMC