Member News
By The Lord Bishop of Winchester - 3rd February 2011
The Lord Bishop of Winchester calls on the government to promote peace and stability in Central Africa.
Two years after the rapprochement between Congolese President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame, fighting and instability continues in the Kivu provinces of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Military approaches must be replaced by a transparent dialogue that involves local communities and neighbouring countries, if long-term stability and development is to be achieved in eastern DRC.
In July of last year, we read UN reports of horrific gang rapes in Walikale territory, north Kivu. Six months later, in January of this year, NGOs and the media report still more mass rapes in Fizi territory, South Kivu. These are only the attacks which are reported and make it into our headlines here in the UK.
As a long-time Congo-watcher, I am concerned that although our diplomats consider the strategic alliance between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be 'holding', there appear to me few signs of improved stability in eastern Congo.
The International Crisis Group (ICG) report which I will raise in the chamber today makes just this point. The 2009 rapprochement between the Congolese and Rwandan governments was certainly significant – but it appears to have delivered little to date to the population of eastern DRC, who continue to suffer extreme violence, living in fear of the next armed-group attack in what appears to be a stagnating humanitarian environment.
It would appear, as the ICG report notes, that the plan to emphasise a military solution in eastern DRC is failing, despite three successive operations conducted by the Congolese army. This is a highly militarised environment in which women and girls particularly suffer the consequences of fighting; living with the consequences of impunity, retribution campaigns against civilians by armed groups, and human rights violations committed against them by Congolese soldiers.
While January's arrest of Lt Colonel Kibibi Mutwara – accused of ordering January's Fizi rapes that I mentioned above – by the Congolese army is welcome, much more needs to be done, both to protect civilians trapped in eastern DRC and of course to address the ongoing fighting as a whole.
As presidential elections in the DRC approach this November amidst rumours that rebel groups – including members of the ex-National Congress of the People (CNDP), integrated into the Congolese army in 2009 – are re-recruiting, the international community must make concerted efforts now to support a renewed non-military, transparent and inclusive approach to stability in the Kivus.
The ICC report notes that ethnic tensions across the region have increased following the rapprochement, and in this regard I would raise my particular concerns about the handling of the Cessation Clause for group refugee status which the Government of Rwanda plans to invoke in December 2011. Invocation of the Clause will mean that no Rwandan living outside of the country will be considered a refugee after December 2011.
According to Rwanda's Ministry of Disaster Management and Refugee Affairs, there are over 50,000 Rwandan refugees living in different neighbouring countries, mainly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I would urge our government to make representations to the government of Rwanda and UNHCR working in Rwanda and Congo to ensure that those returning to Rwanda are indeed ready to do so – and that conditions inside the country are suitable for return.
Michael Scott-Joynt became the 96th Bishop of Winchesterin 1995 and entered the House of Lords the following year.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.