• About Us
  • Who Are We
  • Work With Us
Monday, January 30, 2023
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Globe Post
39 °f
New York
44 ° Fri
46 ° Sat
40 ° Sun
41 ° Mon
No Result
View All Result
The Globe Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World

DR Congo Recruited Rebels for Deadly Crackdown on Protests: HRW

Staff Writer with AFP by Staff Writer with AFP
12/04/17
in World
A protest in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Demonstrators at a meeting on September 15, 2015 organized by opposition party leaders in Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to call on President Joseph Kabila to step down at the end of his constitutionally mandated two-term limit. Photo: Human Rights Watch

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Brussels, Dec 4, 2017 (AFP) – Former militants were recruited by the Democratic Republic of Congo government for a bloody crackdown on protests against the president that left dozens of people dead last year, a rights group alleged Monday.

Human Rights Watch said President Joseph Kabila‘s regime had drafted in fighters previously active in the M23 rebel group from Uganda and Rwanda to suppress the December 2016 demonstrations, which erupted when he refused to step down at the end of his term in power.

The right group’s allegations came as the country faces a new flare-up of violence after Mr. Kabila pushed back a much-delayed new vote until December 2018, with the opposition demanding that the veteran leader resign sooner.

“Senior security force officers in the Democratic Republic of Congo mobilized over 200 former M23 rebel fighters from neighboring countries to quash protests against President Joseph Kabila in December 2016,” HRW said in a report.

It said Congolese security forces acting with M23 fighters killed at least 62 people and arrested hundreds more as the protests swept through the vast African country between 19 and 22 December 2016.

M23, a mostly ethnic Tutsi rebel group, was defeated in November 2013 at the hands of Congolese and U.N. forces. Hundreds of fighters fled the country but officials and residents in the eastern region of Kivu have said they had seen militants return.

Congo’s resource-rich eastern provinces have suffered years of brutal conflict, with neighbouring states backing rebel groups in a civil war against Mr. Kinshasa’s authority, and roaming armed militia triggering the mass flight of terrorised civilians.

HRW said its research was based on more than 120 interviews and that during the protests, “M23 fighters patrolled the streets of Congo’s main cities, firing on or arresting protesters or anyone else deemed to be a threat to the president”.

“Covert operations to recruit fighters from an abusive armed group to suppress any resistance show how far President Kabila and his coterie are willing to go to stay in power,” said Ida Sawyer, the organisation’s Central Africa director.

“Congolese officials should end all unlawful use of force against protesters and allow peaceful political activities by activists and the political opposition.”

Opposition forces are demanding Kabila – who took office after his father Laurent was assassinated in 2001 –  step down on December 31, but authorities made several arrests ahead of an opposition march earlier this month.

ShareTweet
Staff Writer with AFP

Staff Writer with AFP

Related Posts

WHO director-general Adhanom Ghebreyesus shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, January 28 2020.
Featured

WHO and China: A Healthy Relationship?

by Staff Writer
March 29, 2021
Turkish lawmaker for the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Omer Faruk Gergerlioglu reacts after being expelled from his post.
World

Turkey Detains Dozens of Pro-Kurdish Party Officials

by Staff Writer
March 19, 2021
Members representing African communities in Yemen speak outside the offices of the International Organization for Migration in Sanaa, following last weekend’s fire in a holding facility, March 14, 2021.
Refugees

UN Calls for Independent Probe of Fire That Killed Migrants in Yemen

by Staff Writer
March 16, 2021
China Uyghurs
Democracy at Risk

China Targets Uighurs With More Prosecutions, Longer Prison Terms: HRW

by Staff Writer
February 24, 2021
Myanmar's military regime have arrested many pro-democracy activists following this week's coup.
Democracy at Risk

Myanmar’s Democracy Veterans, Once Again Political Prisoners

by Staff Writer
February 6, 2021
Syrian children at a COVID-19 workshop organized by medical volunteers at a camp near the town of Atme.
Featured

Human Rights Watch Urges Fair Covid Vaccine Rollout in Syria

by Staff Writer
February 2, 2021
Next Post
Catalonia, Catalan, Catalan independence, Catalan referendum, Spain, Guardia Civil

Spain's Supreme Court Orders 2 Former Catalan Officials Held in Jail

Women in Afghanistan undergo journalism training

Threats and Conservative Customs Force Afghan Women Out of Media Industry

Recommended

Israeli security forces in Jerusalem

Palestinian Gunman Kills 7 in East Jerusalem Synagogue Attack

January 30, 2023
The Doomsday Clock reads 100 seconds to midnight, a decision made by The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, during an announcement at the National Press Club in Washington, DC on January 23, 2020

‘Doomsday Clock’ Moves Closest Ever to Midnight

January 25, 2023
Police work near the scene of a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California

California Lunar New Year Mass Shooter Dead, Motive Unclear: Police

January 23, 2023
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Race on To Replace Ardern as New Zealand Prime Minister

January 20, 2023
Pfizer logo and vaccines

Pfizer to Sell More Drugs at Cost to Poor Nations

January 18, 2023
Rescuers inspect the wreckage at the site of a Yeti Airlines plane crash in Pokhara, Nepal

At Least 67 Killed in Nepal Plane Crash

January 16, 2023

Opinion

George Santos from the 3rd Congressional district of New York

George Santos for Speaker!

January 16, 2023
Commuters waiting for buses in Metro Manila. Philippines

Eight Billion and Counting…

November 29, 2022
Mahsa Amini protests

Imagining a Free Iran

October 24, 2022
Vladimir Putin

How 18th Century International Law Clarifies the Situation in Ukraine

September 29, 2022
Vladimir Putin

Falling for Putin

September 15, 2022
US President Donald Trump

Donald Trump Thanks You for Your Sacrifice

August 17, 2022
Facebook Twitter

Newsletter

Do you like our reporting?
SUBSCRIBE

About Us

The Globe Post

The Globe Post is part of Globe Post Media, a U.S. digital news organization that is publishing the world's best targeted news sites.

submit oped

© 2018 The Globe Post

No Result
View All Result
  • National
  • World
  • Business
  • Interviews
  • Lifestyle
  • Democracy at Risk
    • Media Freedom
  • Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Columns
    • Book Reviews
    • Stage
  • Submit Op-ed

© 2018 The Globe Post