HERITIERS DE LA JUSTICE ONCE AGAIN IN THE LINE OF FIRE OF THE RCD AND THE GOVERNOR OF SOUTH KIVU.
The Governor of South Kivu is once again after Heritiers de la Justice.
In his letter of November 7, 2000, the Governor of South-Kivu/East of the Congo, Mr. Norbert Basengezi Katintima accuses Heritiers de la Justice of being partisan and serving opposing political factions.
Heritiers de la Justice did not get copy of this letter, which has been widely and internationally distributed. Several diplomatic missions, international organisations, and bodies are said to have received copies of this letter.
As one can see from a reading a copy of the letter in question, not only the facts that it alleges are false, but also the point made by the letter in relation to the creation by Heritiers de la Justice of a new non-governmental organisation called CMD, unveils how the Governor is out of touch with the daily conditions of live of people living in the villages the Kivu region.
Indeed, one of the paragraphs accusing Heritiers de la Justice states:
" …Heritiers de la Justice has just created a clandestine non-governmental organisation that aims at dealing with the repatriation refugees without consulting the UNHCR and the Governmental local service dealing with refugees. The clandestine NGO is called CMD (Comity for Mediation and Defence), which is about to abduct an unaccompanied child called Venance, who is currently being looked after by madame Nyirafishi Binvihore, a Congolese hutu. We do not know what are the real intentions of Heritiers de la Justice. We are very worried about this child, who has already been photographed, who could be killed by friends of Heritiers de la Justice, and put the blame on either the rebel movement RCD or the Rwandese army, RPF.
In contrast to the allegation quoted above, the Comities of Mediation and Defence are not new non-governmental organisations created by Heritiers de la Justice. On contrary, the Comities of Mediation and Defence are autonomous grassroots communities groups, which are generally set up by the members of villages themselves. The CMDs exist since 1992, and up to now there are 21 CMDs covering 97% of the villages of South-Kivu. The tasks of the CMDs consist of organising the Barza-Juridiques (large public outdoors meetings organised by members of villages for debating common concerns), running the Pharmancies de droit (huts or small houses generally located in the middle of the villages and where members of villages can get technical legal counselling), and taking on local mediations.
The letter of accusation goes on and states that:
" …Rwandese refugees have informed UNICEF workers that members staff of the UHCR, HERITIERS DE LA JUSTICE and CARITAS are preventing them from returning back to Rwanda so that these organisation can continue to get funds on their names. This corroborate the content of Nota Bene N0…., in which Heritiers de la Justice shows that it does not support the counting of the refugees as well as their return to their country of origin…"
The letter of accusation of Heritiers de la Justice came few days after the very same Governor of South Kivu, Mr. Katintima, threatened Heritiers de la Justice on the local radio station.
One can also recall the fact that the rebel movement RCD in general and the Governor of South-Kivu in particular are not at their first attempt to silence Heritiers de la Justice and stain its reputation. Many recall the pressure and threats made against Heritiers de la Justice following the publication of the burial alive of 15 women at Mwenga/South-Kivu.
HERITIERS DE LA JUSTICE would like to bring to the attention of all that it will continue to resist any attempt aiming at colouring its actions, releases and activities.
HERITIERS DE LA JUSTICE will remain an independent human rights organisation standing by the populations of South Kivu and committed to publicising, as well as denouncing human rights violations, crimes against humanity and war crimes taking place in the eastern part of the Congo.
HERITIERS DE LA JUSTICE
November 26, 2000
La RONDE du Kivu
Mwenga centre | Kamituga | - - Dan Church Objectifs,...
Rapport des Droits de l'Homme & Media Internationaux sur le Kivu
Human Rights Watch
>International Rescue Committee:1.7 millions mort en 22 mois (Juin 2000):Resume
International Rescue Committee:1.7 millions mort en 22 mois (Juin 2000):Rapport en entier avec ACROBAT READER
Amnesty International HALT! Tribunaux Internationaux contre les violateurs des droits de l'hommes .
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Uvira | Luvungi
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Bailleurs des fonds
/ICCO-Hollande
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Projets en Cours
Human Rights Watch Rapport de Mai 2000)
Version Francaise de l'avant dernier Rapport
Amnesty International: Dernier Rapport(Juin 2000, version Anglaise)
East du Congo: Quel carnage?
Links sur le Congo
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Observatoire de l'Afrique
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