Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The eight ICRC (International Red Cross) workers kidnapped 9 April were released unharmed Friday 16 April, the Geneva-based humanitarian agency announced. One Swiss and seven Congolese workers were taken in southern Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo but released with help from the United Nations Mission.
Geneva Human Rights Film Festival
by Jared Bloch
GenevaLunch (Geneva) – In a perverse twist of humanitarian imperative, modern conflicts are specifically targeting the most vulnerable community members as a war strategy. This disturbing trend was highlighted in three films screened at the Human Rights Film Festival, which closed its 8th edition on Sunday 14 March.
“Weapon of War”, as the name implies, provides a graphic illustration of how sexual violence has been used by armed factions in the Congolese conflict to destabilize and demoralize communities.
The 60-minute film by Dutch sisters Femke and Ilse van Velzen consists of a series of graphic interviews with confessed rapists and, oddly, with a single rape survivor.
Confessed rapist, army chaplain and community educator on sexual violence (Photo, reproduced with permission from Weapon of War website)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – More than half a million people have been displaced in the DR Congo since the start of 2009, the latest figures published by the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) in Geneva show. Heavy fighting between government forces and Rwandan rebels in the South Kivu area starting 12 July has created a new migration of 35,000 people out of the area, bringing the total displaced since January 2009 to 536,000. Overall, 1.8 million people have been displaced by the fighting.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - The Swiss government says it “deplores” the fact that it was obliged 15 July to inform Swiss banks and the heirs to accounts that belonged to former Zaire (now DR Congo) dictator Mobutu Sese Seko that nearly CHF8 million in Swiss banks must be unfrozen, meaning the money returns to the family. “The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs deplores this result, which marks the end of 12 years of freezing of the assets in which all conceivable solutions were attempted. Since 1997 the Confederation has gone to considerable lengths to bring this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.”
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Some CHF8 million in Swiss bank accounts must be released to the family of former Congo (Zaire) leader Mobutu Sese Seko, the Swiss penal court in Bellinzona, Ticino has ruled. The accounts were ordered to be frozen by the Swiss government and on request from the new government of the DR Congo after Mobutu’s death in 1997, the only money from illegal sources that could be traced. Mobutu, who ruled as a dictator for 32 years, was famous for his expensive lifestyle, which contrasted sharply with the extreme poverty of his country.
Micheline Calmy-Rey, who was then president of Switzerland, met with DR Congo leader Joseph Kabila in July 2007 and asked him to apply for the return of the money before the statute of limitations ran out, but Kabila was reported at the time to be disappointed at the size of the amount and action was not taken immediately.
Laurent Nkunda, leader of the main rebel group of Tutsis in the DR Congo, was arrested as he fled to Rwanda. His arrest came as a joint Rwandan-Congolese military operation was underway, with some 3,500 Rwandan troops entering DR Congo Tuesday, mainly to disarm the FDLR rebels, a Hutu group that Nkunda has been fighting. BBC AllAfrica on joint military venture
The European Union, which has been asked to supply the bulk of soldiers that will be part of a new deployment by the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has so far turned a mostly deaf ear to the appeal, as the UN signs a one-year extension of its peacekeeping mandate.
Laurent Nkunda, leader of a rebel group in DR Congo, has agreed to a ceasefire and to leave open a safe corridor for humanitarian aid workers, following a visit from UN envoy Olesegun Obasanjo, reports Al Jazeera.
DR Congo leader Joseph Kabila and Rwandan leader Paul Kagame are meeting in Nairobi, Kenya with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in hopes of keeping the fighting in DR Congo, which is intensifying, from spreading into a regional conflict. BBC
