Congolese Irish Partnership letter to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs

national | miscellaneous | news report Monday April 14, 2003 13:33 by Congolese Irish Partnership

Congolese Irish Partnership letter to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs

Congolese Irish Partnership letter to the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Mr Brian Cowen TD
Minister for Foreign Affairs
Department of Foreign Affairs
79 - 80 St Stephens Green, Dublin 2.

- 10 April 2003 -

Dear Minister,

I am writing to notify you of the extreme concern of the Congolese Irish Partnership regarding the critical escalation of the war in the East and North –Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

According to a Reuter’s report received on Tuesday 8 April 2003, 1,000 civilians have been killed by tribal militias in the north eastern town of Bunia. This attack is among the worst atrocities committed in the country’s 5 year civil war, and reports say that Congolese now fear reprisal attacks.

A friend of the Congolese Irish Partnership, based in Ituri in North Eastern Congo, has reported to the Congolese Irish Partnership by telephone and email, that in Drodro town 20 mass graves, some scraps of clothing and traces of blood were found in freshly–turned soil last week. Drodro’s population is mainly made up of the Hema tribe. It has been pitted against the rival Lendu tribe in a conflict that in recent months has drawn in factions from the wider war in the DRC.

Reports from human rights organisations (including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and local grass roots organisations) based in the area have described how the Lendu waged an onslaught against the Hema and other tribes last September, killing thousands of people. Approximately 500,000 people have fled their homes in Ituri. 50,000 more people have been killed over the past four years, as rival rebel factions, ethnic militias and the Ugandan army fought for control of the gold–rich Ituri district.

The Ituri province has seen some of the worst atrocities of the DRC’s civil war, which began in 1998 when Uganda and Rwanda backed an uprising to overthrow the Kinshasa government. Six foreign armies were drawn into the conflict in a bid to exploit the DRC’s vast mineral wealth – including diamonds, gold, cobalt and coltan, a vital component of mobile phones. In the resulting conflict, 4.5 million people died, either through murder or from hunger and disease.

The Congolese Irish Partnership (CIP) condemn the massacre of Congolese people on their own soil.

The CIP demand that the international community put immediate pressure on the Ugandan, Rwandan and Burundi governments to withdraw their troops from the DRC and respect the Pretoria and Luanda agreements they have signed.

The CIP demand that the international community investigate the atrocities carried out throughout the five year war and bring the perpetrators to justice according to international law.

The CIP call on the Irish government to use their considerable influence within the EU, UN and other international fora to urge the international community to act to end the conflict and bring peace to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over past months considerable international diplomatic pressure and vast amounts of resources have been spent on a concerted campaign to remove the repressive regime in Iraq. It is unconscionable therefore that the Congolese people, who have suffered for so long, and died in their millions, are ignored by the international community. The CIP urge the Irish government to do all in their power to place solving the conflict in the DRC at the centre of the international stage.

Yours sincerely
Pierrot Ngadi
Chairperson
Congolese Irish Partnership (C.I.P.)
19Belvedere Place, Dublin 1

Email:[email protected]