20100924
africanews

A presidential hopeful of the Democratic Republic of Congo Dr Francis Bent Mboyo Ndombo has said the recent UN report uncovering mass human rights abuses in the country including the possible geno

He said the report should propel Congolese who have suffered inhuman atrocities in the hands of the Kabilas and Mobotu to demand for justice and should not be afraid to stand for the truth.

“Congolese should also know that the West has heard their cries. This is the time to forge a common front and fight the enemy in power that is taking its own people for granted. We must be inspired by the American Revolution (1775-1783), or the French Revolution (1789-1799), and know that when people are united, no tyranny can overpower them,” Dr Mboyo told AfricaNews.

“Reasonable revolutions have been successful and made real changes in the world. We must remain one to battle the culture of impunity. We can do this if an international tribunal is established for the DRC to look into the case of genocide and other forms of abuses.

“If we don’t speak out and remain mute we would be taken as accomplices and would not help lay a bright foundation for the future leaders of Congo.”

A leaked report by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) details massacres, rapes and looting by forces from various countries in two wars that rocked the former Zaire between 1993 and 2003. The most serious claims target Rwanda, whose forces along with Congolese troops allegedly shot, clubbed and axed to death vast numbers of ethnic Hutu refugees in the DRC, including women, children and the elderly from 1996 to 1998.

The total number of victims of war crimes by various forces operating in the country, known since 1997 as the Democratic Republic of Congo, is "probably several tens of thousands," the UNHCR report said

Mboyo, 41, who would be contesting next year’s election on the ticket of the Congolese United for Change dared the Kabila-led administration to seek for legal redress for the poor Congolese. However, he said the behavior of the government is not convincing enough to win the confidence of Congolese.

He called on all Congolese in the diaspora and back home to take the bull by the horn and seek for damages at the international level.

“The perpetrators must be barred from holding any political office in Congo. I expect people in high position to hail the UN report and act on it instead of remain quiet over it,” he added.