CONGO: Rights group calls on government to end war in Pool

NAIROBI, 22 July 2002 (IRIN) - A prominent human rights organisation in the Republic of Congo (ROC) has called on the international community to "put pressure on the Congolese government to end the war in the Pool region so that displaced populations can return to their homes and resume their lives in peace". The declaration, made by the Association pour les Droits de l'Homme et l'Univers Carceral (ADHUC), follows a recent mission conducted by the rights group to Kinkala, the capital of the Pool region, where they found residents returning, albeit in small numbers, in poor health and having suffered acts of intimidation by government forces. Four months after hostilities erupted between government forces and Ninja militias, "peace in Kinkala has not yet been assured, and the military is still on the ground with the mission to find [Ninja leader] Pastor Ntoumi," ADHUC said. A meeting between Brazzaville authorities and United Nations representatives is due to be held on Tuesday, with UN officials hopeful that they will be granted humanitarian access to most of the Pool region. Fighting erupted in ROC in late March when so-called Ninja militias attacked several government military positions in Pool, according to official sources. However, Ninja representatives have said that the clashes were provoked when they discovered government plans to arrest their leader, the Rev Frederic Bitsangou, alias Pasteur Ntoumi. On 11 June, UN agencies in ROC reported that at least 20,000 people in urgent need of humanitarian aid remained in inaccessible areas of the troubled Pool region. The UN said it remained in contact with government officials on a daily basis to coordinate access to the most affected zones in Pool, dependent on government assessments of the security situation in a given area. Concern among humanitarian agencies has also been growing as to whether sufficient access will be gained into the affected part of Pool in time for this year's polio vaccination campaign, already once rescheduled and now due to begin on 25 July. ROC is at a critical stage in its efforts to being certified polio-free, as no wild-virus confirmed polio cases were reported in the country in 2001. On 28 May, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson voiced concern over abuses in ROC. "I am deeply concerned at the deteriorating situation," she said, "in particular in the Pool region, where both parties to the ongoing conflict are showing blatant disregard for the safety and human rights of the civilian population." In her statement, released in Geneva, she cited reports by witnesses who said government forces had launched helicopter attacks on inhabited villages in the Pool region, killing and wounding "an unknown number of civilians" with indiscriminate rocket and machine-gun fire. Widespread destruction of houses and other property was also reported. She said uniformed men had allegedly raped dozens of women. At the same time, the fate of a number of young men reported to have been abducted from camps for internally displaced persons remained unknown. "I appeal to the Government of the Republic of Congo to take immediate steps to ensure the safety and integrity of the civilian population," she said.