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Remembering today the victims of the Kasika massacre (South Kivu - #DRC). @amnesty reported that on 24 August 1998 and for several days thereafter, RCD combatants killed more than 850 unarmed civilians at Kasika Roman Catholic parish and neighbouring areas. @DenisMukwege 1/
@amnesty report is here: https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/148000/afr620361998en.pdf 2/ @jm_senga
The #UNMapping report reported that "ANC/APR soldiers massacred over 1,000 civilians, including numerous women as well as babies and children in the villages of Kilungutwe, Kalama and Kasika, in the Mwenga region, 108 kilometres from Bukavu." 3/
"Before they were killed, most of the women were raped, tortured and subjected to genital mutilation. (...) Numerous bodies of babies and children were thrown into the latrines. Before they left, the soldiers pillaged three villages and set fire to large numbers of homes." 4/
@UNHumanRights report is here (p.176-177 of the English version for Kasika massacre: https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/CD/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf 5/
According to #ICTJ @theICTJ report, a case was opened with charges of War crimes of murder against Col. Eric Rorimbere (sic. Ruhorimbere) and Commandant Shetani. The case was opened in September 2009. @scandeias1 6/
@theICTJ report is here (p.55 for relevant information): https://ictj.org/sites/default/files/ICTJ-Report-DRC-Accountability-Landscape-2015.pdf 7/
In August 2003, Ruhorimbere was promoted to Colonel and was made deputy commander for a military region. See Décret n° 016/2003 du 19 août 2003 portant nomination dans les catégories des officiers des Forces Armées Congolaises: http://www.journalofficiel.cd/adm/uploads_jo/61a0ff2223b88415fbb0cf96daf0c668.pdf#nameddest=3 8/
After a stint in the CNDP, Ruhorimbere rejoined the Congolese army. In 2009, the UN Group of Experts reported two children were part of the bodyguards of Colonel Eric Ruhorimbere, who was then deputy commander of FARDC zone 1 operations in Rutshuru. 9/
The UN Group of Experts on the DRC is here (18 May 2009, S/2009/253) @DinoMahtani: http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/2009/253 10/
In 2014, Ruhorimbere was promoted to General. In 2017, the EU put Ruhorimbere under sanctions for being “(…) involved in planning, directing, or committing acts that constitute serious human rights violations in DRC”. 11/
The EU list of persons and entities under sanctions is here: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018D1940&from=EN 12/
Ruhorimbere was Deputy Commander of the 21st military region (Kasaï) from September 2014 to July 2018. 13/
A UN investigative team concluded that in Kasaï "a number of the violations perpetrated by the defence and security forces, the Kamuina Nsapu militia and the Bana Mura militias since 2016 constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes." 14/
"The Congolese defence and security forces, as well as the Kamuina Nsapu militia and the Bana Mura militias deliberately killed civilians, including children, and committed atrocities – such as mutilations, rapes and other forms of sexual violence, torture, and exterminations."15
The UN report is here for those of you who want to have (more) nightmares: https://www.ohchr.org/FR/HRBodies/HRC/ITEKasaiDRC/Pages/Index.aspx 16/
To go back to Ruhorimbere (but he never went away, and that's the whole point): while the EU sanctions were applied in May 2017, Eric Ruhorimbere was appointed Commander of the Nord Equateur operational sector in July 2018. @soniarolley 17/
In February 2020, Ruhorimbere's request to have the EU sanctions removed was rejected by the European General Court: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/FR/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:62018TA0175&rid=1 18/
Without justice, peace will remain illusive in the DRC. To date, impunity has delivered only more crimes. I hope the lists of names that @UNHumanRights have compiled for decades are made public and I hope I do not see those same names in the Journal Official anymore @fatshi13 19/
/20 I am never forgetting. END OF THREAD (but this is not the end of this).
