Over the last months, HRH has learnt of several cases of harassment and violent persecution of Congolese refugees inside Uganda. -Those among us who were involved in human rights work back in the DRC are particularly targeted, says Charles Mukandirwa Wetemwami, right, whom HRH’s Niels Jacob Harbitz met at a HR defenders conference in Entebbe recently. (24-NOV-05)

It is well known that the protection mechanisms of the UNHCR are insufficient, especially for urban refugees. Both specialised Ugandan organisations like the Refugee Law Project, and several among the international HR organisations, among them Frontline, have pointed this out. To testify to this, HRH has learnt of several cases of Congolese refugees, especially in Kampala, suffering intimidation and harassments, threats and violent attacks, both by the Ugandan army and police, and by others, most likely past and present members of various Congolese rebel movements, coming over from the DRC to track down their ‘enemies’ and bring them to silence.

-Just about everyone was after me – for having tried to secure justice
-Back home, we were persecuted both in the eastern and western parts of the DRC, says Charles Mukandirwa Wetemwami, himself living in hiding in Uganda, after having had to flee the DRC, where he was also living in hiding for several years. -I was harassed by both the security services and the military forces back home, explains Wetemwami. -From July 2002 to November 2003, I had to go into hiding after having been harassed by Mr Albert Semana, the North Kivu Provincial Director of Security. My only offence was to support victims of illegal expropriation of land in their attempt to regain justice. However, since the expropriation was carried out by Semana and his in-laws, I was targeted, and had to leave my home to sleep elsewhere very night.

-After repeated death threats, we went into hiding, in another country
-Then, in August 2003, I was about to be killed by Lt. Colonel Simba and Capitaine Ali at the Military Court in Goma, continues Wetemwami. -Then, my offence was to have supported a victim of rape, a rape that was carried out by Capitaine Ali. In December 2004, I received several death threats after reporting on arms distribution to civilians in North Kivu. On New Year’s Eve, my house was visited by armed men. Thankfully, I was out, but they requested my whereabouts. Among those who issued the death threats were Mr. Eugene Serefuli Ngayabaseka, Principal Governor of North Kivu, Mr. Semana, mentioned above, also of North Kivu, Mr. Alexis Makbuza and Mr. Sukisa Ndayambaje, both members of the rebel group the RCD Goma. Together with Richard Bayunda Muhindo, the General Director of Centre de Recherches sur l’Environnement, Democratie et les Droits de l’Homme (CREDDHO), Sheldon Munihire Bihira, the General Director of Actions Sociales pour la Paix el le Developpement (ASPD) and Magellan Luando Mungabo, the Chairman of Action Solidaire pour le Developpement et la Paix (ASODP), I had to escape and go into hiding in Uganda instead.

Pascal Kasangulu Kibembi.jpg-Assassination and violent attacks
Wetemwami also refers to the 31 July assassination of Mr. Pascal Kabungulu Kibembi, left, reported on this site shortly thereafter, and the 16 May attack in Lubumbashi, by armed men, on Golden Misabiko and Amigo Ngonde, both of Association Africaine de Defense des Droits de l’Homme (ASADHO). Two and a half weeks later, 2 June, Golden Misabiko and seven other HR defenders protesting Misabiko’s detention were arrested. After dark, but almost simultaneously, in Kisangani, armed men attacked HR defender Dismas Kitenge of the organisation Groupe Lotus.

-We remain very, very vulnerable
Wetemwami knows of many more cases, all adding further evidence to the clear tendency that can be detected here; that Congolese refugees are far from safe in Uganda, and that Ugandan police, army and other government bodies do little or nothing to protect them. -Many of us have lost hope in the UNHCR, some after being subjected to treatment that is at best ignorant, at worst blatantly inhuman, adds another refugee who wishes to remain unidentified. As witnesses to some of the worst human rights atrocities in recent times, many of us may well qualify for witness protection through for instance the ICC, but for as long as such mechanisms have yet to be set up, we remain very, very vulnerable, especially now that the whole of Kampala, to some extent the whole of Uganda, is so tense, with political unrest everywhere.