OPEN LETTER
Addressed to His Excellency the President of the Democratic Republic of Congo (With our most fitting tributes)
Concerns: Unsafe Situation in the Region (Reminder)
Excellency,
We, Actors of the Civil Society Forces vivives of the Territories of Beni and Lubero and the Cities of Butembo and Beni, gathered in Butembo in Extraordinary General Assembly this Wednesday, April 25, 2018, have the honor to return to your high competence in to remind you of the contents of the open letter that the forces of the territories of Beni and Lubero and the towns of Butembo and Beni have sent you for about two years and to inform you of the conclusions of our meeting.
Indeed, while on Saturday, May 14th, 2016 we presented our cry of alarm and distress, soliciting your indulgence to put an end to the ordeal that crosses the inhabitants of our region, the current report on ground reports following elements:
Congolese citizens continue to be savagely killed in the Beni and Lubero territories. Considering only the dead identified by the Forces Vives, the number has increased from 1116 in May 2016 to 2459 in April 2018 is at least 57 people killed per month or an average of 2 people killed each day. It’s too much ! This number is distributed as follows: more than 1465 people massacred in Beni territory against more than 994 in Lubero territory;
The abductions, kidnappings and disappearances of people have not stopped, on the contrary they have taken a worrying pace. In the Lubero Territory, more than 874 kidnappings cases against more than 783 in Beni territory, a total of more than 1657. Even more, 757 victims kidnapped on the Kanyabayonga-Goma (VUSENDO) section, most of whom are inhabitants of the Territory of Lubero and the town of Butembo and have not yet been found;
More than 7376 cases of rape of women and children are regularly documented.
Vehicles and homes continue to be burned, sometimes people and many goods are burned. Including 2,883 houses in the fire, 11 vehicles on the Beni-Eringeti and Beni-Kasindi sections in Beni territory; as for the territory of Lubero, there are 47 people burned during the arson of 1539 houses, 20 burned vehicles;
In addition to 13 sanitary structures burned between 2014 and 2016, 5 others were burned in the Lubero Territory and 2 in the Beni Territory, as well as more than 7 Health Centers and Hospitals that were vandalized in Butembo in 2017.
Schools are attacked, destroyed and looted by rebels, others are abandoned, others are occupied either by displaced persons, or by dependents of the military, or by armed groups. A total of 13 schools were ransacked in Butembo town; 39 completely destroyed in the territory of Lubero and more than 65 schools abandoned and damaged;
Congolese citizens continue to be savagely killed in the Beni and Lubero territories. Considering only the dead identified by the Forces Vives, the number has increased from 1116 in May 2016 to 2459 in April 2018 is at least 57 people killed per month or an average of 2 people killed each day. It’s too much ! This number is distributed as follows: more than 1465 people massacred in Beni territory against more than 994 in Lubero territory;
The abductions, kidnappings and disappearances of people have not stopped, on the contrary they have taken a worrying pace. In the Lubero Territory, more than 874 kidnappings cases against more than 783 in Beni territory, a total of more than 1657. Even more, 757 victims kidnapped on the Kanyabayonga-Goma (VUSENDO) section, most of whom are inhabitants of the Territory of Lubero and the town of Butembo and have not yet been found;
More than 7376 cases of rape of women and children are regularly documented.
Vehicles and homes continue to be burned, sometimes people and many goods are burned. Including 2,883 houses in the fire, 11 vehicles on the Beni-Eringeti and Beni-Kasindi sections in Beni territory; as for the territory of Lubero, there are 47 people burned during the arson of 1539 houses, 20 burned vehicles;
In addition to 13 sanitary structures burned between 2014 and 2016, 5 others were burned in the Lubero Territory and 2 in the Beni Territory, as well as more than 7 Health Centers and Hospitals that were vandalized in Butembo in 2017.
Schools are attacked, destroyed and looted by rebels, others are abandoned, others are occupied either by displaced persons, or by dependents of the military, or by armed groups. A total of 13 schools were ransacked in Butembo town; 39 completely destroyed in the territory of Lubero and more than 65 schools abandoned and damaged;
Excellency,
What seems absurd is to note that while the army is fighting against the ADF terrorists who slaughter without mercy all those whom they meet in their path, new communities settle in the zones apparently conquered to perform activities to exploit the natural resources of the soil and subsoil. This confirms the hypothesis of the establishment of a workforce that would consist mainly of foreigners (probably Rwandan refugees) waiting for the oil project in the Albertan Basin. So this could eventually trigger the balkanization of the country …
Moreover, in the major centers, the security services business (ANR, PNC and FARDC), whose offices have turned into base services, a source of illicit enrichment for certain officials, is spirited to watch.
Excellency,
To this dark picture is added the asphyxiation of the economy by deliberate strategies of non maintenance of the road infrastructures (allusion made to the National Road N ° 2 on the Butembo – Kanyabayonga section, the Butembo – Manguredjipa section, etc.). and measures taken by the Minister of State and Minister of Foreign Trade imposing the export of cinchona in the finished or semi-finished state (a way to prohibit its cultivation and exploitation, while the region is the best producer in quality and quantity) for an entity without energy or industry.
In the meantime, on the social level, another form of insecurity has just emerged: the doctors’ strike. They are forced to leave their patients at the mercy of death. This strike comes on top of the many salary grievances felt in each socio-professional sector, alongside the multiplicity, the rise and the tax evasion in all its forms.
Excellency,
Given this situation, we continue to ask ourselves questions such as:
Until then will the inhabitants of the East of the Republic continue to be the counters of acts of atrocity?
Why, in spite of our cries, our cries and our many calls for help, your silence, that of the Congolese Government and that of the International
Community remain the appropriate answer?
Why do MPs’ initiatives in connection with the issue of the Beni Lubero massacre are often suffocated while the military actions are reduced to nothing by the enemy?
Is the Congolese Government thinking of a compensation plan for the victims of this terrorism?
Why does the central government not make the restoration of security in the territories of BENI and LUBERO and cities of BENI and BUTEMBO a priority as was the case of BUNDU DIA KONGO, ENYELES and M23?
Why did the Military Court of North Kivu, which sat in a funeral in Beni, not be able to identify the true sponsors of the massacres?
Why are the Congolese Government and the international community reluctant to describe the targeted killings of the people of North Kivu as a crime of genocide?
Why is the Congolese Government and the International Community reluctant to take the International Criminal Court (ICC)?
After noting the inefficiency of MONUSCO and its field intervention brigade (according to you), what is the Congolese government doing to defend its nation, its independence and protect its people and property?
Excellency,
What seems odd is that the enemy enjoys the diversion contained in the inflammatory remarks of some politicians to incriminate and blame local communities already victimized. These remarks may discourage, disorient and destabilize the valiant FARDC soldiers who resolutely sacrifice their lives to defend the nation. Moreover, messages from politicians, when misinterpreted, can lift communities against each other and thus increase violence.
Excellency,
To avoid being confronted with an accomplished fact and to be assimilated to the other accomplices of this situation, the living forces of the territories of BENI and LUBERO and the cities of BUTEMBO and BENI strongly recommend to you: in your capacity as guarantor of the territorial integrity, national independence, the security of persons and property, the regular functioning of the Institutions and as Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to take your responsibilities in hand to restore the authority of the State throughout the national territory, including North Kivu.
In the hope that the contents of this letter will retain your best attention, we ask you to accept, Excellency, the expression of our patriotic sentiments.
For civil society coordination
1. Noella KATONGERWAKI, President / Beni Territory
2. Gilbert KAMBALE KAMATHE, President / Beni City
3. Edgar KATEMBO MATESO, Senior Vice President / Butembo
4. Georges MUHINDO KATSONGO, President / Lubero
