DR Congo: Investigate Attacks on Oil Project Critics
Thomson Reuters Foundation - 17 hours ago
Source: Human Rights Watch - Wed, 4 Jun 2014 10:30 AM
Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should fully and impartially
investigate threats and violence against Virunga National Park rangers and
local activists. The government should examine whether the incidents are
linked to plans to explore for oil within and near Virunga Park by SOCO
International, a British oil company operating in eastern Congo.
(Kinshasa) - Democratic Republic of Congo authorities should fully and
impartially investigate threats and violence against Virunga National Park
rangers and local activists, Human Rights Watch said today. The government
should examine whether the incidents are linked to plans to explore for oil
within and near Virunga Park by SOCO International, a British oil company
operating in eastern Congo. Several rangers and activists have been
arbitrarily detained by the authorities and threatened or assaulted by
unidentified people after criticizing plans for oil exploration in Virunga,
a UNESCO world heritage site that is home to many of the last surviving
mountain gorillas. On April 15, 2014, armed men shot and seriously wounded
the park's director, Emmanuel de Mérode, a Belgian national. Congolese
military justice officials and police have opened an investigation into the
attack.
"The attack on the national park's director was a painful and shocking
reminder that people working to protect Africa's oldest park - its habitat,
wildlife, and local communities - do so at enormous risk,"
said Ida Sawyer, senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch.
"Congolese authorities need to make sure that those responsible for this
attack and others are arrested and prosecuted." The Belgian federal
prosecutor should also consider opening an investigation into the attack on
the basis that de Mérode is a Belgian national. The Belgian and Congolese
judicial authorities could join efforts to strengthen the investigation. De
Mérode and other park rangers, activists, and local community members have
long criticized proposed oil exploration and drilling in the park, which
they contend will have a negative impact on the park, its wildlife, and
local communities.
SOCO International signed a production-sharing contract with the Congolese
government in 2006 to explore for oil within and near Virunga Park. In
October 2011, SOCO received a permit to explore for oil in Block V, a vast
area in eastern Congo, of which 52 percent lies within Virunga Park, next to
the endangered gorilla habitat. De Mérode and other rangers have asserted
that SOCO's activities in the park violate Congolese and international law,
which, as government officials, the rangers say they have a duty to uphold.
Other Congolese government officials in Kinshasa and eastern Congo support
SOCO's plans, given the potentially large financial gains oil would bring.
SOCO has denied any role in threats, violence, or bribery, but has said it
will look into allegations of bribery, and condemned the use of violence and
intimidation. In the week following the attack on de Mérode, at least three
human rights and environmental activists received threatening text messages
from unidentified numbers, Human Rights Watch said. One message said:
You are playing with fire [name of activist], you are going to burn your
second leg, it's useless to change your car because we know all the cars and
we're everywhere you go with your team. Don't believe that just because we
failed to get your director that we are going to fail to get you.
Another message said: "You think that by writing you're going to prevent us
from extracting oil. You are going to die for nothing like de Mérode." On
May 3, 2014, an environmental activist in Goma received three calls from an
unknown number. The caller threatened the activist, saying that they "wanted
the head" of a staff member of the organization who, the caller said, had
bad-mouthed their interests.
The caller said: "We failed to get de Mérode, but we won't fail to get [name
of staff]." They told the employee that if he told anyone about the calls,
he would be "dealt with." "Park rangers and activists should be able to
oppose oil exploration in Virunga Park without risking their lives," Sawyer
said. "Congolese authorities need to take steps immediately to make sure
that people are safe when they try to uphold the law, protect the park, and
peacefully express their views."
Victims of abuses and witnesses to these incidents allege that Congolese
government, military, and intelligence officials who support oil exploration
in the park were responsible for previous threats and acts of violence
against activists and park staff. Activists and park rangers alleged that
SOCO representatives and security contractors attempted to bribe them to
gain their support or to discourage them from speaking out against oil
exploration in the park and to facilitate the company's activities in the
park. One environmental activist alleged that SOCO representatives offered
him US$20,000 and told him he would be able to hire five people to work for
him if he accepted the money. An investigation by park authorities found
that a SOCO representative paid a senior park official several thousand
dollars over several months to support SOCO's activities. The official
participated in meetings with park rangers at which they were told that they
would be fired if they did not support SOCO. Findings from this
investigation, which lasted over three years, were submitted to a Congolese
prosecutor in Goma on April 15, hours before the attack on de Mérode. In a
meeting with Human Rights Watch on May 23, North Kivu Governor Julien Paluku
acknowledged that certain government and security officials seem to have
been "manipulated." He said that he did not know who was manipulating them,
but that it appeared they had been paid and "instrumentalized" to support
oil exploration. He said there had been numerous allegations about threats
and assaults against activists and park rangers opposed to oil exploration,
and that he had asked the police and military justice officials to
investigate. In a May 30 response to a letter from Human Rights Watch
regarding allegations that SOCO representatives were involved in bribery,
SOCO's Deputy Chief Executive Roger Cagle wrote:
There have been a substantial number of false and inaccurate allegations
levelled against SOCO International plc in recent years and particularly in
the last month. Sadly, a number of these allegations have arisen as a result
of inaccurate, false, distorted and/or exaggerated accounts of our
activities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the 'DRC'). It also
increasingly seems to be the case that anyone engaging in alleged
questionable and unethical conduct are immediately branded 'SOCO
representatives' and 'SOCO supporters' even when they simply are not and
have nothing to do with our company. ... We operate on a strict Code of
Business Conduct and Ethics (our "Code"). ...We are fully committed to
conducting our business in an honest and ethical manner and we expect and
require that our contractors, suppliers and agents will conduct themselves
in the same manner. Moreover, the Company operates in accordance with the UK
Bribery Act 2010 and as part of our required Bribery Risk Governance, we
have a formal process to mitigate risks of corruption.
Regarding the specific allegations of bribery raised by Human Rights Watch,
Cagle wrote that company officials "have no information as to whether or not
the incidents actually took place, and if so, what happened. However, based
on the information available, we have instigated the procedures in our
code." SOCO should act in accordance with the Voluntary Principles on
Security and Human Rights, international guidelines that place
responsibilities on companies to take specific steps to safeguard rights
whenever they rely on public or private security forces to guard their
operations, Human Rights Watch said. In addition, the company should adhere
to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which
call on all companies to identify any possible human rights risks in their
operations and address any problems that might occur. Human Rights Watch
urged the British government to investigate SOCO's activities in eastern
Congo under the United Kingdom's Bribery Act. Any inquiry should examine
alleged acts of corruption or bribery that may have led to attacks and
threats against park rangers and activists at Virunga Park. "The allegations
that SOCO representatives offered bribes in the volatile climate in Virunga
Park should be taken seriously," Sawyer said. "SOCO should investigate their
representatives, agents, and contractors and make sure that none are
involved in harassment of activists and park personnel." Attack on Park
Director de Mérode Emmanuel de Mérode was driving alone in the park about 10
kilometers from the Virunga Park headquarters in Rumangabo in an area that
is controlled by the Congolese army, when at least three men in military
uniform fired at him. He was in a staff vehicle of the Congolese Institute
for the Conservation of Nature (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de
la Nature, ICCN), a Congolese government institution that oversees national
parks. A civilian on a motorcycle later found de Mérode on the road and
drove him toward Goma. He was then transferred to two Congolese army
vehicles and an ICCN vehicle before reaching the hospital in Goma, where he
was treated for bullet wounds to his chest and abdomen. The Congolese army
has a position 500 meters off the main road from where de Mérode was
attacked and usually has soldiers posted along the road. The Democratic
Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération
du Rwanda, FDLR), a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, some of whose members
participated in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, have also operated in this
area in the past. The FDLR are active across eastern Congo and are involved
in lucrative, illegal charcoal trading in Virunga Park - a practice that de
Mérode and other park rangers have sought to stop. Arrest and Intimidation
of Virunga Park Central Sector Chief On September 19, 2013, army soldiers
and intelligence officials arrested the warden of Virunga Park's central
sector, Rodrigue Mugaruka Katembo. He had attempted to stop the construction
of a telephone antenna in the park because, he said, the SOCO officials who
financed the construction did not have the authorization required by
Congolese law to build in the park. Katembo told Human Rights Watch that on
September 3, Dr. Guy Mbayma Atalia, the technical and scientific director
for the ICCN and the agency's focal point with SOCO at the time, had warned
him that if he continued to oppose SOCO's activities in the park, he would
be killed. In an interview with Human Rights Watch on April 23, 2014, Mbayma
denied this allegation and said he had nothing to do with Katembo's arrest.
Katembo said that soldiers arrested him in Kanyabayonga, North Kivu, where
he had been visiting family, and severely beat him and his younger brother.
They told Katembo he was against the government because he did not want SOCO
in the park. "What hurt me the most was how they tortured my young brother
in front of me," Katembo told Human Rights Watch. "I said, 'What did he do?
He's not even in the ICCN.' I was crying, and they had tied me up so I
couldn't do anything." The soldiers took Katembo to Rwindi, where they
further humiliated him, paraded him in front of his home, and burned
cigarettes on his head. He was then detained at the provincial headquarters
of the National Intelligence Agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements,
ANR) in Goma and released on October 7, 2013, after international pressure.
Katembo told Human Rights Watch that officials involved in his arrest and
ill-treatment told him that they had been promised money to kill him, rather
than arrest him. Katembo said he also learned that intelligence officials
had told prisoners that they would pay them if they beat him to death while
he was in detention. Officials privately informed Katembo and his family
about other plans to ambush or kill him. After his release, Katembo was told
to report to the intelligence agency daily and pay
5,000 Congolese francs (about US$5.50) every day. Several months later, a
sympathetic intelligence agent warned him that there were plans to kill him
in Goma, and he was advised to leave the city. The North Kivu provincial
director of the intelligence agency at the time, Jean-Marc Banza, told Human
Rights Watch on April 17, 2014, that Katembo was "detained legally" because
he had insulted the country's president, Joseph Kabila. Banza denied
allegations of mistreatment by the security forces. Threats Against Other
Park Rangers and Activists In many of the cases Human Rights Watch
documented, Congolese government, military, and intelligence officials were
implicated in the threats and attacks on human rights and environmental
activists and other community leaders. Some had allegedly received money
from SOCO. On January 31, 2014, a local farmers' cooperative in Rutshuru
organized a march of over 300 people opposing SOCO's activities. The
cooperative had informed local authorities about the demonstration in
advance, as Congolese law requires. Soon after the march began, policemen
went to the cooperative's office, confiscated a computer and other
materials, and tore down a banner that said: "No exploitation of oil in our
fields and our lake." The police detained and beat some of the demonstrators
and later released them. During a public meeting on February 19 in
Nyakakoma, a fishing village on Lake Edward in Rutshuru territory, SOCO
representatives told residents that exploration work could cause parts of
the lake to be closed to fishing for up to three months. The closure could
affect 80,000 people whose livelihoods depend on the lake, according to
community leaders. A local fisherman and environmental activist voiced his
concern at the meeting, questioning how residents would support themselves
during this time.
On February 26, the activist received a letter from the National
Intelligence Agency (Agence Nationale de Renseignements, ANR), asking him to
come to their office in Rutshuru. He told Human Rights Watch that when he
went to their office on March 3, "They told me I was behaving badly, and
they said it was a matter of the state. I shouldn't act like a hero, and I
risk having my head cut off." The activist was released after paying the
intelligence official $20. On April 2, another public meeting was held in
Nyakakoma, with SOCO representatives, government officials, and residents.
After residents protested SOCO's plans to close parts of the lake during
seismic testing, people who were at the meeting later told Human Rights
Watch that the Rutshuru territorial administrator, Justin Mukanya, had said
that SOCO's plans for oil exploration would go forward: "The train has
already left," he said. "Whoever wants to try to stop the train will be
crushed." Several human rights activists who opposed SOCO's activities in
the park told Human Rights Watch that, for the past three years, they had
received threatening text messages and phone calls. Following are some
examples of these messages, in addition to the more recent cases mentioned
above:
On February 26, 2011, two human rights activists received the following text
message: "Leave our oil alone. If you continue, you will suffer the same
fate as the park." On the same night, three unidentified men went to the
home of one of the activists in Goma; he was not home at the time. Two days
later, the activist received the following message: "If you continue to talk
about oil, you will see.
Watch out." On April 24, 2011, three activists received calls from an
unidentified person who asked them to come to the executive provincial
government office. When they arrived, they were asked to sign a document
saying that they had attended a meeting with SOCO on August 13, 2010. The
three activists refused to sign. Three days later, one of them received the
following message: "You refused to sign. You are arrogant. We've already
identified your residence." On May 7, 2011, another activist received a
phone call as he was leaving an Internet café in Goma. The caller, who did
not identify himself, said: "You think you are hidden, but we can see you.
You just stopped a bus. You thought that we didn't know you but we're
following you." On February 27, 2012, three intelligence agents went to the
same activist's house in Goma and told his wife he was "inciting the
population about things the head of state has already decided. If he
continues, he will lose his life." The activist had already been threatened
multiple times by phone and had been summoned to court after he sent a
letter to government authorities detailing the behavior of a government
security agent in Nyakakoma who claimed he was in charge of "security and
mobilization for SOCO." In December 2013, a fisherman told Human Rights
Watch that he had been harassed by the Naval Force after rowing his boat in
front of the SOCO office. He was summoned to the office of a major in the
Naval Force. There he was accused of spying and taking pictures of the SOCO
office. The fisherman asked the major, "On what legal basis are you accusing
me of this?" The major allegedly replied:
"You come here with your human rights. Here, we don't do the law. We do the
army." The major seized the fisherman's camera but did not find any pictures
of the SOCO office, and released him after two hours.
After several human rights activists publicly denounced threats and
intimidation by agents working on behalf of SOCO, Mbayma, the ICCN's focal
point with SOCO at the time, wrote a letter, seen by Human Rights Watch, to
the ICCN director general in early 2014, in which he accused the activists
of inciting the population against the
government:
>From the moment that these structures pride themselves with the freedom to
stand up against the sovereign State that is the DRC and to call the
peaceful population to civil disobedience, there is good reason for the
Director General of the ICCN to take adequate preventative measures. These
should take the path of suspending all collaboration, be it direct or
indirect, with these NGOs. Otherwise, the ICCN risks being qualified as an
accomplice to these NGOs in their proven attempt to break up the authority
of the state for the purposes, perhaps, of creating new armed groups.
In a letter to the president of North Kivu's Provincial Assembly, dated May
13, 2014, and on file at Human Rights Watch, the ICCN director general said
that Mbayma had been removed from his position as technical and scientific
director, that he was no longer the ICCN focal point with SOCO, and that he
no was no longer authorized to speak on behalf of the ICCN. Allegations
Against SOCO International In December 2010, a Congolese court in Goma
authorized park authorities to investigate allegations of illegal activities
by SOCO International, including unauthorized entry into the park by vehicle
and plane, unauthorized construction in the park, and attempts to bribe and
harass park staff and members of the Congolese security forces. As part of
the investigation, a park warden secretly filmed a security officer linked
to SOCO and the Congolese army's liaison officer with SOCO as they offered
the warden money. The warden told Human Rights Watch that he refused an
offer of "a large stack of cash"
to allow SOCO representatives to move freely within the park. Several months
later, the same warden said he was offered $50 up front and then $3,000 at
the end of every month if he agreed to give SOCO information about the zone
where they wanted to enter the park, and to allow them free movement in the
park without informing the warden's supervisor, de Mérode. Another park
warden told Human Rights Watch that Mbayma had instructed him to come to
Nyakakoma village with five park guards to work with him at SOCO's camp. "We
were each paid $20 a day for 35 days," the warden said. "Their objective was
for us to go with them to meetings with the population in order to convince
the population to support SOCO's activities and to try to show they had the
full support of the ICCN." The warden said they were paid by Mbayma in the
presence of a SOCO agent. He said that Mbayma warned him that if he informed
his direct supervisor about what they were doing, "it will fall on your
head, and you will be arrested." When the warden eventually refused to work
with Mbayma and returned to his base, he received at least four threatening
calls from Mbayma between November
2013 and February 2014, trying to convince him to work with them again.
Mbayma warned him that if he refused to join, he would lose his career with
the ICCN and be arrested.
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni and Dr. Kiiza Besigye Uganda is in anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni na Dk. Kiiza Besigye Uganda ni katika machafuko"
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