MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the massacres in eastern Congo

The European Parliament,

–  having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),

–  having regard to the resolution of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly of 15 June 2016 on the pre-electoral and security situation in the DRC,

–  having regard to the statements by the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy (VP/HR), and by her spokesperson, on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,

–  having regard to the Council conclusions on the Democratic Republic of the Congo of 23 May 2016,

–  having regard to the UN Security Council resolutions on the DRC, in particular resolutions 2198 (2015) on renewing the DRC sanctions regime and the mandate of the Group of Experts, and 2277 (2016), which renewed the mandate of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) for a year,

–  having regard to the report of the UN Group of Experts on the DRC of 12 January 2015,

–  having regard to the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework Agreement for the DRC and the Region, signed in Addis Ababa in February 2013,

–  having regard to the UN Secretary-General’s reports of 9 March 2016 on the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC and on the implementation of the Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the DRC and the Region,

–  having regard to the revised Cotonou Partnership Agreement,

–  having regard to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights of June 1981,

–  having regard to the Nairobi Declarations of December 2013,

–  having regard to the Congo Research Group’s inquiry report entitled ‘Who are the killers of Beni?’,

–  having regard to Rule 123(2) of its Rules of Procedure,

A.  whereas since 2014, more than 600 civilians have been brutally slaughtered with machetes, axes and knives in the region of the eastern Congolese town of Beni, including women, children and even babies;

B.  whereas one attack on a village took place in the immediate vicinity of a MONUSCO camp, without the latter reacting;

C.  whereas these massacres constitute the worst violence the country has seen in a decade;

D.  whereas MONUSCO and the Congolese National Army (FARDC) hold the Islamist Ugandan rebel organisation Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) responsible for the massacres;

E.  whereas no serious official investigation has been conducted, however, either by the Congolese authorities or by MONUSCO;

F.  whereas the FARDC has been accused of passive, and some of its members even of active, complicity in the massacres in certain limited cases;

G.  whereas in the decades-long ongoing conflict in eastern Congo, civilians have been systematically targeted by numerous armed groups; whereas the latter have used sexual violence as a weapon of war and recruited child soldiers;

H.  whereas the widespread failure to bring to justice those responsible for human rights violations has resulted in the climate of impunity being encouraged and new crimes being committed;

I.  whereas the fighting in eastern Congo stems from many sources, including ethnic conflict, political grievances and regional geopolitics, and underpinning this volatile mix is the impoverished region’s resource curse;

J.  whereas informal, or ‘artisanal’, mining comprises up to one-fifth of the country’s economic output and employs millions of people in eastern Congo; whereas it is a ready source of income for rebels and corrupt government soldiers alike, as well as for traders from neighbouring countries operating directly or through local armed allies;

K.  whereas, as part of an effort to address the underlying causes of violence in the region, the Government of the DRC, along with ten other countries and four regional and international institutions, adopted a framework to consolidate peace in the country in February 2013; whereas the various approaches taken by the Congolese Government and its foreign partners, including the stabilisation programme, demobilisation efforts and security sector reform, have produced meagre results;

L.  whereas a major challenge to peace has been the DRC’s faltering efforts to demobilise thousands of rebel fighters, whether by incorporating them into the national army or smoothing their transition into civilian life;

1.  Condemns the continued attacks by armed groups and the extreme violence being inflicted on the population of the DRC, particularly in the Beni region, which are ongoing in the eastern provinces; calls on all relevant authorities to take immediate action to bring the perpetrators to justice;

2.  Calls on the Government of the DRC to launch an urgent investigation, led by a senior military prosecutor, into the massacres of civilians in the Beni region;

3.  Recalls that these massacres amount to war crimes;

4.  Calls on the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to collect information and examine the abuses with a view to determining whether an ICC investigation into alleged crimes in the Beni area is warranted;

5.  Welcomes the UN announcement that the reduction of the MONUSCO force will be accompanied by a ‘force transformation’ to ensure that MONUSCO will be able to exercise greater operational capability to protect civilians through rapid deployment mechanisms and aerial reconnaissance in eastern Congo;

6.  At the same time, calls on MONUSCO to increase patrols in the affected areas, including foot and night patrols, and to set up mobile operating bases closer to the remote villages where many of the recent attacks have taken place;

7.  Considers that the local communities of the Beni region should participate, in order to increase their efficiency, in the planning of these patrols, the deployment of troops in the region, local development efforts, and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR) projects;

8.  Condemns the ongoing acts of sexual violence in eastern Congo; welcomes the fact that the Congolese authorities have organised numerous trials during the last few months on sexual violence in eastern Congo and condemned many army officers;

9.  Considers that the current military strategy in the Kivus should be accompanied by a much stronger complementary diplomatic and peacebuilding effort; calls on all the countries which signed the Addis Ababa Framework Agreement in February 2013 to honour their commitments;

10.  Notes that the Congolese authorities have been slow in implementing the country’s DDR plan; calls on them to step up their efforts, and on the international community to increase its support for the plan;

11.  Welcomes the Congolese authorities’ efforts to implement the legislation which forbids trading in and processing of minerals in areas where there is illegal exploitation of minerals, such as those controlled by armed groups; calls on the Congolese authorities to step up the implementation of the legislation to put an end to the illegal exploitation of its mineral resources and urges the DRC to continue its efforts to comply with the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative;

12.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the European External Action Service, the African Union, the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the government and parliament of the DRC.