Customize Consent Preferences

We use cookies to help you navigate efficiently and perform certain functions. You will find detailed information about all cookies under each consent category below.

The cookies that are categorized as "Necessary" are stored on your browser as they are essential for enabling the basic functionalities of the site. ... 

Always Active

Necessary cookies are required to enable the basic features of this site, such as providing secure log-in or adjusting your consent preferences. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable data.

No cookies to display.

Functional cookies help perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collecting feedback, and other third-party features.

No cookies to display.

Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics such as the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.

No cookies to display.

Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.

No cookies to display.

Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with customized advertisements based on the pages you visited previously and to analyze the effectiveness of the ad campaigns.

No cookies to display.

Banner Left
Banner Right

UN blasts Kinshasa for expelling top envoy

GENEVA – The UN rights chief condemned Kinshasa for expelling his top envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and accused the authorities of intimidating other members of his staff.

“Not only has my highly experienced and respected representative in DRC, Scott Campbell, been told to leave, but two other staff working in his team have been seriously threatened in recent days”, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in a statement.

“This is unacceptable”, he said, demanding an investigation into the threats.

“With these acts of intimidation and reprisal, the Congolese authorities risk setting back years of strenuous efforts by UN human rights staff and some sectors of the Congolese authorities to assist victims of human rights violations and strengthen the rule of law”, he warned.

Campbell, who headed the UN Human Rights office in the country, was declared persona non grata on Thursday, a day after the publication of a damning report on a police crackdown on youth gangs.

“The fact that their work, mandated by the Security Council, has led to these acts of reprisal is a very disturbing development indeed”, said the UN rights chief.

The report, published jointly by the UN mission in the country, Monusco, and Zeid’s office, said at least nine people had been summarily executed and 32 went missing during the police operation in Kinshasa between last November and February.

Bodies had been dumped in a river or buried in mass graves, according to the report, which held the Congolese interior ministry responsible.

Monusco head Martin Kobler had urged Kinshasa to reconsider its decision, stressing that he had “full confidence and trust in Scott Campbell and the work undertaken by his whole team.”

Zeid said he joined “wholeheartedly with Mr Kobler in supporting [the report’s] conclusions and recommendations”.

“The government of the DRC should be investigating its deeply disturbing findings and bringing alleged perpetrators to justice rather than seeking to punish the leader of the team that researched and produced the report”, he said.

Meanwhile, heavily armed gunmen freed at least 300 inmates from a prison in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday, the provincial minister of justice said, amid fears over deteriorating security in the mineral-rich region.

Christophe Ndibeche said the attackers easily overpowered the security guards, freeing all the prisoners from the central prison of Butembo, a town in North Kivu province.

By Sunday evening, authorities had recaptured about 30 of the fugitives, he added.

“These are enemies of peace who committed this attack to liberate the bandits in the prison. We are going to do everything to find them,” Ndibeche said.

The assault comes at a time of growing alarm in North Kivu, a mineral-rich province bordering Rwanda and Uganda that has long been plagued by dozens of armed militias.

Last week, suspected rebels from the Ugandan ADF-NALU group carried out two overnight raids near the town of Beni, 50km north of Butembo, killing more than 50 people.

Ndibeche said that highway bandits were the most likely culprits in the prison break given that group’s strong representation among the prison population.

– Nampa-AFP-Reuters

Stay informed with The Namibian – your source for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for only N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, invest in democracy –
Subscribe Now!

Latest News