Effective measures against impunity for Congo mass murderers from Germany as well

As "Germany’s most important contribution to ending mass murder and expulsion in Congo” the Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) has described the arrest today of the two leaders of the feared FDLR militia, Ignace Murwanashyaka and Straton Musoni in Mannheim and Nürtingen. "Germany could no longer remain inactive while the militia leaders organise from German soil mass murder, expulsion and crimes against humanity in Central Africa”, said the STP Africa consultant, Ulrich Delius. The years the two had skilfully used gaps in our legal system to organise mass murder in their homeland by satellite telephone from the safety of asylum. "Now court proceedings must be taken swiftly against them to make it clear to other FDLR extremists living in Europe that their crimes will not remain unpunished in Europe”, said Delius.

"The credibility of Germany and Europe has already suffered considerably in Central Africa as a result of the activities of the two militia leaders, which have gone ahead without anything being done to stop them.” Above all in Ruanda no one could understand just how the two of them, who are now in custody, were able to continue carrying out their crimes from the soil of the German Federal Republic.

It was not until October 2009 that the United Nations showed its surprise at the fact that Murwanashyaka, who has been living in Mannheim, had entered Congo from Germany on several occasions with a Ugandan passport and also been able to command from exile the militia, which is feared for its crimes against the civilian population. The German authorities had officially forbidden him to carry out political activities. The deputy-president of the FDLR, Straton Musoni has been living in Neufen near Nürtingen in Baden-Württemberg Straton Musoni without any requirements on him being made.

Since the beginning of January 2009 alone the FDLR (the Democratic Force for the Liberation of Ruanda) has killed at least 600 civilians in the east of Congo. The militia has carried out many massacres and crimes against humanity. Hundreds of thousands have been driven out. This organisation is also in large measure responsible for the deaths of about five million people in Congo from war, starvation and expulsion.

Ulrich Delius can also be reached at asien@gfbv.de