Keywords

Bukavu

1.1

"The Congo Tribunal is at the service of the Congolese people, one of the richest nations in human history."

Milo Rau (artistic director) is an author and artistic director of the International Institute of Political Murder (IIPM) and initiator of the "Congo Tribunal".

1.2

"Even though cruel crimes happen every day, the conscience of the world community remains untouched."

Sylvestre Bisimwa (investigator-in-charge, Bukavu / Berlin) was a lawyer in a mass rape trial committed by the Congolese army in the city of Minova. It is, at present, the only process of this kind. He acts regularly as lawyer for the International Court of Justice in Den Haag.

1.3

"Why is it surprising that state structures are disintegrating when corruption has become a national institution?"

Colette Braeckman (member of the jury, Bukavu / Berlin) is a correspondent for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir in Africa. She is an expert on the Congolese war, its history and the involvement of the European governments. Her books about the Mobutu-Era and the Congolese war are considered as standard works.

2.1

"BANRO has decided to build a factory and expelled me and my children."

Zilahirwa Chakirwa (witness, Bukavu) is a Priest in the community of Cinjira that had to resettle since the Canadian mining company BANRO has started its operations in the Twangiza territory.

2.2

"To deny a population access to drinking water, basic medical supplies and food is also a way to destroy them."

Peter Mugisho Matabishi (witness and expert, Bukavu) is a political activist from Luhwindja. He took the case of BANRO and Twangiza to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). He considers the concessions from Kinshasa to be land theft.

2.4

"The current mining legislation in the DR Congo is simply the French version of what was written by the World Bank."

Vital Kamerhe (witness and expert, Bukavu / Berlin) is a well-known politician in the DR Congo and presidential candidate. He is considered one of the most severe critic of the government of Joseph Kabila, for whom he worked as political advisor.

3.1

"When the government stopped mining to fight the armed groups, we became unemployed."

Stéphane Ikandi (witness, Bukavu) represents artisanal miners from Bisie and fights for the rights for artisanal miners. He discovered the mine and is the co-founder of the cooperative COMIMPA. In 2011, he had to give up his pit.

3.2

"People from Walikale do not profit from the wealth of raw materials."

Witness B (witness, Bukavu) is a former rebel soldier from the Sheka group that controlled the mine of Bisie.

3.3

"According to Congolese law, artisanal and industrial mining may not be under the same concession."

Nadine Lusi (witness, Bukavu) is the development and PR commissioner of the Canadian Alphamin Ressource Corporation. The corporation operates in the mine of Bisie.

3.4

"I agree that the population rebels against the law."

Fidel Bafilemba (witness and expert, Bukavu) is the regional manager of the „Enough Project“ which controls the application of the „Dodd-Frank Act“ in Eastern Congo. He is a driving force in the banishment of the militias from the mineral trade in this region. Critical voices consider him and his organization as a lobby of the US economic leaders.

4.1

"MONUSCO has betrayed its mandate."

Witness J (witness, Bukavu) survivor of the Mutarule massacre.

4.2

"The government has not tried everything to stop these conflicts."

Christine Kapalata (witness, Bukavu) only 3 days after the massacre in Mutarule, she agreed to make a statement on behalf of the UNO-mission. At that time, she was the Chief of Political Affairs of the MONUSCO office in Bukavu. In this position, she was mediating between political leaders and ethnic communities.

4.3

"There were disagreements in the military command chain."

Jean-Julien Miruho (witness, Bukavu) is Minister of the Interior of South Kivu. He was the only Congolese politician on-site in Mutarule. He declines all government's accountability. According to him, it is a “regrettable dispute about cattle“.

4.4

"Mutarule is not the first case of inability, passivity and powerlessness of the UN mission."

Luc Henkinbrant (witness and expert, Bukavu) was the regional director of the MONUSCO-office in Bukavu until 2011. Currently, he works as a professor at the University of Bukavu, leading different research projects on the lack of law enforcement in this region.

5.1

"The big companies will leave us a soil without resources."

Prince Kihangi (member of the jury, Bukavu) is a lawyer and one of the leading experts on the governance of natural resources in the Great Lakes region. He is the spokesman of the civil association of Walikale (province of North Kivu). Therefore he takes part in all negotiations between the villagers, the government and the big companies from this region. He is considered to be one of the harshest critics of the Dodd-Franck Act.

5.2

"The origin of evil is not in the Congolese state, but in the people themselves."

Marcellin Cishambo Ruhoya (witness and expert, Bukavu) was a political advisor to President Joseph Kabila. In 2006 he became governor of the province of South Kivu.

5.3

"In face of the atrocities that this state has suffered, its population is threatened by the same fate as the Indians of North America."

Colette Braeckman (member of the jury, Bukavu / Berlin) is a correspondent for the Belgian newspaper Le Soir in Africa. She is an expert on the Congolese war, its history and the involvement of the European governments. Her books about the Mobutu-Era and the Congolese war are considered as standard works.

6.2

"If the government is corrupt, the corporations will not be able to help us with industrialization either."

Prince Kihangi (member of the jury, Bukavu) is a lawyer and one of the leading experts on the governance of natural resources in the Great Lakes region. He is the spokesman of the civil association of Walikale (province of North Kivu). Therefore he takes part in all negotiations between the villagers, the government and the big companies from this region. He is considered to be one of the harshest critics of the Dodd-Franck Act.

6.3

"The idea to protect themselves and the community by militias arises in the minds of the people."

Sylvestre Bisimwa (investigator-in-charge, Bukavu / Berlin) is a lawyer in a mass rape trial committed by the Congolese army in the city of Minova. It is, at present, the only process of this kind. He regularly acts as lawyer at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag.

6.4

"International companies want a weak government and a powerless local population."

Vénatie Bismiwa Nabitu (member of the jury, Bukavu) is a human rights activist from Bukavu (Province of South Kivu) and one of the most committed critics of the NGOs, the UN and the big multinational corporations in Africa. She specialized in the field of mass rapes as a war strategy and the continued existence of colonial structures in the current Congolese society.

6.6

"The competent authorities have not done anything against the extent of the problems, so they have to be replaced."

Jean-Louis Gilissen (chairman of the Tribunal, Bukavu / Berlin) is an international criminal law expert. As a lawyer he took part in a trail against Congolese milita leaders at the International Court of Justice in Den Haag. Furthermore he was involved in the elaboration of an UN-report about Eastern Congo where the situation has been declared as “genocide”.

6.7

"My daily struggle takes place in the negotiations between the companies and the local population."

Gilbert Kalinda (member of the jury, Bukavu) is an attorney and deputy in Walikale. He was a member of a cooperative of regional miners until he decided to accept the mandate of the multinational company MagMinerals Potasses Congo (MPC). In his opinion, industrial extraction of raw materials is the only opportunity for the region.