Congo civilians disapprove of military ops - report

Mon Jul 13, 2009 8:00pm EDT

By Thomas Hubert

KINSHASA, July 14 (Reuters) - Most civilians in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo disapprove of the current military strategy being used to try and pacify their region, according to a survey by aid group Oxfam.

Some 85 percent of those interviewed said security conditions had got worse, not better, during United Nations-backed military operations launched this year to defeat Rwandan, Ugandan and local gunmen in Congo's east.

As in Congo's previous conflicts, civilians rather than soldiers are bearing the brunt of the killings, rapes and abuses, which analysts and aid groups say are committed by government soldiers as well as those they are attacking.

Oxfam undertook the survey in May and canvassed 764 people in 27 communities across Congo's eastern provinces, where 1 million people have fled their homes this year.

"My conclusion is that nobody asked the opinion of the people most concerned, which are eastern Congo's civilians, before launching military operations that have had catastrophic humanitarian consequences so far," Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam's Congo office, told Reuters.

According to Oxfam's survey, just two of the 14 communities which are affected by Rwandan Hutu rebels supported the attacks, which began in January when Rwanda sent its army across the border but have continued with U.N. support.

Ten of these communities preferred a policy of voluntary disarmament while nine of them also suggested Rwanda should open talks with rebels based in the Kivu provinces.

Some of the Rwandan rebels, now known as the FDLR, were part of the extremist Hutu militias that took part in Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Many others were not, but voluntary disarmament has stalled and Kigali refuses to negotiate with the FDLR.

The Hutu rebels have been central to Congo's wars since 1994, when they crossed into the country from Rwanda. Aid workers say some 5.4 million Congolese have died, mostly from hunger and disease, since the last war began in 1998.

Oxfam added to the criticism of the U.N. for supporting army operations which are being led by rights abusers, and Congo's government for failing to arrest officers responsible for them.

"Army support must be conditioned to the withdrawal of known authors of human rights abuse and the release of child soldiers," Stoessel said.

General Bosco Ntaganda, one of the Congolese commanders directing operations in the Kivus, is wanted by the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges. (Writing by David Lewis; Editing by Sophie Hares)