UN Mapping Exercise Report

Capitol Hill Briefing
UN Mapping Exercise Report: An Instrument for Accountability, Justice and Stability in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

When: 2 P.M. – 4 P.M. Wednesday, March 2, 2011

On October 1, 2010, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNOHCHR) released the official “Report of the Mapping Exercise documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003”. This report was leaked to the French newspaper Le Monde on August 26. It immediately drew strong and negative reactions from Congo’s neighbors that were identified in the report as committing war crimes, crimes against humanity and possibly genocide.

Although the report deals with crimes committed inside Congo and calls for justice for the Congolese people, both Rwanda and Uganda have dismissed the report as an attack against their governments. Human Rights Watch executive director, Kenneth Roth says: "This detailed and thorough report is a powerful reminder of the scale of the crimes committed in Congo and of the shocking absence of justice. These events can no longer be swept under the carpet. If followed by strong regional and international action, this report could make a major contribution to ending the impunity that lies behind the cycle of atrocities in the Great Lakes region of Africa."

Given the US interests and ongoing active involvement in Africa’s the Great Lakes region, Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Public Affairs, reacted to the release of the report in a press statement saying: “The United States is firmly committed to helping the DRC and other nations in the region take positive steps to end the corrosive cycle of violence and impunity.”

The United States has a key role and responsibility in making sure that justice is delivered to the people of Central Africa, particularly considering that US allies Rwanda and Uganda are implicated in heinous crimes against humanity, war crimes and possibly genocide. The American taxpayers should be assured that their tax dollars are not supporting mass atrocities in Africa and perpetuating a war which has killed nearly 6 million people, making it the deadliest conflict since World War II. The Congressional briefing can serve as a solid first step in delivering justice to the people in the heart of Africa.

Panelists:

Brian Endless, Ph.D.

Brian Endless is a faculty member in the Department of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago and serves as the Senior Advisor to the Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Foundation, working on post-conflict truth, reconciliation and peace issues in the aftermath of genocide in Rwanda and the Great Lakes region of Africa. He also founded and serves as the Executive Director of American Model United Nations (AMUN) International in Chicago

Mr. Endless has worked on a wide range of United Nations and related issues for over 20 years. He has consulted with UN Ambassadors, Secretariat members of the UN and affiliated organizations as well as NGO leaders. Mr Endless has acted as a consultant to the United Nations on educational issues, as well as consulting on UN issues for members of the U.S. House and Senate. He is a frequent public speaker on a variety of topics, has given commentary on Rwanda for WBEZ’s Worldview (National Public Radio in Chicago) as well as giving a talk at the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations

Ntama Bahati Jacques

Ntama Bahati joined Africa Faith and Justice Network in 2007. Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, he witnessed the invasion of the DRC by Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda from 1996-2000 and worked in the field of post-war relief. He co-founded the Association des vieullards Abondonnes / Association for Abandoned Elderly (AVA) which addresses the increased number of elderly people begging on the streets of Bukavu during the conflict in DRC. He holds an undergraduate degree in Philosophy (2000) from La Ruzizi in Bukavu/DRC, a Masters of Divinity (2006) and Masters of Arts in Ethics (2007) from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Since joining AFJN, he has written and spoken in different circles across the US on the socio-political issues of the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi He is the author of Tribe not an Idea, but a True Identity, a piece published in Recherches Africaines. L'Afrique et son vecu vol. 21-22, and co-author of the paper Promoting International Support for Community-Based Justice Mechanisms in Post-Conflict Burundi and Uganda (2009). Policy papers of his include Two Rebel groups, One solution (2008) and Evaluating peace and stability in DRC (2009). He has been a guest of Africa Now, a radio program of WPFW in Washington DC and Voice of America TV. His work at AFJN is informed by his passion for social justice as well his personal commitment to making this world a better place for all people.

Nita N Evele

Nita Evele is an activist from the DR Congo. Ms. Evele developed a deep interest in Congolese (Zairean) history and politics at an early age. She became active in the social justice movement in 1996, when Congo was invaded.

After years of constant fighting for human dignity for the people of the Congo, she decided to fight for a cause beyond political affiliation by joining the Coalition of Pluralists and Congolese Patriots (COPPAC), comprised of Congolese who feel called to bring Congo’s issues to the spotlight. COPPAC is committed to the protection of the sovereignty Congolese territory and the advancement of human security. COPPAC is equally devoted to the fight for equal rights and opportunities for all, starting with basic human rights.

Ms. Evele is the coordinator of the Congo Global Action Coalition. In her role, among other things, she directly connects with communities affected by war in Congo. She particularly makes sure that the voice of women, the most affected by the war, is heard and their perspectives included in the peacemaking process. Ms. Evele’s advocacy work also includes working with DRC government representatives, policy makers and civil society.

Nii Akuetteh

A student of US foreign policy and an activist, Nii Akuetteh currently works as an independent Africa policy analyst. He researches, monitors and analyzes international affairs affecting Africa, as well as developments across the continent itself. His analyses have been disseminated by diverse media outlets seen, heard and read in North America, the Mideast, the Far East, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean. Until August 2007, Nii was Executive Director of Africa Action in Washington DC. Nii founded the Democracy & Conflict Research Institute (DCRI), in Accra, Ghana and OSIWA, the regional grant-making foundation (based in Abuja, Monrovia and Dakar) through which George Soros funds democracy projects & initiatives across West Africa, and served as OSIWA’s first Executive Director. Nii also taught at Georgetown University in Washington DC; and as aide to Randall Robinson, directed the research and educational affiliate of TransAfrica during the US anti-apartheid movement.

In addition to activism, organizing and leading nonprofits, Akuetteh is an essayist, editor and public intellectual whose writings and spoken analyses has been disseminated through outlets that include: The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, VOA, CBC, Democracy Now, Tompaine, Pacifica Radio, Press-TV, Foreign Policy In Focus, Pambazuka, and Al Jazeera.

Born in Ghana, Akuetteh was educated at The University of Science & Technology, Kumasi, Ghana; The University of Cape Coast, Ghana: and The University of Maryland at College Park.

Emira Woods / Moderator

Emira Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, and an expert on U.S. foreign policy with a special emphasis on Africa and the developing world. She has written on issues ranging from debt, trade and development to U.S. military policy. Emira serves on the Board of Directors of Africa Action, Just Associates, Global Justice and the Financial Policy Forum. She is also on the Network Council of Jubilee USA.

Emira completed her undergraduate studies at Columbia University and her graduate studies at Harvard. Prior to joining IPS, she was program manager for the Committee on Development Policy and Practice at InterAction, serving as a principal staff contact for advocacy at the UN, international financial institutions, USAID and Treasury. Before that she served as a program officer of Oxfam America's Africa program.

Ms. Woods is a regular commentator on CNN’s Your World Today, BBC’s The World Today (Weekend), and appears regularly on Al Jazeera and Voice of America. She has hosted a WashingtonPost.com online chat and has published pieces in BBC’s Focus on Africa magazine, NAACP’s Crisis magazine as well as the Miami Herald, the Christian Science Monitor, New York Newsday, the Nation, the Baltimore Sun, and the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, among many others.

Ms. Woods is chair of the Board of Africa Action and serves on the advisory committee of the Zimbabwe Alliance as well as the Humanity United/Trustafrica Liberia program. She is also on the Board of Directors of Global Justice and is a member of the Network Council of Jubilee USA.

ENDS

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