The Special Criminal Court (SCC) in the Central African Republic has arrested and brought charges against a government minister for war crimes and crimes against humanity in an important step for justice, Human Rights Watch said today. A detention hearing for the minister, a former armed group leader, Hassan Bouba Ali, known as Hassan Bouba, will be held on November 26, 2021, based on a court order seen by Human Rights Watch.
Bouba was a leader of the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (Unité pour la Paix en Centrafrique, UPC), a rebel group that emerged out of the fractured Seleka coalition. In 2017 he was named a special councilor to the president, then named the minister of livestock and animal health in December 2020.
“The UPC is responsible for many serious crimes in the Central African Republic since 2014,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Bouba’s arrest sends a strong message that even the most powerful can find themselves subject to the reach of the law and gives hope to the many victims of UPC crimes that they may one day see justice.”
The UPC started committing serious abuses in the Ouaka province in 2014, before it split from the rebel Seleka faction. From 2014 to 2017, Human Rights Watch documented at least 246 civilians killed, dozens of cases of rape and sexual slavery, and 2,046 homes burned by the UPC in the Ouaka province. In 2017 the UPC started to expand into the Basse-Kotto and Mbomou provinces.
In 2017 Human Rights Watch documented that at least 188 civilians had been killed in fighting between the UPC and anti-balaka fighters in the Basse-Kotto province, the majority killed by the UPC. The cases Human Rights Watch documented involving the UPC are most likely only a fraction of the total.
Bouba was expelled from the rebel group in January, after a surge in violence in the country when a new rebellion, of which the UPC was a member, began in December 2020. He was arrested at his office on November 19.
The Special Criminal Court issued a news release on November 22, saying that Bouba had been arrested, but it does not include any details on the crimes against humanity and war crimes that are charged. Bouba is being held at a military camp outside of Bangui.
The SCC is a novel court established to help limit widespread impunity for serious crimes in the Central African Republic. The court is staffed by both international and national judges and prosecutors, and benefits from international assistance. It has the authority to try grave crimes committed during the country’s armed conflicts since 2003. Internationally accepted standards for fair trials, including the presumption of innocence and the requirement that guilt be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, are enshrined in the court’s rules of procedure and evidence.
The law to establish the court was adopted in 2015, but the court did not officially begin operations until 2018. The SCC was established after national consultations in 2015, known as the Bangui Forum, had prioritized justice, and stated that “no amnesty” would be tolerated for those responsible for and acting as accomplices in international crimes.
Bouba’s charges come two months after another high-profile arrest by the SCC. Capt. Eugène Ngaïkosset – known within the country as “The Butcher of Paoua” – whose arrest was confirmed on September 4, is charged with crimes against humanity. Ngaïkosset led a presidential guard unit implicated in numerous crimes, including the killing of at least dozens of civilians and the burning of thousands of homes in the country’s northwest and northeast between 2005 and 2007.
Bouba is regarded as having moved up to the number two position in the UPC in October 2015 after his predecessor, Hamat Nejad, was killed in an ambush in Bangui. Human Rights Watch spoke and met with Bouba several times between 2015 and 2021, and shared research the organization had conducted on crimes that were committed by the UPC.
The UPC lobbied for a general amnesty during 18 months of peace talks negotiated by the African Union. The peace accord, finalized in Khartoum, Sudan, in February 2019, is vague on steps needed to ensure post-conflict justice and did not mention specific judicial processes, but it recognized the role impunity played in entrenching violence. While the accord did not mention amnesty, Bouba told Human Rights Watch in February 2019 that for the UPC, the peace deal means a general amnesty. “If the government arrests a member of an armed group, then there is no more accord,” he said.
On September 8 the SCC’s substitute prosecutor, Alain Tolmo, announced that the court intends to begin its first trials before the end of the year, and that the court has multiple cases under investigation. The court is based in Bangui, which will help Central Africans affected by the crimes to more easily follow and interact with efforts to ensure that suspects face criminal accountability, Human Rights Watch said. The SCC’s judicial efforts operate in tandem with International Criminal Court investigations and prosecutions of serious crimes committed in the country, along with some cases dealing with lesser conflict-related crimes before the country’s ordinary criminal courts.
The SCC faces funding challenges and needs further support to continue to advance its important work, Human Rights Watch said. Organizations, including Human Rights Watch, wrote to members of the US Congress on November 18 to urge renewal of the US government’s important $3 million 2021 contribution to the court.
“The Special Criminal Court is playing a vital role in helping to puncture pervasive impunity in the Central African Republic,” Mudge said. “When Bouba was promoted to minister many felt it could be yet another example of how it can pay to commit serious crimes in the Central African Republic. His arrest is a warning to other suspects in positions of power that the reign of impunity in the country may be running short.”
Politics
Guinea: Coup Further Complicates Massacre Justice
By Elise Keppler: Associate Director, International Justice Program
The trial of suspects in the massacre of more than 150 people and the rape of dozens of women in a Guinea stadium on September 28, 2009, should begin as soon as possible, six human rights groups said today. Twelve years later, victims and their families should not have to wait any longer for justice to finally be delivered.
As Guinea embarks on a political transition process after the September 5, 2021 coup, the opening of this trial would send a strong signal that the authorities are willing to put respect for human rights and the fight against impunity at the center of their priorities.
The groups are the Association of Victims, Relatives and Friends of September 28, 2009 (AVIPA), Equal Rights for All (MDT), the Guinean Human and Citizen Rights Organization (OGDH), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch.
Although 12 years have gone by, the need for justice remains as strong as ever for the survivors of the massacre and victims’ families. Just one year ago, the six groups had denounced the delays and time wasted in organizing the trial. The wait has become unbearable for the survivors and victims’ families, the groups said, given that the investigation phase concluded in late 2017. The Guinean government has promised several times to begin the trial as soon as possible, and no later than June 2020. The organizations remain concerned by an evident lack of will to complete preparations for this trial in Guinea.
In recent months, the steering committee overseeing the preparations for the trial, made up of government officials and international partners, had resumed its work and adopted a road map. Construction had progressed at Conakry’s Court of Appeal, where the trial is to take place, and a training session for judges was planned by the French government. However, despite these efforts, no trial date has yet been set.
“Given the deteriorating health of the survivors, we, together with the Association of Victims, Relatives, and Friends of September 28, 2009, are calling for this year to be the last commemoration before justice is done,” said Aissatou Diallo, a survivor of the September 28 events. “It is urgent for the trial to be held and reparations awarded before all the victims die.”
The investigation by Guinean judges began in February 2010. More than 13 suspects were charged, 11 of whom were sent for trial. Among them is Moussa Dadis Camara, the former leader of the National Council for Democracy and Development junta that ruled Guinea in September 2009, who is living in exile in Burkina Faso. Some of the suspects who have been charged held influential positions until the recent coup, including Moussa Tiegboro Camara, who was in charge of fighting drug trafficking and organized crime.
The organizations are closely following Guinea’s period of political transition after the National Committee for Reconciliation and Development (Comité national du rassemblement et du développement, CNRD) took power on September 5, and reiterated their call for the respect of human rights and fundamental liberties of all Guineans. As the CNRD leader, Mamady Doumbouya, stated that “justice will be the compass guiding every Guinean citizen,” the fight against impunity should be at the heart of the authorities’ actions, the groups said.
“It is more than urgent for Guinea to put an end to the cycle of impunity that has deeply marked the country’s history for more than 60 years,” the groups said. “We remind the authorities that international law requires states to provide effective remedies to victims of human rights violations and that any lack of justice or the adoption of an amnesty for serious crimes is incompatible with these requirements.”
“It is also essential for the new authorities to guarantee the protection of human rights defenders and activists who have suffered numerous violations of their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly for years,” the groups said. “The new authorities should make justice a prerequisite of their actions.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a preliminary examination of the situation in Guinea in October 2009. Designed as a court of last resort for the most serious crimes, the ICC steps in when national courts are unable or unwilling to investigate and prosecute such cases. In its latest report, the ICC had expressed its disappointment that “the trial has not yet started and no timeline or action plan for the opening of the trial has been communicated by the Government of Guinea.” The ICC had indicated that “the Guinean authorities must demonstrate, in the coming months, their will and ability to combat impunity and to prevent renewed cycles of violence.”
Guinea’s partners, particularly the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the African Union, the European Union, the ICC, and the United Nations should pay increased attention to the current situation in the country and strengthen their actions and support, on the one hand, for the September 28 trial to be organized as soon as possible, and on the other, for the new authorities in Guinea to respect human rights.
Sierra Leone: move to sell pristine beach and rainforest to China meets backlash
Sierra Leone has agreed to sell 250 acres of pristine beach and rainforest to China in a $55 million deal that would see an industrial fishing harbor built on the site.
The move has sparked outrage from conservationists, human rights and animal welfare groups and local landowners, who have said the project would “destroy pristine rainforest, plunder fish stocks, pollute the marine environment and five individual eco systems that are fish breeding grounds and support endangered bird and wildlife species.”
The details of the deal, first reported by the U.K.’s The Guardian newspaper, remain hazy. Local public policy research organizations the Institute for Legal Research and Advocacy for Justice (ILRAJ) and Namati Sierra Leone have written to the government requesting information on “plans to establish a fish harbour and carry out waste management operations at Black Johnson in the Western Area peninsula, a project funded by the Government of China.”
The groups are requesting copies of legally-mandated environmental and social impact assessments, along with the grant agreement between China and the Sierra Leonean government.
Both the Chinese and Sierra Leonean embassies in London and the Sierra Leonean state house were unavailable for comment when contacted by CNBC.
Black Johnson’s waters are rich in fish and local fishermen supply a substantial portion of the domestic market. Meanwhile, the Western Area Peninsula national park houses many endangered species.
A press release from Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources Emma Kowa-Jalloh on Monday contends that “the facility to be constructed is a Fish Harbour and not a Fish Mill as portrayed by the social media writers.”
“The objective of the Fish Harbour is to centralise all fishing activities. The government of Sierra Leone has been yearning for a Fish Harbour since the early 1970s, but could not actualise it due to the huge amount of money that is required,” Kowa-Jalloh said.
“With the new shift in government policy for the development of the fisheries sector, the Chinese government has given a grant of US$55m to build this platform.”
The release also asserts that Black Johnson was “the most suitable place for the construction of the facility in terms of bathymetry, social safeguards (minimum resettlement cost) and environmental issues.”
Kowa-Jalloh said the Ministry of Finance had set aside a compensation package of 13.76 billion leones (around $1.34 million) for landowners, and insisted that the sale of the land was intended to “ensure the regular supply of fish” to the local market.
Credit: CNBC
Sierra Leone’s agreement to sell 250 acres of pristine beach and rainforest to China in a $55 million deal has sparked outrage from conservationists, human rights and animal welfare groups and local landowners, who have said the project would “destroy pristine rainforest, plunder fish stocks, pollute the marine environment
Dominic Ongwen’s Status as Child Victim Factors into Punishment
The International Criminal Court (ICC) today imposed a 25-year-sentence on Dominic Ongwen, a former leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
The sentence marks an important milestone in the search for justice for victims of the grave international crimes committed by this notorious armed group in northern Uganda.
At the sentencing hearing, the court explained that it weighed a number of considerations, including the breadth and gravity of the crimes and Ongwen’s culpability, but also the fact he was abducted as a child, forced to join the LRA, and lost any opportunity to become a “valuable member of his community.” Ongwen – the first LRA leader to be held accountable – had been found guilty of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity that included hundreds killed, child victims, and sexual violence.
The personal circumstances Ongwen faced led the court to reject a life sentence even though other aspects of the case would have made such a sentence appropriate. One judge dissented, arguing for a higher sentence of 30 years in prison.
The court made several other important determinations in the case, rejecting defense arguments that duress or diminished mental capacity were mitigating factors.
The court also rejected applying Ugandan traditional reconciliation measures in lieu of imprisonment as sought by the defense. The court stated the ICC would not have authority under its Rome Statute to impose such a sentence, but also that the victim participants in the trial clearly conveyed they opposed such an approach.
The next phase in this case will be hearings on reparations for victims of the crimes, an important aspect of the ICC’s role in bringing redress.
Today’s sentencing should not obscure a gaping hole in accountability for LRA crimes. Joseph Kony – the LRA’s founding leader and only remaining living ICC suspect for LRA crimes – remains a fugitive. Kony has been operating in a disputed border area of Sudan and South Sudan as of mid-2020. The ICC – without its own police force – cannot ensure his apprehension. On behalf of the victims, governments in the region and beyond should recommit to working together, along with United Nations peacekeeping missions, to see that he too faces justice at last.
Myanmar crisis: ‘All options should be on the table’, UN Human Rights Council hears
The UN deputy human rights chief and the independent expert on Myanmar have called for targeted sanctions against the leaders of what they both described as the coup that took place in the country last week, as the Human Rights Council met in special session on Friday to discuss the ongoing crisis.
In a detailed account of the unfolding situation following the military takeover on 1 February, Special Rapporteur Andrews outlined the backdrop against which the civilian government was overthrown, the people’s response, and the “junta’s repressive actions”.
He started by stressing that the very act of convening the special session underscored the gravity with which the HRC viewed “what can aptly be described as an outrageous and illegal act – a coup d’état of a duly elected government and its duly elected leaders”.
“Day after day now, the people of Myanmar, and people around the world, have watched with horror at the photos and videos of brutality emerging from the streets of Myanmar – from large columns of security forces in full riot gear surrounding peaceful protesters and water cannons being fired into growing crowds, to protesters being shot, including a young woman shot in the head as she stood, unarmed and posing no threat, with other peaceful protesters in [the capital] Nay Pyi Taw.”
There are also reports of use of live ammunition and lethal force against demonstrators, increased arbitrary detentions and intimidation, threat to the media, and instituting of regulations and laws that systematically strip away rights, access to information and privacy.
Some 220 government officials and members of civil society, including State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, President Win Myint, and members of the Union Election Commission, have been detained, many of whom were taken in “the dark of night and many times by plain-clothed police”, he added, citing reports.
UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif. (file photo)
Mr. Andrews called for action by the Human Rights Council (HRC), reading out a message he received from an activist in Myanmar, who is in hiding.
“He asked me to respectfully pass on these exact words to this body: ‘We need more than a statement on a piece paper; we need real action from the United Nations.’”
Mr. Andrews called on the HRC to urge the Security Council “to consider all of the options it has previously used to deal with gross human rights violations”, including sanctions, arms embargos, and travel bans, and calling for judicial action at the International Criminal Court (ICC) or ad hoc tribunals.
“All of these options should be on the table.”
“Barring concrete steps from the Security Council, the General Assembly can convene an Emergency Special Session. During past emergency special sessions, the General Assembly has recommended actions ranging from ceasefires to arms embargoes to trade sanctions”, he added.
Ms. al-Nashif also voiced concerns for the members of the minority, mainly Muslim, Rohingya community who in the past have faced violent persecution by the military.
“The military authorities must not be allowed to exacerbate the situation of the Rohingya people, after the extreme violence and decades of discrimination that they have endured,” she said, underlining that Myanmar “must fully comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice, and move to genuinely address the root causes of conflicts in Rakhine state and other ethnic minority areas.”
In 2017, over 700,000 Rohingyas were forced to flee their homes and seek refuge across the border, in Bangladesh, following widespread attacks by Myanmar’s security forces, in retaliation for attacks on remote police outposts by armed groups alleged to belong to the community.
Biden assures Africa for partnership in solidarity, support and mutual respect
President Joe Biden has assured African leaders “The United States stands ready now to be your partner in solidarity, support and mutual respect”.
The United States president said in a video address, his first speech to an international forum as U.S. president while delivering a message to African leaders meeting virtually this weekend at the African Union Summit 2021, hosted from Addis Ababa.
In his remarks, Biden outlined what he called a shared vision of a better future with growing trade and investment that advances peace and security.
“A future committed to investing in our democratic institutions and promoting the human rights of all people, women and girls, LGBTQ individuals, people with disabilities, and people of every ethnic background, religion and heritage,” Biden said.
Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki Mahamat welcomed the message and said the African Union looks forward to “resetting the strategic AU-USA partnership.”
Sierra Leone president engages Guinean authorities on the Yenga stalemate
A Guinean government delegation on Monday met with Sierra Leone officials amidst growing concerns over closure of the border at Kambia, and increased instances of incursions by Guinean troops in Yenga, east of Sierra Leone.
The visit comes almost two weeks after President Bio sent a delegation to Conakry to engage President Conde on the border closure at Kambia with increased instances of incursions by Guinean troops in the Yenga area and 3 weeks after he raised the issue with the 58th Ordinary Session of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
Guinean troops entered Yenga more than a decade ago to help the Sierra Leonean army fight the rebels. In 2005, Sierra Leone and Guinea signed an agreement confirming Yenga – a tiny town on the banks of the Makona River – belonged to Sierra Leone.
However, Guinean troops have remained in the town.
The Guinean delegation led by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Guineans Abroad, Dr Ibrahim Khalil Kaba, has today conveyed a letter from Guinea’s President Alpha Conde to His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio at State House.
The team comprising the minister, Dr Kaba, Guinean Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Tejan Conde, and other top-ranking officials from the country’s Ministry of National Defence and Ministry of Security and Civil Protection also held a closed-door meeting with President Bio and his government.
Also present on the part of the government of Sierra Leone were the Speaker of Parliament, Hon. Dr Abass Chernor Bundu, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nabeela Tunis, Minister of Defence, Brig. (Rtd) Kellie Conteh, Minister of Information and Communications, Mohamed Swaray and his deputy Mamadi Gobeh Kamara, and the Ambassador to Guinea, Alimamy Bangura.
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