NGO says amnesty bill an obstacle to reconciliation

A national human rights NGO in the Republic of Congo has said that an amnesty bill for Ninja militants who fought government forces in the Pool region in the south of the country is not sufficiently inclusive and could, therefore, prove an obstacle to genuine national reconciliation. In a commentary published on Thursday in its newsletter, Lumiere, the Congolese Human Rights Observatory (Observatoire congolais des droits de l'homme - Ocdh) called the amnesty "selective", saying it excluded opposition politicians currently in exile. "Reconciliation should first of all involve the protagonists of conflict in the Congo, namely current President Denis Sassou-Nguesso, his predecessor, Pascal Lissouba, and Lissouba's former prime ministers, Yhombi Opango and Bernard Kolelas, and others," Ocdh said. "It was due to them that war erupted, it is through them that we must put it behind us." On 30 August, the Congolese National Assembly approved the amnesty bill for the period from 15 January 2000 until the date the bill is ultimately signed into law by Sassou-Nguesso. The bill was approved unanimously by the Senate. Ocdh said that the bill, which speaks primarily of Ninjas, would also be applicable to government forces, as well as allied militias and mercenaries. Furthermore, it would allow the most serious war crimes and crimes against humanity to go unpunished. Last week during a general meeting, opposition political parties called on the government to follow the example of neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by organising a national reconciliation conference like the DRC's inter-Congolese dialogue that would facilitate the return of exiles. They also said that they would propose a new amnesty law that would include exiles, particularly those who the state had found guilty of wrongdoing.