Detained Tutsis transferred from military camp

Some 150 detainees at the Kokolo military camp in Kinshasa have been moved to another site with “more adequate” conditions, an ICRC spokesman told IRIN today. He said the transfer of the detainees took place some 10 days ago following a decision by government authorities. The new site is under the management of the Ministry of Human Rights, with security provided by the Congolese police. ICRC has access to the site and is providing the detainees with food as well as non-food and health assistance, he said.

Human rights groups had expressed concern about the situation of the mainly ethnic Tutsis, including women and children, who were rounded up and placed in the Kokolo camp after the outbreak of the conflict in August 1998. A spokesman for the Ministry of Human Rights told IRIN today that the living conditions at the new site, located on the grounds of a recreational centre on the outskirts of the city, were much better. “As these people were not prisoners, we could not continue to keep them in a military camp,” the spokesman said, adding that the Tutsis were initially placed at Kokolo “for their own security.”

Meanwhile, Canada has initiated a programme to facilitate the resettlement of Tutsis under detention and others at risk in Kinshasa, a spokesman for the Canadian Embassy in Kinshasa told IRIN today. Their resettlement applications will be considered in conformity with standard Canadian immigration rules but they will benefit from an “accelerated process for humanitarian reasons,” he said.