The call for tough arms controls

Voices from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This case study has been produced by Oxfam GB for the Control Arms Campaign in the United Kingdom. It is part of a series of reports produced by Amnesty International, Oxfam, and IANSA during the Campaign.

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Summary

The war in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has cost millions of lives. Hundreds of thousands of people have been shot dead. Millions have died from the indirect consequences of war.

What the figures do not reveal is the personal suffering of individual people, families, and villages. That is why in November 2005 the Control Arms campaign interviewed some of those who have suffered.

In 2006, beginning in January, a series of debates on disarmament are due to take place at the United Nations. There will be technical arguments and diplomatic negotiations. The purpose of this report is to add to these discussions the voices of at least some of the people who bear the cost of the world’s continuing failure to control the arms trade.

These stories from the DRC reveal the human cost of the arms trade over the past few years, including a brutal killing that took place as recently as 12 November 2005. Beatrice and Claire were traumatised by witnessing the murder of their parents. Benjamin’s experience as a child soldier with blood on his hands has left him scarcely able to bear the sound of gunshots. Nathalie, maimed by bullet wounds, faces an uncertain future.

Their experiences are not rare. Between January 2003 and April 2004, it is estimated that almost 400,000 people died in the eastern DRC where the war has raged. Since 1998, as many as 85 per cent of those living near the front lines have been affected by violence. The four testimonies in this report offer a glimpse into the fate of hundreds of thousands of Congolese civilians whose lives have been devastated by the influx of guns.

There is also another story: that of the states that allow the continuing supply of arms to the DRC. This report also explains how the weapons arrived there, and why they were able to enter the country so easily.

The creation of a new national army, and efforts to disarm and demobilise former fighters in the DRC, are parts of the solution. But without more concerted international action, there is no end in sight to the suffering of the Congolese people, or to the supply of the small arms and ammunition that are used to inflict it. As in crises everywhere, the rest of the world must take responsibility for the arms that it supplies. To do that, governments should agree a new international Arms Trade Treaty (ATT).

Date of original publication: January 2006