Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-12-16-Speech-3-225"
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"en.20091216.16.3-225"2
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"Mr President, Mrs Malmström, Commissioner, as you have both said, the situation in the Kivu region is extremely worrying, despite the presence of almost 20 000 MONUC troops.
The civilian populations and, in particular, women, are the main victims of the conflict strategies employed by the armed groups and even, as someone said, by certain units of the Congolese army, which have made systematic rape a weapon of war. Moreover, last month, a group of Congolese women came here to remind us of this – and rightly so – with the aim of enlisting our support against this scandalous strategy.
The pillaging of resources, as you said, Commissioner, is another factor that is exacerbating this conflict. I agree with what was said just now: it is highly dangerous to discredit MONUC, to discredit it unnecessarily, to make it solely responsible for the situation in the eyes of the populations, who are already worn out by so many years of war and massacres.
I entirely agree that it is not MONUC’s mandate that must be reviewed and that it should obviously not be asked to withdraw. What must be reviewed are its rules of engagement, its operational directives, so that it cannot in any way be associated with or support a Congolese unit that has men in its ranks who violate human rights or commit acts of violence.
The Congolese authorities, too, have a big responsibility in this fight against impunity concerning acts of sexual violence, crimes which, I might add, should be brought before the International Criminal Court. These same authorities must also ensure that the soldiers are quartered in barracks immediately. If they were quartered in barracks, things would no doubt be different.
Lastly, I believe that we must revisit the Amani programme. This programme offers the possibility of building a dialogue and peace everywhere, since these alone are the guarantees of lasting reconstruction. In any case, I welcome your intervention, which I broadly support, and I hope that the European Union will remain active. This is crucial, even though, regrettably, it did not want to put a force together. That would have been a possibility a little less than a year ago. Nevertheless, I believe that European Union action is crucial."@en1
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