Kinshasa, DRC – The Congolese Association for the Defense of the Right to Truth in Memory of Innocent Civilian Victims (ACDDV-DH) announced on Tuesday, January 26, that it will not back down until the victims of the Kasindi shooting and their families had access to truth and justice. In a letter signed by Richie Lontulungu Nsombola, its executive director, and addressed to the interim head of MONUSCO, Mrs Vivian van de Perre, ACDDV-DH raises deep concerns over the handling of the case and demands responses to UN Mission.
ORIGINAL TRANSCRIPTION OF THE LETTER SENT BY ACDDV-DH TO THE MONUSCO INTERIM CHIEF
Dear Madam Special Representative,
First of all, allow me to congratulate you on your appointment as Acting Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in the DRC and Head of MONUSCO. We are particularly pleased that you have been chosen for this position, given your extensive experience in the field of human rights and peace issues. Please be assured that you can count on the cooperation of the Congolese Association for the Defence of the Right to Truth in Memory of Innocent Civilian Victims (ACDDV-DH) in carrying out your noble mission.
Dear Madam Special Representative,
More than three and a half years have passed since the people of Kasindi, in North Kivu province, were victims of a shooting by UN peacekeepers, which left three dead and ten wounded on the spot, according to MONUSCO’s count, and ten dead and about fifty wounded according to civil society’s count. The Coalition Citoyenne pour le Congo, a sister organization, had raised the alarm about these killings and attributed responsibility to the peacekeepers. MONUSCO subsequently acknowledged the facts and announced the arrest of the peacekeepers involved in the shooting, promising that a Tanzanian court would travel to the DRC to try those responsible.
On 31 July 2022, the Coalition Citoyenne pour le Congo (CCC) sent a letter to your predecessor, Ms Bintou Keita, with copies to the UN Secretary-General and President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi, calling on MONUSCO to acknowledge the facts and take responsibility for the Kasindi shooting.
On 2 August 2022, I led a civil society delegation to MONUSCO to discuss Kasindi with the Special Representative and her team. During our discussions, you assured us that the peacekeepers responsible for the killings were still in detention and that a Tanzanian court would soon travel to the DRC to try the perpetrators of the shooting in a public trial. You informed us that MONUSCO had taken charge of the care of the wounded and covered the funeral expenses of those killed. On that occasion, I announced civil society’s intention to bring a civil action in the upcoming trial. I made it clear that responsibility for what happened in Kasindi is not limited to covering funeral expenses. The people killed, whose exact number remains to be determined by an independent investigation, had families and children who deserve to be cared for. In response to this concern, you replied that only the verdict of the trial will determine the necessary compensation.
On 30 September 2022, the Coalition Citoyenne pour le Congo wrote to your predecessor requesting information on the progress of the case, and in particular on the holding of a public trial for the peacekeepers involved in the shooting. We complained about the delay in the case and asked MONUSCO to speed up the process, as the Congolese people are waiting for truth, justice and reparation. Our letter remained unanswered. A source informed us that MONUSCO was preparing a response, but it never came.
On 10 March 2023, I spoke at a meeting between a delegation from the United Nations Security Council visiting Kinshasa, led by French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Riviere, and Congolese civil society. I emphasised that the killings committed in Kasindi by UN peacekeepers had further exacerbated the Congolese people’s crisis of confidence in MONUSCO. I reiterated that the victims of the Kasindi shooting and their families were waiting for truth, justice and reparations. I deplored the delay in the case seven months later and MONUSCO’s apparent lack of interest. On 30 November 2023, the Coalition Citoyenne pour le Congo wrote to MONUSCO requesting information on a follow-up to the Kasindi shooting. In that letter, the Coalition put the same requests that it had previously made but which had never received a response. The Coalition then stated that discussions on a possible extension of MONUSCO’s mandate should not to take place in December 2023 without concrete answers to the concerns raised about the Kasindi shooting.
Dear Madam Special Representative,
Allow me to say that the facts I have just mentioned will help you understand the disappointment expressed in our message of 1 December 2025 to your predecessor when we learned that she was leaving her position of Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General.
We are grateful to your predecessor, Ms Bintou Keita, for the work she has done in the DRC, but allow us to say that this gratitude should not overshadow our disappointment on certain topics, in particular the handling of the Kasindi shooting. We remain convinced that, whatever the circumstances, even political ones, the loss of human life should never be trivialised. The Congolese people deserve as much consideration as other peoples, whose pain I can imagine at the loss of a single life in such horrific circumstances. The Congolese have suffered huge losses, with more than 5 million deaths. Some will say that the truth and justice so ardently sought in the Kasindi case do not weigh heavily in the face of the considerable damage suffered by the Congolese since 1998, but we remain convinced that justice in the Kasindi case will send a strong signal that nothing goes unpunished forever. It is totally unacceptable that the people of Kasindi were killed by UN peacekeepers who were supposed to protect them.
Dear Madam Special Representative,
The ACDDV-DH is counting on your extensive experience in the field of human rights. We hope that the victims of Kasindi and their families will see progress during your term of office. We are fully aware that your term may be short, which we do not wish for, but we believe it will be long enough to take measures that will contribute to peace, improve trust between MONUSCO and the Congolese people, and honour the memory of those who were killed in Kasindi.
Dear Madam Special Representative,
Since 31 July 2022, our concerns remain the same and we await answers from MONUSCO:
– When will the public trial of the peacekeepers responsible for the Kasindi shooting take place? Can we have a specific date?
– Where are the peacekeepers responsible for the Kasindi killings currently located? We would be grateful if you could provide evidence of their detention.
– What compensation and reparations has MONUSCO granted to the victims and their families?
– When will a truth commission be set up in Kasindi for the victims and their families?
– What operational risk reduction measures has MONUSCO taken to prevent such incidents from happening again in the future?
Please find enclosed the various correspondence mentioned in our letter. We hope that our request will receive your full attention.
Please accept, dear Madam Acting Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the assurance of my highest consideration.
Richie LONTULUNGU NSOMBOLA,
ACDDV-DH Executive Director
