Doctors in DR Congo hospital fear Rwanda-backed slaughter, call for EU help

Doctors, nurses, and patients at the Nobel-prize fêted Panzi Foundation in DR Congo (DRC) fear being slaughtered by Rwanda-backed rebels, unless the EU and wider international community act quickly to save them.

"We've received a number of threatening messages and we don't know how to clear out the hospital or put these patients out into the wild," Panzi institute spokesman, Crispin Kashale, told EUobserver on Wednesday (29 January) from Bukavu in the South Kivu region in eastern DRC, where a Rwanda-backed rebel group, called M23, seized the nearby city of Goma in the past few days.

"In view of what happened in Lemera, where all the patients and staff were killed, we are calling on Belgium, the European Union, and the international community to find mechanisms to protect these patients," he said.

Belgium is the former colonial power in DRC and Rwanda, which failed to protect people in the 1994 Rwanda genocide.

The Lemera massacre in DRC in 1996 saw rebel militias murder 37 people, according to the UN.

The Panzi Foundation was created by Nobel Peace Prize-winning Congolese gynaecologist, Denis Mukwege, to help women who were raped in local conflicts.

He is not personally in Bukavu right now, a source told this website.

But his hospitals are seen as being particularly at risk of reprisals because Mukwege is an outspoken critic of Rwandan president Paul Kagame, whose agents tried to assassinate him in Brussels in 2015, according to an EUobserver investigation.

"People risk being killed because [Panzi staff] were and are harsh criticisers of Rwandan-backed violence in DRC," said a Belgian security source, who asked not to be named.

The Belgian foreign ministry said on Wednesday: "The safety of patients and hospital staff must be guaranteed at all times. Any attack would be absolutely unacceptable."

"We will continue to coordinate with our partners in the event of a further deterioration of the situation in South Kivu," it added.

Mukwege's foundation operates three hospitals in the region - in Bukavu, Mulamba, and Bulenga.

The Bukavu hospital has 450 patients and 415 staff, including 50 doctors and 117 nurses, while Mulamba and Bulenga have another 113 patients.

The foundation has 442 local employees in total, as well as six international staff from Belgium, Canada, France, and Norway.

If the M23 advances toward them, the Panzi institute has prepared to evacuate non-natives with the help of the UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The UN's peacekeeping force, Monusco, has already left the area due to M23's killings of personnel.

"For the natives, we have drawn up a contingency plan that will consist of grouping everyone together at some local sites [locations withheld by EUobserver] ... where we have stockpiled food and non-food items in case of a crisis," Kashale said.

"The main support would be to secure these places [using international forces]," he added.

The patients, who come from all over DRC, including the Katanga, Kasai, Lualaba, Sankuru, Tanganyika, and South Kivu regions, were "already traumatised and find themselves in a situation of re-traumatisation, with the risk of reprisals as long as they cannot be evacuated to their province of origin".

History repeating

The prospect of trying to protect potential victims from a siege of the Panzi hospital recalls scenes in the Rwanda genocide, where a hotel manager, Paul Rusesabagina, sheltered people in what was later dramatised in the 2004 Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda.

And for her part, Rusesabagina's daughter, Carine Kanimba, who is a human-rights activist living in London, echoed the Panzi staff's appeal for help.

"Panzi hospital must be protected. The world cannot allow another atrocity to unfold in silence," she told EUobserver on Wednesday.

"M23 is absolutely capable of attacking Panzi. They have repeatedly targeted civilians and critical institutions, and Panzi, as a refuge for survivors of war and sexual violence, is a powerful symbol that threatens those who seek to silence justice," she said.

"Mukwege's courage has made him and Panzi hospital a target of the Rwandan government, as is anyone who calls out their abuses," she added.

For their part, the EU and individual member states, such as France, have curried favour with Kagame in return for access to Rwanda's mineral wealth for European mining firms, as well as Kagame's protection for French energy companies from Islamist insurgents in nearby Mozambique.

And the European Commission, on Tuesday, ruled out ending the minerals deal despite the Goma violence.

Vanished people

But speaking of Goma, Kashale, the Panzi spokesman, told this website: "It is impossible to work in Goma today because of the chaotic security situation. The Panzi Foundation has been running a project there to support the refugee camps of people who fled the armed clashes in Bunagana and Masisi. Today they are doubly victimised, having vanished into thin air".

The EU's commissioner for women's rights, Hadja Lahbib, who is also a former Belgian foreign minister, said on Tuesday: "It is paramount to ensure ... protection of civilians" in DRC.

But for Kanimba, the EU should be doing much more than issuing statements.

"The EU and AU [African Union] must impose strong sanctions specifically against Rwandan officials for their support of M23," she said.

"Holding Rwanda accountable and sanctions are crucial to deterring further violence," she added.

"This is not just a Congolese crisis: It is an attack on human rights, stability, and justice in Africa," Kanimba said.

The Belgian foreign ministry also said: "Belgium has called for a cessation of hostilities, a withdrawal of Rwandan troops [from DRC], and for concrete measures against Rwanda".

"All those responsible" for the violence should "be held accountable", it said.

This story was updated to add the Belgian foreign ministry's statements