INGA supports the Petition demanding the U.N. to arrest Nkunda for war crimes‏‏

Dec. 4, 2008 - PRLog -- The Northern California Community Organization of Congolese-Americans and Friends known as INGA Association announced its full support for the newly launched online petition www.gopetition.com/online/23604.html  demanding the U.N. mission in Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) to arrest Nkunda immediately for crimes against humanity. In 2005, a Congolese court issued an international arrest warrant for Nkunda, a war criminal and terrorist in the Great Lakes region, but MONUC has done nothing about arresting him.


INGA Association is organizing a peaceful demonstration outside the United Nations Plaza in San Francisco, on December 15, from 1:00 to 6:00 pm. It is where  the United Nations Charter was signed in the Herbs Theatre in 1945, leading to the creation of what is now known as the United Nations. According to the President of the INGA Community, Mr. Delphin Kyubwa, Nkunda continues to kill innocent civilians in North Kivu and his unprovoked attacks have uprooted more than 250,000 families, bringing the total of displaced families by the conflict in Kivu to nearly 1 million. If the United Nations calls the current crisis in eastern Congo ”a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented catastrophic dimensions,” but does nothing to arrest the war criminal and terrorist Nkunda, then what should they be doing in the D.R. Congo, said Mr. Kyubwa.  

The United Nations Security Council recently voted to send additional 3,000 more troops to the Congo following renewed fighting in the country's eastern region. The increase means the peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUC, will have about 20,000 troops and police on the ground - the biggest UN force but is being criticized for not taking action to arrest Nkunda. There is no reason why the MONUC should continue to refuse to arrest Nkunda. "This must stop and Nkunda must be arrested and tried for war crimes" added INGA General Secretary, Mr. Fidele Mutima.

According Mrs. Batala Webster, Director of INGA’s Women Committee, the majority of the victims are women and children who lose their parents on the runaway and who sometimes find themselves with no single living parent in the displaced camps. ING Association, completely denounce the failure of MONUC to arrest Nkunda who was issued international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity and war crimes. The Organization calls on concerned people around the world outraged with the killing of innocent civilians, abductions, sexual violence, and the use of children by force as guerrilla fighters to send a strong global unified message to U.N. mission in Congo (MONUC) that Nkundaa must be arrested immediately by signing the online petition. "In all fairness, Nkunda must be arrested to stand trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity in eastern Congo," added Mrs. Mrs. Annie Zombil, INGA’s General Treasurer.  


According to Mr. Makuba T. Sekombo, a volunteer for the “www.ArrestNkundNow.org” movement,   "It is simply not acceptable for the UN to refuse to arrest a person suspected of war crimes because that contradicts its own mission in Congo, you can't have peace without justice." Even though the number of deaths in the Congo has almost reached six millions over the last ten years, the deaths have not gained international media attention like other mass killings in other countries, yet it has been the 2nd worst war in modern history.  It is not clear why the international media has been treating a war criminal suspect like Nkunda as their hero celebrity for the millions of females, from infants to old who are being raped and mutilated in the Congo of his criminal activities", added Mr. Sekombo.

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INGA is a California based nonprofit, non-political, cultural, social, and charitable organization dedicated to supporting and raising awareness of richness of Congolese cultural in the American society. INGA was incorporated in California in 1997 and granted 501(a)(3) IRS status in 2005.

For more information about the INGA Association and the community it serves, please visit its website at: www.ingaassociation.org or send an e-mail at: leadership@ingaassociation.org. The petition calling for the U.N. in DR Congo to immediately arrest Nkunda can be accessed by clicking to the following link: www.gopetition.com/online/23604.htm or through the above INGA’s website.