Fizi
| Fizi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| Coordinates | 4 ° 18 ′ S , 28 ° 57 ′ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo | ||
| Sud-Kivu | |||
| ISO 3166-2 | CD-SK | ||
| height | 1300 m | ||
| Residents | 20,000 (2011) | ||
Fizi is an African city about 400 kilometers south of the equator and is located in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Sud-Kivu province .
geography
The city of Fizi is located in a mountainous landscape, about 10 kilometers from the north-west shore of Lake Tanganyika - Baie de Burton - and is already 430 meters above the water level of Lake Tanganyika. Fizi forms the administrative center of the Fizi district of the same name with 405,255 inhabitants. The local population consists of the ethnic groups of the N'Gangya , Lùlenge , M'tambala , Tangani'a and Itombwe . Swahili is used as the preferred language by the population . According to estimates, the city of Fizi had about 20,000 inhabitants and an area of 41,745 km² in January 2011.
The city of Fizi, connected to the border area by a main road, was designated as the military headquarters of the 115th Brigade of the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC). The background to this decision was the ethnic conflicts that had existed in the densely populated region since the civil wars in the neighboring states of Burundi and Rwanda .
history
The history of the region is marked by constant migrations over 2000 years, the newcomers were mostly assimilated into the existing population.
Colonial War and Separatism in the 1960s
During the wars of independence against the Belgian colonial government, the eastern border region was an early focus of the rebellion. Fizi is the home of Laurent-Désiré Kabila , who during this phase became a military leader of the Congolese liberation movement. Shortly after the liberation of Congo into independence, the resource-rich Congolese province of Katanga , bordering south of Fizi, declared itself independent under Moïse Tschombé - supported by Belgium and France, who saw it as a last bulwark against the soon-to-be murdered Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba . A bloody war began, which the Congolese central government won.
The Congolese revolutionaries supported by Cuba also wanted to take advantage of the confused situation in Central Africa . One as a "Marquis" has become known Freischärlertruppe fought along the lines of already in neighboring Kenya successful Mau Mau - by its own account, the European imperialists . They were also trained and supported by Che Guevara , who was in the Congo in 1965. Che Guevara quickly realized, however, that these African guerrillas were more concerned with their own gain than with the goals of the communist world revolution . In the 1970s, the "Marquis" were considered one of the most feared paramilitaries in Africa. They only survived in the bush through countless attacks on the civilian population and were then led by warlords. Only in the mid-1980s was the east of the Congo (temporarily) recaptured by government troops.
In September 1996 a rebellion began in eastern Zaire , fueled by the influx of refugees from Rwanda and Burundi, among other things, under the leadership of Laurent-Désiré Kabila , with military support from Rwanda and Uganda. The majority of the population living in the small neighboring states of Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda consists of the Tutsi and Hutu who also live in Eastern Congo. The civil war, which was fought as an ethnic conflict, again destabilized the region.
Mass rapes 2011
Mass rape and torture took place in Fizi on the night of January 1, 2011 . The UN spoke of 35 to 57 victims. Daniel Kibibi Mutware, an officer of the 43rd Section of the Congolese Army, was accused of having ordered the rapes in retaliation for a killed soldier and of having been involved himself. The incident is the largest known of its kind involving government troops. According to UN reports, the trigger was the killing of 29-year-old Faizi Kabiona by a soldier. Allegedly he had refused to organize "a love meeting with a girl" at the New Year celebrations . The soldier was stoned to death by the crowd, whereupon the troops took revenge. The officer claimed that he no longer had his soldiers under control. The residents of Fizi fled completely and only returned days later.
On February 21, 2011, Daniel Kibibi Mutware was sentenced by a military court to 20 years in prison. It was the largest trial of its kind in the Congo to date. With courage, three more officers were sentenced to 20 years and another five to shorter prison terms. The court found that 62 women were raped and all 150 soldiers were involved.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d e Dominic Johnson : Another mass rape in the Congo. In: the daily newspaper . January 27, 2011, accessed January 27, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Officer is said to have ordered mass rape. In: ORF . January 19, 2011, accessed January 19, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Dominic Johnson: 20 years in prison for rape. In: the daily newspaper. February 21, 2011, accessed February 22, 2011 .
- ↑ The officer is said to have ordered mass rape. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . January 19, 2011, accessed January 20, 2011 .