Kinshasa 3 September 2016 – On 31 August 2016, a man having introduced himself as FDLR combatant surrendered to MONUSCO DDR/RR staff in Sange (South-Kivu), to apply for his repatriation to Rwanda. After additional verification, MONUSCO suspects this person could be “Major Rafiki Castro Yacinthe” as allegedly being involved in gross human rights abuses against civilians, including the Kamananga slaughters in the South-Kivu province on 14 May 2012. MONUSCO therefore held him in custody in a secured site and contacted the Ministry of Justice to provide them with the above information. The Ministry requested that this person be handed over to the FARDC high military Court in Bukavu, for the purposes of investigations and legal proceedings. 

On 2 September 2016, MONUSCO escorted him safely and flew him to Bukavu where he handed him to the Congolese military jurisdiction authorities in the presence of MONUSCO staff. At the request of the chief military judge, the Mission provided the information collected from its preliminary investigations conducted on the Kamananga slaughter, as well as on other cases of human rights abuses with a view to supporting judiciary investigations.

MONUSCO and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) applaud this successful collaboration as well as the significant contribution made to the fight against impunity. The recent agreement reached by the Government of DRC and MONUSCO on cases of arrests, transfer and/or detention of individuals consolidates the progress already made by the Congolese Government in prosecuting the most serious cases of Human rights violations.