PRESS STATEMENT OF THE AFRICAN BAR ASSOCIATION ON THREATS TO THE LIFE OF DR DENIS MUKWEGE

Denis Mukwege

The African Bar Association wishes to express deep concern about the recent threats to the life and person of Dr. Denis Mukwege. This misguided threats arising from the activist activities of the Nobel Laureate in seeking for justice in the plunder of the DRC and murders of innocent citizens of that country by vested local and international interests is not only condemnable but must be resisted by all democratic forces across the globe.

The sagacious African who has spent most of his life championing the cause of justice and recognized for his diligent work in the DRC should not only be celebrated but emulated. The 2018 Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese, on July 26, 2020 unreservedly condemned the gruesome killing of 220individualsinthe village of Kipupu, South Kivu, Congo, which massacre registered a similar pattern, having been adopted by same perpetrators since 1996.

In expressing his unbreakable resolve to make public the atrocities committed in the Bukavu region, he stated thus: “No intellectual malfeasance, no threat, no use of fear will prevent me from expressing myself on the reality of the atrocities experienced by the populations of my country and the consequences of which I treat every day in my hospital in Bukavu”

Dr. Mukwege has since 2017, worked tirelessly to give the United Nationsconcreteproofs to spur the establishment of a Criminal Tribunal for the trial of war criminals in East Congo in accordance with the United Nations 2010 Mapping Report on crimes
committed in the Congo between 1993 and 2003 which include but not limited to invasions and wars leading to the untimely death of many.

In response to this fearless, vibrant and outspoken stance taken by Dr. Mukwege, on July 18, 2020, General James Kararebe, on Rwandan television issued statements veiled in death threats against Dr. Mukwege and his family which attempted to incriminate the Nobel Peace Prize Winner in the alleged inhuman acts culminating in the Hutu genocide, a claim that is refuted by hundreds of residents in Bukavu. The African Bar Association finds this distasteful and regards as unconventional the veiled death threats directed at the Nobel Prize Winner, Dr. Denis Mukwege. In upholding the tenets of the Rule of Law the AFBA hereby demands for the establishment of a United Nations Tribunal for Eastern Congo to unveil the truth in respect of the war ravaging Congo, forestall the use of force and completely eliminate the prevailing extrajudicial killings and craves the indulgence of all Bar Associations and African governments to support this position.

Abuja, Nigeria.
18th September 2020
Hannibal Uwaifo
President