For background information on the Parti lumumbiste unifié (PALU) from 1995 to 1 June 1999, please consult the yearly compendium on world political parties entitled Political Handbook of the World which is available in Regional Documentation Centres.

A 10 January 2000 Amnesty International report entitled Democratic Republic of Congo: Government Terrorises Critics states that:

Human rights violations against those exercising their right to freedom of expression and association also contradict President Kabila's pledge before and after he came to power to uphold the fundamental freedoms denied the people of the DRC for three decades by former President Mobutu. On 29 January 1999 President Kabila signed a decree allowing multiparty politics but the decree imposes conditions which virtually all political parties find unacceptable.

On recent treatment of PALU members, the report states that:

Most of the arbitrary imprisonment of leaders and supporters of opposition political parties has taken place in Kinshasa. For example, Stéphane Ibanga and Mutua Ngwefa, two elderly men from Bandundu province, were picked up by police on 17 May 1999 in a random swoop on the side of a busy street in Kinshasa. They were arrested with five others, all of them accused of being sympathisers of an opposition political party known as the Parti lumumbiste unifié (PALU), Unified Lumumbiste Party, and taken to a detention centre known as the GLM building. There they were held in cramped, dirty and unlit cells and subjected to a daily regime of beatings with rifle butts and military belts, while forced to lie in muddy water, by members of the GSSP. They were released two weeks later without appearing before a judicial official or being charged with any offence. Stéphane Ibanga claimed that he was so severely tortured that at the time of his release he could not walk and left the detention centre crawling on his hands and knees.

At least 76 other members of PALU were arrested during the month of July 1999 and held in detention centres around Kinshasa. Seventy-two of them, including 70-year-old Albert Mputucieli, 67-year-old Louis Nkwese and Alexandre Tata, were still being held in November 1999 at Kinshasa's former Makala central prison known as the Centre pénitentiaire et de réeducation de Kinshasa (CPRK), Kinshasa Penitentiary and Reeducation Centre. They had not been tried and it was unclear whether they had been charged with any offence. One of them, Nsangu Matembi, died in prison on 11 October 1999 reportedly as a result of harsh detention conditions, including being denied medical care for an illness he suffered from before his arrest. About 15 other members of PALU, including Urbain Nkwasandi and Henri Mindele from Kinshasa's Kimbanseke suburb, were arrested on 26 September while attending a local party meeting in Kinshasa's Ngiri-Ngiri commune.

Godelieve Mesa, a 38-year-old mother of seven children, was arrested on 17 July 1999 by police officers at her residence, which is also the PALU party headquarters for Mbanza-Lemba commune in Kinshasa. The PALU party flag was flying in the courtyard and Godelieve Mesa tried to stop the police from tearing it down. The police officers reportedly beat her and forced her to strip naked, then made her walk down the street to the communal police post. The police then returned to the house, where they arrested three more PALU members; the detainees claim to have been blindfolded and beaten with rifle butts before they were thrown in the same cell as Godelieve Mesa. All four detainees were beaten and forced to sing and dance in praise of the government. Godelieve Mesa was kept naked for two days before being released without charge. The three men were released two days later.

The January 2000 issue of Info-Congo/Kinshasa states that seven PALU activists were arrested during a meeting on 7 January 2000 and were released four days later.

An 18 December 1999 Radio France International (RFI) report states that:

In the Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC], President Laurent-Desire Kabila yesterday ordered the release of 156 political prisoners. This move coincided with the naming of Ketumile Masire, former president of Botswana, as facilitator in DRC conflict.

Eighty activists of the Unified Lubumbist Party [PALU] and some members of opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi's party, the Union for Democracy and Social Progress [UDPS], were among those released yesterday. Mr Mukendi, Etienne Tshisekedi's political adviser, spoke to our correspondent Jean-Jacques Louarne:

[Mukendi - recording] We think that this decision to free UDPS spokesman, Joseph Kaprika, and three other members as well as the promise to release more UDPS activists in just a few hours are indeed a positive step. This will contribute to the smooth conduct of the inter-Congolese debate. We have also claimed that political leaders were being detained in the DRC. Some of them are members of the UDPS, of PALU, or human rights associations, while others are journalists, but I believe that today we need to encourage the authorities. This is a significant decision which will help us move forward.

An 11 January 2000 Africa News report quotes an Amnesty International statement that expressed concern that, despite the release of 156 PALU and other political detainees in December 1999, others remained in custody and that peaceful political activities remained restricted.

A 21 July 1999 Africa News report states that:

The DRC authorities have arrested 49 members of the opposition Parti lumumbiste unifié (PALU) over the last few days, the AP news agency reported. It cited the party's general-secretary Godefroid Mayobo who said the arrests began last week after the PALU urged its members to resume political activity. President Laurent-Desire Kabila had banned the activities of political parties in the country, but Mayobo said he considered the signing of the Lusaka peace accord by Kabila as lifting the restrictions on political activity.

A 16 December 1998 AFP report states that:

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) security forces have raided the Kinshasa headquarters of the Unified Lumumbist Party (PALU), arresting 28 people and seizing documents, press reports said Wednesday.

About 50 rapid intervention force and military police, using vehicles without number plates, invaded the home of PALU chairman Antoine Gizenga, which is also the party's temporary headquarters, on Tuesday, PALU said in a communique cited by the press.

They had no warrants but rounded up 28 activists as well as property including documents and personal effects, the statement said, adding: "PALU has been the object of numerous acts of aggression on the part of armed elements wearing military uniforms, acts that have already been reported to the state authorities."

PALU demanded the immediate release of the 28 activists and said it was "fed up with these unjustified and mean acts."

Gizenga is a veteran politician in the central African country, having become the deputy prime minister to Patrice Lumumba on independence from Belgium in 1960. He spent many years in exile in Prague.

DRC President Laurent Kabila, who faces a four-month-old insurrection which has drawn in six other African countries, banned all political activity shortly after coming to power in May 1997 after ousting the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko.

On a European tour last month, Kabila said he would lift the ban by late January.

A 15 June 1999 Human Rights Watch (HRW) report states that on 15 December 1998, the DR Congo police forces raidded the home of PALU president Antoine Gigenza and arrested

28 activists who were on duty as guards for the President of the Party at the time. They were: Punana Sylvain, Nkata Hubert, Nsoni Anicet, Kumanda Gibert, Ntama Lambert, Mwata Médard, Kangufu, Dondo, Mesopamba Frédéric, Kambundi Kosasa, Mitaku Mudingangu, Makangila Zabuyongo, Santu Kinguzi, Matungulu Célestin, Dila Jonas, Metelo, Mukaya Cadet, Mukala Dieudonné, Mbalaka, Mukyongo Fingila Timothée, Kibwa, Makwata David, Masangu Mafwa, Musoko, Kapita Arthur, Pelete Delphin, Kanbeya Anasthase, Lukuru Anicet. These persons were taken to Kokolo camp and then released on 16 September.

Those arrests were corroborated in the 1998 annual report of the Association africaine de défense des droits de l'homme (ASADHO).

A 27 July 1997 AFP report states that between four and seven persons, alleged to be PALU members, were killed in Kinshasa during the suppression of two illegal demonstrations against the ban on party politics.

However, a 30 June 1999 UNHCR background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, referring to an Amnesty International report, states that:

Freddy Manganzo Nzani, a university student, was killed in Kinshasa by an ADFL soldier during a demonstration on 12 June 1997. The authorities are not known to have taken any action against the soldier... On 25 July 1997, soldiers opened fire on a peaceful PALU demonstration. At least one demonstrator died while six were gravely injured. About 30 persons were subsequently arrested and held incommunicado in an underground cell. Soldiers have also reportedly broken into the home of PALU leader Gizenga, where a number of PALU supporters were stripped naked and whipped.

Mobutu era

A 30 July 1995 RTBF report, referring to a Zairean state radio broadcast, states that seven people were killed during a PALU demonstration that took place outside the parliament building in Kinshasa, calling for the resignation of the Zairean government.

Amnesty International Report 1995 states that:

On 20 January, 440 members of the Parti lumumbiste unifié (PALU), United Lumumbist Party, were reportedly arrested by members of the Civil Guard during a peaceful demonstration to protest against what they called the President's interference in the democratic process. They were taken to the Civil Guard's headquarters in the capital, Kinshasa, where they were allegedly tortured. Some were seriously injured. More than 400 of them were released uncharged by the end of January; the fate of the rest was unknown.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

Africa News [London]. 11 January 2000. "Democratic Republic of Congo: Escalating Repression of Critics." (NEXIS)

_____. 21 July 1999. "Update for Central and Eastern Africa." (NEXIS)

Agence France Presse (AFP). 16 December 1998. "DR Congo Security Forces Occupy Political Party Headquarters." (NEXIS)

_____. 27 July 1997. Mario Fiorito. "Popular Dissatisfaction Grows with New Regime in Kinshasa." (NEXIS)

Amnesty International (AI). 10 January 2000. "Democratic Republic of Congo: Government Terrorises Critics." (AI Index: AFR 62/01/00). London: Amnesty International. http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/aipub/2000/AFR/16200100.htm [Accessed: 8 May 2000]

_____. 1995. Report 1995 (REFWORLD)

Association africaine de défense des droits de l'homme (ASADHO). Rapport ASADHO annuel 1998 : République démocratique du Congo : le pouvoir à tout prix. répression systématique et impunité. http://www.congonline.com/Asadho [Accessed: 8 May 2000]

Human Rights Watch (HRW). 1999. The Democratic Republic of congo: Casualties of War: Civilians, Rule of Law, and Democratic Freedoms." http://ww.hrw.org [Accessed: 8 May 2000]

Info-Congo/Kinshasa [Montréal]. January 2000. "Droits humains en zone gouvernementale." emi@web.net [Accessed: 9 May 2000]

Radio France International (RFI). 16 December 1999. "Opposition Party Welcomes Release of UDPS Activists." (BBC Summary 18 Dec. 1999/NEXIS)

RTBF Radio 1[Brussels, in French]. 30 July 1995. "Zaire: Opposition Calls for New Demonstration on 1st August." (NEXIS)

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Centre for Documentation and Research, Geneva. April 1998. Background Paper on Refugees and Asylum Seekers from the Democratic Republic of Congo. http://www.unhcr.ch/refworld/country/cdr/cdrrc.htm [Accessed: 8 May 2000]