afrol News, 19 February - The government of Congo Kinshasa (DRC) is soon to take steps towards the establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission as part of the country's political transition. In an upcoming meeting in Kinshasa, the Commission's guidelines will be defined, leading up to a special law that will formally establish the Commission.

According to information from the UN peacekeeping mission in the country (MONUC), a four-day national collaborative meeting will open in Kinshasa on 25 February. Participants are to include representatives of the Congolese transitional government, local civil society, the office of the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, UN agencies, international non-governmental organisations and their local partners.

The Kinshasa meeting aims at defining the guidelines for the upcoming Truth and Reconciliation Commission. After a consensus is found, the Congolese transition government will present a bill to the Kinshasa parliament, detailing the functions and rights of the Commission. Parliament is already studying different drafts of such a bill.

Those attending next week's meeting will be "informed about and sensitised" to the general concept of such commissions, which have operated in several countries following armed conflicts or dictatorships.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission is generally an "independent, non-judicial bodies sanctioned by the state to operate for a temporary period in the context of political transition with the aim of promoting reconciliation by shedding light on past violations of human rights and international humanitarian law," MONUC informs.

In Congo Kinshasa, the establishment of such a Commission was agreed upon during the peace process. It was first demanded during the inter-Congolese dialogue in April 2002 and was agreed upon as part of the December 2002 Pretoria peace.

Later, the constitution of the current transitional government, established in April last year, confirmed that the Commission was to be established. The provisional government includes both Kinshasa's traditional military leaders and former rebel groups - all of which have been accused of systematic human rights violations and war crimes.

It is foreseen that the upcoming Commission in particular will look into the massive human rights violations committed during the Congolese war. It will also investigate war crimes and breaches of humanitarian law.

It is estimated that the brutal Congolese war claimed some three million lives between 1998 and 2003. Most of these were civilians and many were victims of massacres and ethnic cleansing. Most deaths are however attributed to the humanitarian crisis as consequence of the warfare.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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