Rights in DR Congo still under threat a year after change, Amnesty says

Human rights remain at threat in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Amnesty International said on Friday in a report issued a year to the day since the country underwent historic change.

Militia violence, ethnic clashes and failure to hold rights abusers to account dog the record of President Felix Tshisekedi, who succeeded Joseph Kabila, DRC's ruler for 18 years, it said.

"Although President Tshisekedi has taken some positive steps, such as pardoning political prisoners and allowing exiled critics to return, his government's failures on accountability mean warlords and suspected perpetrators of appalling violations and abuses remain at large," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty's director for eastern and southern Africa.

"Meanwhile (a) brutal crackdown on peaceful protests has continued to cast doubt on respect for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly."
In September, Disherited said he had "no time to rummage into the past," a statement that Amnesty described as "shocking."