Jean Plicque | |
---|---|
Born | 1931 or 1932 |
Died | 17 Aug 1964 |
Cause of death | Murder |
Citizenship | France |
Occupation | International Labour Organization official |
Awards | Nansen Refugee Award |
Jean Plicque (1931/1932 - 1964) was a French community development specialist who was murdered in the Democratic Republic of Congo by rebel forces in the midst of the Congo Crisis. At the time, Plicque was working for the International Labour Organization. He was posthumously awarded the Nansen Refugee Award in 1964.
Plicque was an expert in rural community development [1] and was the head of the Bukavu office of the International Labour Organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo. [2]
On August 17, 1964, Plicque joined United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official Francois Preziosi on a trip to Kalehe to visit Tutsi refugees who had fled Rwanda to Congo. [2] [3] Preziosi was the most senior UNHCR official in the country and was on a mission to discourage Tutsi refugees from collaborating with Congolese rebels, in the hope of improving their treatment from local authorities. [2] [4] Both men were being driven by George Yogolero, a Congolese driver. [2] They had been discouraged from travelling by the Mwami of nearby Kalonge, who warned the men against the trip and of collaboration between Congolese rebels and the Tutsi refugees. [2] The Mwami's perceptions of collaboration were a factor in the poor treatment of the refugees by the Mwami and the local community. [4]
Upon arrival in Kalehe, the car was met by a detachment of Congolese rebels with their commander and a senior officer. [4] Driver Yogolero waved a white handkerchief, and the leader of the detachment ordered Plicque, Preziosi, Yogolero, and the Mwami's representative out of the car. Both Frenchmen were promptly murdered. [4] Yogolero was stabbed in the arm, but escaped along with the Mwami's representative. [4]
Initial press reports relied exclusively on the verbal testimony of George Yogolero who stated that both rebels and refugees attacked the men, however subsequent investigations by Warren A. Pinegar of UNHCR concluded that the rebels perpetrated the violence, as most refugees unsuccessfully plead for the lives of Plicque and Preziosi to be spared. [4] Unbeknown to Plicque and Preziosi at the time, they arrived just as the rebels were finishing trying to unsuccessfully persuade the Tutsi refugees to collaborate with them. [4]
Plicque was 33 at the time of his death. [5]
Plicque was married. His wife had been evacuated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Bujumbura in Burundi just before his death. [6]
United Nations Secretary-General U Thant expressed outrage about the murders. [2]
The Congolese Army recovered the men's bodies [7] which were found with wedding rings on their fingers. [4] The presence of valuable wedding rings led the UNHCR officials to believe that they were immediately buried by the Tutsi rebels. [4] A funeral was held for both men on 31 August 1964 in Bukavu cathedral. [4]
Plicque was posthumously awarded the Nansen Refugee Award (for Outstanding service to the cause of refugees) in 1964. [8]
Human occupation of Rwanda is thought to have begun shortly after the last ice age. By the 11th century, the inhabitants had organized into a number of kingdoms. In the 19th century, Mwami (king) Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda conducted a decades-long process of military conquest and administrative consolidation that resulted in the kingdom coming to control most of what is now Rwanda. The colonial powers, Germany and Belgium, allied with the Rwandan court.
South Kivu is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Its capital is Bukavu.
Banyamulenge is a community from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of North Kivu, with most speaking Kinyamulenge, a mix of Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Ha language, and Swahili. Banyamulenge are often discriminated against in the DRC due to their Tutsi phenotype, similar to that of people living in the Horn of Africa, their insubordination towards colonial rule, their role in Mobutu's war against and victory over the Simba Rebellion, which was supported by the majority of other tribes in South Kivu, their role during the First Congo War and subsequent regional conflicts (Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma, Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, National Congress for the Defence of the People, and more importantly for the fact that two of the most influential presidents of their country declared them as enemy of the State both in 1996 and 1998.
The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire, also known by the French acronym AFDL, was a coalition of Rwandan, Ugandan, Burundian, and Congolese dissidents, disgruntled minority groups, and nations that toppled Mobutu Sese Seko and brought Laurent-Désiré Kabila to power in the First Congo War. Although the group was successful in overthrowing Mobutu, the alliance fell apart after Kabila did not agree to be dictated by his foreign backers, Rwanda and Uganda, which marked the beginning of the Second Congo War in 1998.
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda is an armed rebel group active in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. As an ethnic Hutu group opposed to the ethnic Tutsi influence, the FDLR is one of the last factions of Rwandan rebels active in the Congo. It was founded through an amalgamation of other groups of Rwandan refugees in September 2000, including the former Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALiR), under the leadership of Paul Rwarakabije. It was active during the latter phases of the Second Congo War and the subsequent insurgencies in Kivu.
The Great Lakes refugee crisis is the common name for the situation beginning with the exodus in April 1994 of over two million Rwandans to neighboring countries of the Great Lakes region of Africa in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. Many of the refugees were Hutu fleeing the predominantly Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), which had gained control of the country at the end of the genocide. However, the humanitarian relief effort was vastly compromised by the presence among the refugees of many of the Interahamwe and government officials who carried out the genocide, who used the refugee camps as bases to launch attacks against the new government led by Paul Kagame. The camps in Zaire became particularly politicized and militarized. The knowledge that humanitarian aid was being diverted to further the aims of the genocidaires led many humanitarian organizations to withdraw their assistance. The conflict escalated until the start of the First Congo War in 1996, when RPF-supported rebels invaded Zaire and sought to repatriate the refugees.
The Army for the Liberation of Rwanda was a rebel group largely composed of members of the Interahamwe and Armed Forces of Rwanda. Operating mostly in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo along the border with Rwanda, it carried out attacks throughout the Second Congo War against forces aligned with Rwanda and Uganda. In 2000, the ALiR agreed to merge with the Hutu resistance movement based in Kinshasa into the new Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR). ALiR was largely supplanted by the FDLR by 2001.
Azarias Ruberwa Manywa is a Congolese politician, lawyer, and public figure. During the Second Congo War he was Secretary-General of the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD-G) rebel group. Following the war, he was one of the vice-presidents in the transitional government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between 2003-2006. He has also been the leader and president of RCD-G's political party since 2003. He is a member of the Banyamulenge community of South Kivu who belong to the Tutsi ethnic group.
Congolese history in the 2000s has primarily revolved around the Second Congo War (1998–2003) and the empowerment of a transitional government.
Masisi Territory is a territory which is located within the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its political headquarters are located in the town of Masisi.
The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including neighboring Ituri province, there are more than 120 different armed groups active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, some of the most active rebel groups include the Allied Democratic Forces, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, the March 23 Movement, and many local Mai Mai militias. In addition to rebel groups and the governmental FARDC troops, a number of national and international organizations have intervened militarily in the conflict, including the United Nations force known as MONUSCO, and an East African Community regional force.
The National Congress for the Defence of the People is a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict, an armed conflict against the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2009, the CNDP split and Nkunda was arrested by the Rwanda government. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda, was planned to be integrated into the national army.
The term Banyarwanda refers to Rwandan colonials or nationals who, between the end of World War I and 1960 emigrated to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The term is used to distinguish them from Banyamulenge, Rwandans who emigrated in a wave in the 19th century.
Laurent Nkunda is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is the former warlord operating in the province of Nord-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the Tutsi-dominated government of neighbouring Rwanda. Nkunda, who is himself a Congolese Tutsi, commanded the former DRC troops of the 81st and 83rd Brigades of the DRC Army. He speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Lingala and Kinande. On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.
Minova is a town in the Kalehe Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is an important business center for farm-fishery products. It is very close to Idjwi Island, Masisi Territory, Lake Kivu on its North Western shore and is only 45 km from the Goma city. The town's development is linked with important refugee-related history, including those from Rwanda in 1994, those from Masisi in 1992–1997, and other surrounding areas in northern South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is known for being the site of the systematic rape of refugees by DRC troops. WE actually find many local organisations involved in the management of Gender Based Violence (GBV) working tirelessly to restore dignity to women and girls who were raped( Panzi Foundation DRC is one of them, and it is very active in Buzi -Bulenga area).
The Bugesera invasion, also known as the Bloody Christmas, was a military attack which was conducted against Rwanda by Inyenzi rebels who aimed to overthrow the government in December 1963. The Inyenzi were a collection of ethnically Tutsi exiles who were affiliated with the Rwandan political party Union Nationale Rwandaise (UNAR), which had supported Rwanda's deposed Tutsi monarchy. The Inyenzi opposed Rwanda's transformation upon independence from Belgium into a state run by the ethnic Hutu majority through the Parti du Mouvement de l'Emancipation Hutu (PARMEHUTU), an anti-Tutsi political party led by President Grégoire Kayibanda. In late 1963, Inyenzi leaders decided to launch an invasion of Rwanda from their bases in neighbouring countries to overthrow Kayibanda. While an attempted assault in November was stopped by the government of Burundi, early in the morning on 21 December 1963, several hundred Inyenzi crossed the Burundian border and captured the Rwandan military in camp in Gako, Bugesera. Bolstered with seized arms and recruited locals, the Iyenzi—numbering between 1,000 and 7,000—marched on the Rwandan capital, Kigali. They were stopped 12 miles south of the city at Kanzenze Bridge along the Nyabarongo River by multiple units of the Garde Nationale Rwandaise (GNR). The GNR routed the rebels with their superior firepower, and in subsequent days repelled further Inyenzi attacks launched from the Republic of the Congo and Uganda.
François Rukeba was a Rwandan politician and rebel leader.
Francois Preziosi was a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees official who was killed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by rebel forces in the midst of the Congo Crisis. He was posthumously awarded the Nansen Refugee Award in 1964.
Kamanyola is one of the groupements (groupings) within the Ngweshe Chiefdom of the Walungu Territory. It is located in the Ruzizi Plain in the South Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), sharing a border with Rwanda and Burundi. Kamanyola stands at a height of 901 meters and is closely situated to the suburb of Mwaro and the village of Mubombo.
The Kasika massacre took place on August 24, 1998, in the villages of Kasika, Kilungutwe, Kalama, and Zokwe, located in the Luindi Chiefdom of the Mwenga Territory in the South Kivu Province, situated in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Troops from the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) and Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA), primarily composed of Tutsi armed forces, killed over 1,000 civilians, predominantly belonging to the Nyindu community.