rape of girls and women perpetrated by the forces of Rwanda and Uganda, particularly in South Kivu province. It further states that on Monday, 5th October 1998, in Lumunba quarter, Babozo division, Bagira commune, under the instructions of a young Rwandan officer nicknamed 'terminator', who was then commanding the Bagira military camp, several young Congolese girls were raped by soldiers based at the said camp. Similar cases of rape have been reported from Mwenga, Walungu, Shabunda and Idjwi. 6. The Democratic Republic of Congo avers that since the beginning of the war in its eastern provinces, the civilian population has been deported by the Rwandan and Ugandan armies to what it refers to as 'concentration camps' situated in Rwanda. It further states that other people are simply massacred and incinerated in crematories (especially in Bugusera, Rwanda). The goal of these operations is to make the indigenous people disappear from these regions and thus, to establish what it terms 'Tutsiland'. 7. The Democratic Republic of Congo also accuses Rwanda and Uganda of carrying out systematic looting of the underground riches of the regions controlled by their forces, just as the possessions of the civilian population are being hauled away to Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda. To substantiate its accusations, it states that on 4th September 1998, the contents of all the safes of the local branch of the Central Bank of Congo in Bukavu town were looted and the booty taken away to Rwanda. In Kalema, a town in Maniema province, all the minerals in the factory of the SOMINKI firm were looted by the same forces. The Democratic Republic of Congo claims that between October and December 1998, the gold produced by the OKIMO firm and by local diggers, yielding $100,000,000 (one hundred million US dollars) was carted to Rwanda. Still according to its estimation, the coffee produced in the region and in North Kivu yielded about $70,000,000 (seventy million US dollars) to Uganda in the same period. As for the wood produced by the AMEXBOIS firm based in Kisangani town, it is exported to Uganda. Rwanda and Uganda have also taken over control of the fiscal and customs revenue collected respectively by the Directorate General of Taxes. The plunder of the riches of the eastern provinces of Congo is also affecting endangered animal species such as okapis, mountain gorillas, rhinoceros, and elephants. Complaint 8. The Democratic Republic of Congo claims, among other things, that it is the victim of an armed aggression perpetrated by Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda; and that this is a violation of the fundamental principles that govern friendly relations between States, as stipulated in the Charters of the United Nations (UN) and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU); in particular, the principles of non-recourse to force in international relations, the peaceful settlement of differences, respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States and non-interference in the internal affairs of States. It emphasises that the massacres and other violations of human and peoples' rights that it accuses Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda of, are committed in violation of the provisions of Articles 2, 4, 6, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23 of the African Charter. 9. It also claims violation of the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and of the Additional Protocol on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) of 8th June 1977. 10. From the foregoing, the Democratic Republic of Congo, based on the facts presented and the law cited, requests the [African] Commission to: 1. Declare that [t]he violations of the human rights of the civilian population of the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo by Rwanda, Uganda and Burundi are in contravention of the relevant provisions of the African Charter cited above; and 2. Examine the communication diligently, especially in the light of Article 58(1)&Article 58(3) of the Charter with a view to producing a detailed, objective and impartial report on the grave and massive violations of human rights committed in the war-affected eastern provinces and to submit it to the Assembly of Heads of State and Government of the OAU. 11. The Democratic Republic of Congo also requests the [African] Commission to: 1. "... Take due note of the violations of the relevant provisions of the Charters of the [UN], the [OAU], and the one on Human and Peoples' Rights; 2. Condemn the aggression against the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has generated grave violations of the human rights of peaceful peoples; 2