WITNESS interviews Guillaume Ngefa of the Association Africaine pour la Defense des Droits de l'homme (ASADHO) about human rights work, the Masisi massacre of Rwandan refugees in eastern Zaire, the current situation in DRC/Zaire, the role of NGOs and the UN, etc.

Witness interview with Jose Ndjemoti Motong'isong, director of the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO) is caught on video. He discusses the current situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, what his group is doing to improve the human rights situation in the country, and his hopes for the future for the people of the DRC. The interview also includes Ndjemoti's views on the root causes of the Masisi Massacre, which took place in June 1996, detention centers, threats to defenders of human rights, and on torture tactics in the former Zaire under Mobutu's rule.

Abdul Oroh, the Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in Nigeria discusses difficulties faced by human rights activists in Nigeria with the staff of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York.

Interview with WITNESS partner, Sadikh Niass, of Rencontre Africaine pour la Defense des Droits l'Homme (RADDHO) in which he discusses the work of Raddho and how he came to be involved with the organization. He talks about the organization's work with the LCHR and also the WITNESS projects, and the benefits these collaborations provide. More generally he describes the challenges that refugees face and the violations of their rights that occur.

Interview with Felix Morka, Executive Director Social and Economic Action Center, (SERAC). and Laila Maher of SERAC.|Morka discusses in great detail the work he has done with both CLO and SERAC as a human rights advocate. He lists ways in which the international community can help; the distinction between freezing the assets of a nation and freezing that of an individual's-namely, General Sani Achaba's. He describes the general powerlessness of the judicial system, and how Witness and video can assist human rights activists.

An interview with Didier Kamundu, a Congolese human rights activist and WITNESS partner working with SOPROP. He explains how the former Mobutu regime and the current regime of Kabila are encouraging the massacre of civilians by promoting ethnic hatred. Didier also talks about his own struggle and his work as a co-founder of SOPROP.

Deidre Clancey speaks with Zainab Bangura, a female activist from Sierra Leone, on the human rights atrocities and national instability that currently plague Sierra Leone. Rebel insurgents wield their power from terrorizing the nation with acts of rape and abduction of women and young children, both boys and girls. Gillian Caldwell appears at beginning of video.

Witness interview with Mimi Doretti, Executive Director of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology team (EAAF). Highlights include a discussion of the team's work on exhumations to investigate murders during Haiti's coup regime from 1991-1994.

Part 1 of an interview with Mimi Doretti, Executive Director of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.|Since 1984, EAAF has applied the forensic sciences, particularly forensic anthropology and forensic archeology, to the investigation of human rights violations. The work requires a multi-disciplinary approach, involving genetics, ballistics, radiology, and computer sciences. Using these tools and techniques, EAAF exhumes bodies in order to establish the cause of death and to identify skeletal remains of victims. Through its work, EAAF assists the relatives of the victims to recover the remains of their disappeared loved ones. Moreover, it contributes to the historical reconstruction of atrocities that offending governments seek to minimize, hide, or deny. EAAF's investigations produce evidence of crimes that can be used in the courts and have proven critical in the pursuit of justice. Since 1986, EAAF has been asked by local or international human rights organizations, and/or the judiciary to assist with human rights investigations in: Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Haiti, The Philippines, Romania, Croatia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Ethiopia, French Polynesia, and South Africa.

Part 2 of an interview with Mimi Doretti, Executive Director of the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team.|Since 1984, EAAF has applied the forensic sciences, particularly forensic anthropology and forensic archeology, to the investigation of human rights violations. The work requires a multi-disciplinary approach, involving genetics, ballistics, radiology, and computer sciences. Using these tools and techniques, EAAF exhumes bodies in order to establish the cause of death and to identify skeletal remains of victims. Through its work, EAAF assists the relatives of the victims to recover the remains of their disappeared loved ones. Moreover, it contributes to the historical reconstruction of atrocities that offending governments seek to minimize, hide, or deny. EAAF's investigations produce evidence of crimes that can be used in the courts and have proven critical in the pursuit of justice. Since 1986, EAAF has been asked by local or international human rights organizations, and/or the judiciary to assist with human rights investigations in: Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Haiti, The Philippines, Romania, Croatia, Iraqi Kurdistan, Ethiopia, French Polynesia, and South Africa.

Interview with WITNESS partner Jesus Tecu Osorio. He describes the Rio Negro Massacres that occurred in 1982 and the events leading up to the massacres, namely the controversy over construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam. He speaks about the role of the World Bank and the Bank's responsibility to the victims in Rabinal. He also describes the impact of the violence on the community and current social and political issues in Rabinal. He explains how he is trying to raise money to provide scholarships for rural youth and to build a bilingual technical institute in Rabinal. He talks about the importance of documenting events through video and why it is important that Witness maintain archives for the material, given the difficulty of protecting it in Guatemala. He feels that the material needs to be used to educate the youth, so that the atrocities committed in Rabinal will never be repeated.

Interview with WITNESS partner Jesus Tecu Osorio. He describes the Rio Negro Massacres that occurred in 1982 and the events leading up to the massacres, namely the controversy over construction of the Chixoy Hydroelectric Dam. He speaks about the role of the World Bank and the Bank's responsibility to the victims in Rabinal. He also describes the impact of the violence on the community and current social and political issues in Rabinal. He explains how he is trying to raise money to provide scholarships for rural youth and to build a bilingual technical institute in Rabinal. He talks about the importance of documenting events through video and why it is important that Witness maintain archives for the material, given the difficulty of protecting it in Guatemala. He feels that the material needs to be used to educate the youth, so that the atrocities committed in Rabinal will never be repeated.

Interview with Colombian activists Jaime Prieto and Umberto Rincon

Interview with Salma Sobhan of Ain O Salish Kendra.|[NOT LOGGED]

Interview with Helen Mack, the sister of Myrna Mack, an anthropologist who was murdered by a military death squad in Guatemala City on September 11, 1990. Myrna had been researching and publishing information about the plight of indigenous and internally displaced people in Guatemala. In 1996, three high-level military officers were arrested and indicted for their alleged roles in ordering Myrna Mack's murder. It was the first human rights case during the civil war to go before Guatemala's courts. Helen Mack speaks about her efforts to bring her sister's killers to justice.

Witness interview with Gustavo Gallon of the Colombia Commission of Jurists. He speaks about the human rights situation in Colombia and the role of the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Witness interview with exiled President of the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights (ASADHO), Guillaume Ngefa Atondoko, who speaks about the current situation in Congo/Zaire, the extermination of Hutu refugees in eastern Congo, the threats to his life which forced him to flee Congo/Zaire, and the need to hold all violators of human rights accountable or else risk creating a culture of impunity.|He comments on how he has been using the Witness cameras for human rights education, while also using it to document human rights violations in hopes of using the footage as evidence in court. He mentions that he is targeted and harassed for engaging in human rights advocacy.

Abdul Oroh, the Executive Director of the Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) in Nigeria discusses difficulties faced by human rights activists in Nigeria with the staff of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in New York.

Mass graves, demonstrations in Guatemala

An interview with Didier Kamundu, a Congolese human rights activist and WITNESS partner working with SOPROP. He explains how the former Mobutu regime and the current regime of Kabila are encouraging the massacre of civilians by promoting ethnic hatred. Didier also talks about his own struggle and his work as a co-founder of SOPROP.