New York University on Saturday said it was “deeply concerned” over the expulsion of one of its researchers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), linking the move to his work on a series of massacres in the country.
According to a diplomatic source, Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group (CRG) at NYU’s Center on International Cooperation, was sent by plane late on Thursday to Europe, from where he was expected to head to the US.
A senior Congolese official said Stearns had “deceived the immigration service” over his place of residence in Kinshasa, adding that the researcher was invited to the DR Congo by a non-governmental organization that was not properly registered in the country.
The center said in a statement: “The official reason for the expulsion by the Congolese authorities was the ‘undesirability’ of Mr Stearns... They also referred to the recent report by CRG on the massacres around Beni.”
His research group published a report in March on a series of massacres of civilians around the town of Beni in North Kivu province, northeastern DR Congo, since October 2014, claiming that soldiers from the regular army participated in the killings.
The report questioned the official and UN mission version that the massacres were committed by a Ugandan Muslim rebel force installed in the east of the country since 1995, the ADF.
It noted the complexity of the violence perpetrated in the region, which has been torn by conflict for more than 20 years.
The report recommended that the Congolese authorities and UN mission resume investigations into the killings, noting that “several” groups distinct from the ADF “appear to be involved in the massacres.”
It said members of the DR Congo army, former rebels from the RCD-K/ML group — who held the area during the Second Congo War — and local militias were all involved in the mass killings.
The government rejected the claims and said the ADF was “definitely” responsible for the massacres.
The center said the alleged immigration irregularities Stearns was accused of were “minor procedural matters, which we are taking steps to address.”
Stearns, who spent several years in the DR Congo, namely during the 1998-2003 war, is also the author of a book on the conflict, Dancing in the Glory of Monsters.
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