By East Africa correspondent Cathy Jenkins

A human rights group has condemned what it described as an ongoing crackdown against civil society activists by the rebel authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said a number of people had been arrested in the eastern town of Bukavu for organising a strike to protest against the economic situation and the lack of security.

The area is controlled by the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), a Rwandan-backed group which has been fighting to oust President Laurent Kabila for one and a half years.

Detentions

Human Rights Watch said that two people were being detained by the authorities in Bukavu.

The two are accused of mobilising the population and distributing pamphlets calling for a general strike which began two days ago, closing down schools and offices.

One of the detained is a church leader, the other is a prominent civil society activist.

The strike is in protest against a non-payment of wages, general insecurity in the area and the continued presence of foreign troops.

People disillusioned

The RCD has never fully won over the minds of the people who now live under its control.

One of the reasons is that they do not feel they have gained anything from the change of leadership.

A representative for a international aid organisation working in Bukavu said that people felt aggrieved that the authorities had not introduced any social programmes.

Furthermore, the people, despite not having received wages themselves, suffered harassment from rebel soldiers who also had not been paid.

In its report, Human Rights Watch noted other incidents where civil society and human rights activists had been targetted by the authorities.

In the town of Goma, it said that the president of a women's group was arrested and whipped with a piece of tyre.

The vice-president of the group, a woman who was playing a leading role in organising a peace movement, was also briefly detained. She had publicly denounced the reported killing of civilians by rebel soldiers.