(Goma) – Congolese military models backed armed teams implicated in severe abuses within the latest battle with M23 insurgent forces in jap Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch mentioned at the moment.
Between Could and August 2022, the Congolese military with a coalition of Congolese militia in addition to the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) fought towards Rwandan-backed M23 rebels in North Kivu province. At instances, some Congolese military officers supplied the armed teams with direct help. Since late August, most teams have withdrawn from their front-line positions.
“Congolese military models are once more resorting to the discredited and damaging apply of utilizing abusive armed teams as their proxies,” mentioned Thomas Fessy, senior Congo researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Congolese authorities ought to finish this help, which ends up in navy complicity in abuses, determine officers accountable, and maintain them accountable.”
The M23 offensive in Could and the takeover of Bunagana, a buying and selling city on the Uganda border, in June displaced tens of hundreds of individuals. Regardless of a lull within the combating since mid-August, the humanitarian state of affairs in Rutshuru territory, North Kivu, stays essential, including to an already dire state of affairs in jap Congo. Over the previous yr, armed teams and at instances authorities troopers have dedicated widespread abuses, together with illegal killings, sexual violence, and theft, inflicting the safety state of affairs to deteriorate.
Since June, Human Rights Watch has interviewed 5 fighters from armed teams, seven witnesses of abuses and members of the family of victims, in addition to activists, Congolese civilian and navy officers, United Nations workers, and support staff.
On Could 8 and 9, leaders of a number of Congolese armed teams, a few of them rivals, met within the distant city of Pinga and agreed to a non-aggression pact forming a “patriotic” coalition to hitch forces with the Congolese military towards “the aggressor,” specifically the M23. The teams included the Patriots’ Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (Alliance des patriotes pour un Congo libre et souverain, APCLS) of Janvier Karairi, the Coalition of Actions for Change (Coalition des mouvements pour le changement, CMC/FDP) of Dominique Ndaruhuste, referred to as “Domi,” the Nduma Protection of Congo-Renovated (Nduma défense du Congo-Rénové, NDC-R) faction of Guidon Mwisa Shimirai, and the Nyatura Abazungu’s Alliance of Congolese nationalists for the protection of human rights (Alliance des nationalistes congolais pour la défense des droits humains, ANCDH/AFDP) of Jean-Marie Bonane.
Members of the teams and witnesses circulated footage of the assembly, which a number of Congolese military officers attended, led by Col. Salomon Tokolonga, who oversees operations and navy intelligence on the 3411th regiment. Two FDLR senior commanders have been additionally reportedly current.
All of those armed teams are recognized human rights abusers of their strongholds. Human Rights Watch has beforehand documented widespread abuses by forces beneath the command of NDC-R chief Guidon, who stays beneath UN sanctions. Congolese authorities issued an arrest warrant towards him in 2019 for recruiting youngsters, revolt, and the crime towards humanity of rape.
The coalition of armed teams is often known as the forces amies or pleasant forces. Colonel Tokolonga informed Human Rights Watch by telephone that he attended the Pinga assembly “by coincidence” as a result of he was “visiting troops deployed within the space.” On the time, Tokolonga was beneath the command of Gen. Peter Cirimwami, himself in command of Sokola II navy operations in North Kivu between early April and early July. Cirimwami was then reassigned to Ituri province “following persistent allegations of the [Congolese army] utilizing native armed teams as proxies in Rutshuru territory,” UN investigators reported.
Human Rights Watch obtained credible info that Congolese military members from Tokolonga’s 3411th regiment supplied greater than a dozen packing containers of ammunition to FDLR fighters in Kazaroho, one in every of their strongholds within the Virunga Nationwide Park, on July 21. Two months earlier, dozens of FDLR and CMC/FDP fighters reportedly took half in a big counteroffensive with authorities troopers within the space round Rumangabo and Rugari.
One FDLR fighter informed Human Rights Watch that he witnessed 4 transfers of ammunition. “It’s the federal government [troops] that might at all times present us with ammunition,” he mentioned. “In addition they gave us uniforms and boots.”
Two fighters from the Mai-Mai Kabidon (FPP-AP) militia additionally mentioned that the Congolese military provided them with ammunition. “The military contacted us,” a 42-year-old commander mentioned. “They supplied us with ammunition in Kiwanja and we went straight to the entrance line. … as soon as there, collaboration occurs because of communication gadgets as every group deploys to a place.”
In an unpublished July report submitted to the UN Safety Council that leaked to the media, the UN Group of Consultants on Congo discovered that on Could 30, an APCLS senior commander “met with a commander of the 34016th regiment in Kitchanga, and obtained arms and ammunition in addition to meals stuff.” The investigators said that “members of the coalition of armed teams obtained weapons and ammunition from some [Congolese army] members on a number of events.”
A number of witnesses and fighters informed Human Rights Watch that after close to or on the entrance line, these armed teams would wish to search out their very own meals and provides. Some illegally taxed civilians because of this. “We attempt to keep away from contact with them [the armed groups], however they’ve requested a contribution from each family for his or her survival,” a person from Kabaya mentioned. “It may be beans or perhaps a cow for herders.”
Human Rights Watch additionally documented a number of different circumstances of abuses towards civilians, together with at the very least three killings by FDLR fighters in Could and July and two circumstances of rape by Congolese troopers in July.
On July 7, FDLR fighters executed Kaseba Nyangezi, 25, who was born in an ethnically combined Hutu-Tutsi household. He and his household fled Bunagana following the takeover by M23 rebels and sought refuge in Kabaya. A member of the family mentioned that fighters from each FDLR and Nyatura armed teams accused Nyangezi of collaborating with the M23 and harassed him. Feeling threatened, he fled to Goma, the place fighters finally picked him up. “They took him away and despatched him to the FDLR in Rugari,” the member of the family mentioned. “[FDLR fighters] killed him and we have now but to search out his physique.”
The FDLR is a largely Rwandan Hutu armed group, a few of whose leaders took half within the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. FDLR fighters have killed a whole bunch of civilians through the years in jap Congo, at instances hacked them to demise with machetes or hoes, or burned them of their properties. The fighters have dedicated numerous rapes and different acts of sexual violence. Congolese armed teams that shaped the coalition in Might also have a protracted historical past of assaults towards civilians, together with abstract killings, recruitment of kids, extortion, and sexual violence.
President Felix Tshisekedi, spoke towards any alliance between navy commanders and armed teams earlier than an viewers of senior military officers in Kinshasa on Could 12. “I can’t settle for that people act unethically to make schemes with detrimental forces to combat different detrimental forces,” he mentioned. “One doesn’t put out a fireplace by throwing oil on it.”
Human Rights Watch has obtained credible info that Common Cirimwami, who headed navy operations in North Kivu till July, has been recalled to Kinshasa since September 21 however couldn’t verify whether or not he was being investigated. A day earlier, Lt. Gen.Philemon Yav, in command of jap provinces, was arrested for causes not made public and stays in detention in Kinshasa. In 2008, UN investigators discovered that Yav actively collaborated with and funnelled weapons to armed teams, together with the FDLR. Tokolonga has remained in North Kivu and has not been investigated.
Tshisekedi’s administration ought to perform a safety sector overhaul, together with adopting a plan to handle impunity for grave human rights violations, with a vetting mechanism for the navy and different safety providers, an internationalized justice entity, and a complete reparations program for victims of abuses, Human Rights Watch mentioned. Such systemic reform in addition to an efficient demobilization program aimed toward militia and armed group fighters must be central in ongoing regional discussions concerning the safety menace posed by the M23 and different armed teams.
“Congolese officers who collaborate with abusive armed teams undermine the armed forces’ obligation to guard all Congolese,” Fessy mentioned. “With regional initiatives underway, Tshisekedi and regional leaders have a possibility to handle impunity and break these cycles of abuse.”
