Rape and plunder of DRC: How EAC states betrayed a wounded neighbour

Soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The war sucked in Congo's EAC neighbours. File photo.

By Jeff Otieno (email the author)

The Hotspots

North Kivu and South Kivu (Gross human rights violations on civilians, mainly killings and rape in all the four stages of war)
Forces involved: Zairean armed forces, rebels faithful to Laurent Kabila, anti Rwanda and Uganda rebels and Allied forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire comprising Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda soldiers.

Katanga also a hotspot in all the four stages (rape, killings, maiming and wanton destruction of property)
Forces involved: Zairean armed forces, anti Rwanda and Uganda rebels and Allied Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire

Kinshasa hotspot in first, third and fourth stages (killings and rape)
Forces involved: Congolese armed forces, Allied Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire,

Orientale Province, Equateur, Maniema and Bas-Congo Hotspot (Gross human rights violations mainly killing, rape and maiming)
Forces involved: Congolese armed forces, Allied Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire and Soldiers from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia.

The Congo war that sucked three East African Community member states had four conflict stages, all playing a major role in the catalogue of gross human rights violations.
The stages are summarised below:

First Stage; March 1993–June 1996: Failure by the Mobutu regime to initiate the democratisation processes in Congo and the larger regional crisis.

The first period covers human rights violations committed in the final years of the regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko, as a result of its authoritarian rule and dismal performance in the democratisation process.

During this period, the unstable Central African state also experienced devastating consequences of the Rwandan genocide, particularly in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.

Second Stage: July 1996–July 1998: First Congo War and the Allied Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL) regime.

The second period concerns gross human rights violations committed during the First Congo War and the first year of the regime established by President Laurent-Désiré Kabila.

This period had the greatest number of incidents in the whole of the decade under investigation, with 238 listed incidents.

The report says the information available confirmed the significant role of other countries in the First Congo War and their direct implication in the war, which led to the overthrow of the Mobutu regime.

At the start of the second stage period, serious violations were committed against Tutsi and Banyamulenge civilians, 19 principally in South Kivu.

This period was then characterised by the relentless pursuit and mass killing (104 reported incidents) of Hutu refugees, members of the former Armed Forces of Rwanda (later “ex-FAR”) and militias implicated in the genocide of 1994 (Interahamwe) by the Alliance des forces démocratiques pour la libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL) or Allied Forces for the liberation of Congo-Zaire.

The report adds that a proportion of the AFDL’s troops, arms and logistics were supplied by the Armée Patriotique Rwandaise or Rwanda Patriotic Army (APR), the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) and the Forces armées Burundaises or Burundian Armed Forces (FAB) throughout the Congolese territory.

This period was also marked by serious attacks on other civilian populations in all provinces without exception.

Third stage. August 1998–January 2000: Second Congo War
The third period involves a catalogue of violations committed between the start of the Second Congo War in August 1998, and the death of President Kabila.

This period included 200 incidents and was characterised by the intervention on the territory of the DRC of the government armed forces of several countries, fighting alongside the Forces armées Congolaises or Congolese Armed Forces (FAC) or against them.

There was also involvement of multiple militia groups and the creation of a coalition under the banner of a new political and military movement, The Gathering of Congolese for Democracy (RCD), which later split into smaller groups.

Fourth Stage: January 2001–June 2003: Towards transition

This final period lists 139 incidents committed, in spite of the gradual establishment of a ceasefire and the speeding up of peace negotiations in preparation for the start of the transition period on June 30, 2003.
During this period, fighting that had shaken the province of Ituri, in particular the ethnic conflicts between the Lendu and the Hema, reached an unprecedented peak.

The period was marked by clashes between the Congolese Armed Forces (FAC) and the Mayi-Mayi forces in Katanga province.