For several weeks, POLITICO.CD’s editorial staff has been making full use of the report of the UN group of experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo in relation to the security situation marked by the proliferation of armed groups which sow terror and disarray in the East of the country. The purpose of this special edition is to popularize the content of this report, a copy of which has been transferred to the UN Security Council.
In this issue, POLITICO.CD looks back on the intensification of operations by factions of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) despite the establishment of a state of siege, a special security measure in place since May 2021.
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Indeed, the UN group of experts indicates in this report that the partial suspension of the operations of the factions of the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (CODECO) after the signing of the acts of commitment of unilateral ceasefire in 2020 ended shortly after the establishment of the state of siege in May 2021, thus triggering violent fighting between the FARDC and CODECO factions in several areas.
These experts report that at the same time, CODECO factions engaged in cycles of reprisals against the Zaire armed group and increased attacks on civilians in the territories of Mahagi and Djugu, which triggered military operations. joint FARDC-MONUSCO against the Union of Revolutionaries for the Defense of the Congolese People / Cooperative for the Development of Congo (URDPC / CODECO) from December 2021.
These clashes will not be in impact. On April 5, 2022, a Nepalese peacekeeper was shot and killed during a joint FARDC-MONUSCO cordon and search operation in the village of Bali, in the area controlled by URDPC/CODECO.
They believe that there has been little or no progress in disarmament and demobilization, despite a visit to Bunia, on December 28, 2021, by the coordinator of the disarmament, demobilization, community recovery and stabilization program (P-DDRCS). , Tommy Tambwe, and the appointment, in December 2021, of a “taskforce” led by Thomas Lubanga, who is subject to sanctions. On the contrary, they go further, the leaders of the URDPC/CODECO, referring to the previous processes during which they had submitted their requests, refused to meet the task force until other armed groups, including Zaire , join the process. On February 16, 2022, CODECO factions abducted several taskforce members near Bambu who regained their freedom on April 4 and 12, 2022.
Command, structure and recruitment
At this point, this report by UN experts paraphrases a change of command and factional structure of CODECO. However, this report argues, “under the impetus of URDPC/CODECO, factions of CODECO, or at least some fighters and commanders of these factions, began to regroup from around the end of 2021. “.
According to the explanations of a former combatant of the Defense Force against the Balkanization of Congo (FDBC), he had joined the URDPC/CODECO in March 2022 and that he was campaigning to persuade those who had not. yet to join URDPC/CODECO.
“The same fighter said, as did the URDPC/CODECO leaders, that “General” Kadogo, who succeeded Bon Temple leader Tuwo after his assassination in May 2021 by the FDBC, had joined the URDPC/CODECO and was in charge of operations in the Nyangaray region,” reads the report sent to POLITICO.CD.
Moreover, adds the same document, While some recruits joined voluntarily, partly in reaction to certain crimes allegedly committed by some members of the FARDC against the Lendu population, CODECO factions forcibly recruited Lendu men, forcing some to flee. “URDPC/CODECO, with the help of some local chiefs, organized rotations of Lendu civilians forced to take part in the fighting and to attack Hima villages”, specifies this report.
Crimes against civilians and use of children
This situation resulted in attacks against camps for internally displaced persons by the Union of Revolutionaries for the Defense of the Congolese People/Cooperative for the Development of Congo – URDPC/CODECO
From mid-November 2021 to early February 2022, CODECO factions carried out a series of deadly attacks on camps for internally displaced persons in the chiefdoms of Bahema Nord and Bahema Badjere, amid growing tensions between the factions of CODECO and Zaire from October 2021.
On November 21, 2021, the URDPC/CODECO attacked the Tsuya IDP camp, near the Catholic mission of Drodro, and the Jangi-Ivo IDP camp, near the center of Drodro, on November 28, 2021. These camps housed about 15,000 people in total, almost all members of the Hima community. In Tsuya camp, 32 internally displaced people were killed, including 11 women, 11 children and 11 elderly people. Twenty-four internally displaced people were killed in the Jangi-Ivo camp.
Consequently, the UN experts demonstrate in their report that these attacks immediately caused the massive displacement of the internally displaced persons living in Drodro and the population of the surrounding villages towards the Rhoe camp for displaced persons, which adjoins the military base of MONUSCO. The number of displaced people has thus increased from around 21,000 in October 2021 to around 65,000 at the height of the crisis.
On the evening of February 1, 2022, URDPC/CODECO attacked the Plaine Savo IDP camp in Bule, which housed around 24,000 people, almost all Hima. Sixty-two people were killed, including 17 women and 19 children. “A woman has undergone genital mutilation. At least 38 people were injured, 21 seriously, including 17 children. Many shelters were destroyed by the attackers, who checked to see if people were inside,” the experts insist.
In Drodro and Plaine Savo, URDPC/CODECO combatants killed and injured displaced persons with firearms and machetes.
“Their actions also showed a degree of planning and the application of military tactics. They were particularly identifiable by their specific outfits. In addition, during the November 21 attack on Drodro, they simultaneously attacked neighboring villages,” adds the same source.
Also in Plaine Savo, the report says, “Combatants had torches attached to their weapons and spoke to each other in code to distinguish themselves from the Hima displaced people living in the camp. They shot those who fled or who could not give the agreed code. Six internally displaced people heard the fighters say they had come to execute them. A displaced person heard them say they were looking for weapons”.
According to several sources contacted by UN experts, the attacks in Plaine Savo and Drodro were reprisals against Zairean operations and the looting of fields belonging to Lendu by Hima and/or Zairean combatants, and had been prompted by suspicions that combatants from Zaire were living in the camps for the displaced or had hidden weapons there. URDPC/CODECO leaders said Zaire’s presence in the camps motivated the attacks.
Persistence of conflict-related sexual violence
Acts of conflict-related violence by CODECO combatants, including members of URDPC/CODECO, remained widespread throughout 2021 and 2022, and were largely committed with impunity. Women and young girls of all ethnicities who carried out their daily subsistence activities were raped, sometimes in groups, on several occasions. Rape and gang rape also occurred during attacks and were used as a means of retaliation.
“Thus, in February 2022, in fields in Biba, near Nizi, an URDPC/CODECO or FDBC combatant raped a 12-year-old girl from the Mambisa community, and two other combatants raped a girl from 16 years old. Their leader then interrogated the girls about the Zaire armed group and then used them in negotiations to try to secure the release of a Lendu businessman kidnapped by Zaire,” the report reads.
In May 2021, in Londoni, near Libi, during a raid in which URDPC/CODECO fighters killed a Lendu man because he did not support the armed group, the fighters gang-raped two Lendu women. In January 2022, two URDPC/CODECO fighters raped the wife of a civil society actor from the Walendu-Tatsi sector who did not support URDPC/CODECO.
Persistence of crimes against members of the Lendu community
In addition to reported cases of rape, UN experts said CODECO factions continued to suppress uncooperative Lendu civilians, including local chiefs by killing or ill-treating them, and beating or by detaining those who refused to pay taxes or who could not afford it.
By way of illustration, on January 16, 2022, URDPC/CODECO combatants arrested a civil society actor in the Walendu-Tatsi sector, fired the weapon they had placed on his head and beat him, accusing him of having betrayed a spiritual leader of the URDPC/CODECO whom the FARDC had arrested the same day.
Use of children
furthermore, CODECO factions continued to use children as young as 10 years old, notably as combatants and to man URDPC/CODECO and FDBC checkpoints. Some carried edged weapons and bayonets. In its defence, the URDPC/CODECO command denied having used children.
For the experts, the acts presented in this section and those committed against workers at mining sites, may give rise to sanctions under the provisions of subparagraphs d) and/or e) of paragraph 7 of resolution 2293 (2016) , renewed by resolution 2582.
Carmel NDEO
Ituri: CODECO factions intensified operations despite state of siege (Report) | Politico.cd