Attacks against Hutu refugees – Uvira territory (South Kivu)

Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > B. Attacks against Hutu refugees > 1. South Kivu > Uvira territory

In 1996, UNHCR estimated the number of refugees in the territory of Uvira at 219,466; two thirds of them were of Burundian nationality.¹⁸⁰ These refugees were spread over the eleven camps located along the Ruzizi River: Runingu, Rwenena, Lubarika, Kanganiro, Luvungi, Luberizi (between Mutarule and Luberizi), Biriba, Kibogoye, Kajembo, Kagunga and Kahanda. Although in some camps civilian refugees lived alongside ex-FAR/Interahamwe units (in Kanganiro camp, for example) or members of CNDD-FDD (Kibogoye camp), the vast majority of refugees were unarmed civilians.

In the night of 13 to 14 October 1996, Banyamulenge/Tutsi armed units attacked the Runingu camp with heavy weapons, allegedly killing four refugees and injuring seven others.¹⁸¹

After the AFDL was officially formed on 18 October 1996, Alliance troops, supported by soldiers from the APR and FAB (Forces armées burundaises) attacked the village of Bwegera. On 20 October, having taken control of the village, the soldiers were divided into two columns, the first leaving northwards towards Luvungi and the second southwards towards Luberizi. As they advanced, AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers reportedly carried out widespread and systematic attacks on the eleven Rwandan and Burundian refugee camps set up in the territory. Many witnesses have confirmed that these attacks took place within a few days of the majority of the ex-FAR/Interahamwe and CNDD-FDD units leaving the area. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

On 20 October 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units attacked the Itara I and II refugee camps near Luvungi village, killing at least 100 Burundian and Rwandan refugees. In the neighbouring village of Katala, they captured and killed refugees at point-blank range who were trying to flee. The soldiers then forced local people to bury the bodies in mass graves.¹⁸²

On 20 October 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units attacked the Kanganiro camp at Luvungi with heavy weapons, killing an unknown number of refugees, including around twenty in the camp’s hospital. On the same day, they also killed an unknown number of refugees who had been hiding in the homes of Zairian civilians at Luvingi. The solders then forced local people to bury the bodies in mass graves.¹⁸³
On 20 October 1996, when they entered the village of Rubenga, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed an unknown number of refugees and Zairian civilians who were fleeing in the direction of Burundi. The victims’ bodies were then dumped in the Ruzizi River.¹⁸⁴
On 21 October 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB attacked Lubarika camp and village, killing an unknown number of Rwandan and Burundian refugees, as well as Zairian civilians who were trying to flee the village after the departure of the FAZ. The soldiers forced local people to bury the bodies in four large mass graves. On the same day, soldiers also burned thirty refugees alive in a house in the village of Kakumbukumbu, five kilometres from Lubarika camp.¹⁸⁵
On 21 October 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units attacked the Luberizi refugee camp between Luberizi and Mutarule with heavy weapons, killing around 370 refugees. The soldiers threw the bodies of the victims into the latrines. They also killed several dozen people (refugees and Zairians) at the villages of Luberizi and Mutarule. After the killings, the bodies of over 60 victims were found in houses in the two villages.¹⁸⁶
On 24 October 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB troops attacked the Kagunga camp, where they killed an unknown number of refugees. One direct witness to the attack confirmed having seen eight bodies. Soldiers also killed an unknown number of refugees trying to escape in the company of Zairians at the village of Hongero, one kilometre from Kagunga.¹⁸⁷

After the capture of the town of Uvira in the night of 24 and 25 October 1996 and the routing of the FAZ over practically all of Uvira territory, the Burundian and Rwandan refugees fled in several directions. Some left for the territory of Fizi, then travelled on to North Katanga, Tanzania or Zambia. Others tried to escape towards the north, passing through the territories of Kabare and Walungu. Many Burundian refugees fled in the direction of Burundi. Unable to cross the Ruzizi River, they were often apprehended at the Kiliba sugar mill and the villages of Ndunda, Ngendo and Mwaba. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

On 25 October 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units killed an unknown number of refugees who were hiding in disused dwellings in sectors 3 and 4 of the Kiliba sugar mill.¹⁸⁸

Between 1 and 2 November 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units carried out the indiscriminate killing of around 250 civilians, including over 200 refugees and around thirty Zairians, in the village of Ndunda, near the Burundian border. The refugees were hiding in the village of Ndunda in the hope of securing the protection of CNDD-FDD militiamen, who had a base nearby. During the attack, a number of refugees drowned in the Ruzizi River as they tried to escape. The soldiers also killed Zairians from the village, accusing them of backing the CNDD-FDD.¹⁸⁹

On 24 November 1996, in the village of Mwaba, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB burned 24 Burundian Hutu refugees from the Biriba camp alive. On their arrival in Mwaba, the soldiers arrested those present in the village. After questioning them, they freed the Zairian civilians and imprisoned the Burundian refugees in a house which they then set on fire.¹⁹⁰

AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers set up a number of checkpoints on the Ruzizi Plain around the villages of Bwegera, Sange, Luberizi and Kiliba, at the entrance to Uvira town (Kalundu Port), at Makobola II (Fizi territory) and at the Rushima ravine (Uvira territory). At these checkpoints, soldiers reportedly sorted the people they intercepted according to their nationality, under the pretext of preparing for their return to their country of origin. Individuals identified as Rwandan or Burundian Hutus on the basis of their accent, their morphology or their dress were systematically separated from the other intercepted people and killed in the surrounding area. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

On 22 October 1996, in the Rushima ravine between Bwegera and Luberizi, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed a group of nearly 550 Rwandan Hutu refugees who had escaped the Luberizi and Rwenena camps a few days before. Soldiers intercepted the victims at the checkpoints set up in the surrounding area. Between 27 October and 1 November 1996, under the pretext of repatriating them to Rwanda, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB led an unknown number of additional refugees into the Rushima ravine and executed them.¹⁹¹

In the days and weeks that followed 25 October 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed an unknown number of refugees at a place called Kahororo, in sector 7 of the Kiliba sugar mill. The victims had been apprehended in the surrounding villages.¹⁹²

On 29 October 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed around 220 male refugees near the church of the 8^th CEPZA (Pentecostal Community of Zaire), now CEPAC (Community of Pentecostal Churches in Central Africa), in the village of Luberizi. The victims were part of a group of refugees who were told by soldiers that they had to be rounded up for their repatriation to Rwanda. The soldiers separated the men from the rest of the group and shot them or killed them with bayonets. The bodies of the victims were buried in mass graves near the church.¹⁹³

On 3 November 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB burned 72 Rwandan refugees alive at the COTONCO headquarters, one kilometre from the village of Bwegera. The victims had been captured in neighbouring villages. The AFDL/APR/FAB units had gathered the victims in the COTONCO house under the pretext that they would then be repatriated to Rwanda.¹⁹⁴

On 13 November 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units killed around 100 Burundian refugees in the village of Ngendo, seven kilometres from Sange in the Uvira territory.¹⁹⁵
On 8 December 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers killed 13 male refugees in the village of Rukogero, nine kilometres from Sange in the Uvira territory. The victims belonged to a group of between 200 and 300 refugees that had fled the Kibogoye camp. After their arrest, the refugees were imprisoned in the church of the 8^th CEPZA. The soldiers allowed the women and girls to leave but killed the men and boys. The bodies of the victims were thrown in the latrines beside the church.¹⁹⁶
On 12 December 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units killed fifteen civilians in the village of Ruzia, including refugees who had fled the Luberizi/Mutarule camp and Zairian civilians. The victims were captured during a military combing exercise to flush out refugees hiding among the Zairian population. Some of the victims were burned alive in a house; others were shot. The victims’ bodies were then buried in three mass graves.¹⁹⁷
On 22 December 1996 at Ruzia, on the banks of the Ruzizi River, AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers killed at least 150 people, most of them refugees who had survived the attack on the Runingu camp. The victims were hiding in the forest when they were spotted by the soldiers. Their bodies were burned by the soldiers two days after the incident. Another source suggested a figure of 600 victims.¹⁹⁸

footnotes

¹⁸⁰ Office of the Regional Special Envoy of UNHCR, Kigali, Rwanda, Zaire: UNHCR population statistics as of 26 September 1996.

¹⁸¹ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, October 2008 and April 2009; Report on the situation of human rights in Zaire (E/CN.4/1997/6), para. 198; Confidential document submitted in 1997/1998 to the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team; Voice of America, “Rwanda Denies Attack in Zaire”, 14 October 1997; IRIN, “Weekly Roundup of Main Events in the Great Lakes region”, 14–21 October 1996; CNN, “Zaire Refugee Camps Site of New Ethnic Killing”, 14 October 1997; New York Times, “Refugees Flee Camp In Zaire After Killings”, 14 October 1997; The Independent, “Hutus flee gun raiders”, 14 October 1997.

¹⁸² Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, February and April/May 2009; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”; Lutheran Church, Rapport d’enquête sur les violations des droits de l’homme à l’est du Congo, May 1997, p.9.
183 Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, February and April/May 2009; witness accounts gathered by the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team in 1997/1998.
184 Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, March–April 2009.

¹⁸⁵ Interview with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, February 2009; witness accounts gathered by the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team in 1997/1998; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.2.

¹⁸⁶ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April 2009; Report on the situation of human rights in Zaire (E/CN.4/1997/6), para. 198; Confidential documents submitted to the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team in 1997/1998; CADDHOM (Collectif d’actions pour le développement des droits de l’homme), “Enquête sur les massacres des réfugiés 1998”, p.3.

¹⁸⁷ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April 2009; Report of the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team (S/1998/581); AI, “Loin des regards de la communauté internationale: violations des droits de l’homme dans l’est du Zaïre”, 1996, pp.4–5; Peacelink, “Les violations des droits de l’homme par l’AFDL”, p.3.

¹⁸⁸ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, May 2009.

¹⁸⁹ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April/May 2009; Report of the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team (S/1998/581); CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.2.

¹⁹⁰ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, October 2008 and April 2009. CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.2.

¹⁹¹ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April 2009; Report of the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team (S/1998/581); Lutheran Church, Rapport d’enquête sur les violations des droits de l’homme à l’est du Congo, May 1997, p.8.

¹⁹² Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April/May 2009.

¹⁹³ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April/May 2009; witness account gathered by the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team in 1997/1998.
194 Interview with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, March-April 2009; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.2; Association contre la malnutrition et pour l’encadrement de la jeunesse (ACMEJ), Report 2009, p.5.

¹⁹⁵ Witness accounts gathered by the Secretary-General’s Investigative Team in 1997/1998.

¹⁹⁶ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, April 2009; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.3.

¹⁹⁷ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, October 2008 and April 2009; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.3.

¹⁹⁸ Interviews with the Mapping Team, South Kivu, October 2008 and April 2009; CARITAS, “Tableau synoptique relevant les cas des massacres et tueries commis par l’AFDL à l’endroit des réfugiés et populations civiles autochtones dans les zones d’Uvira et Fizi du 18 octobre 1996 au 10 avril 1997”, p.2.