Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > B. Attacks against Hutu refugees > 2. North Kivu > Walikale territory

The Rwandan refugees arrived in Walikale territory in November 1996 via three different routes. One group, which came from Bukavu, reached Walikale territory via Bunyakiri. A second group, also from Bukavu, travelled through the Kahuzi-Biega forest via Nyabibwe. A final group, which had fled the camps of North Kivu, reached Walikale territory via southern Masisi territory and the towns of Busurungi and Biriko. Pursued by the AFDL/APR (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo / Rwandan Patriotic Army) soldiers, the slowest refugees, who were often left behind by the armed men, were indiscriminately attacked and killed.

The AFDL/APR soldiers from Bukavu arrived at Hombo, a village located on the border between North Kivu and South Kivu, around 7 December 1996. They then split into several groups. Some of the troops continued to head towards Walikale town, while others stayed in the area to hunt down the refugees. A third group left to pursue fleeing refugees in the Walowa-Luanda groupement, in the south-east of Walikale territory.

When they arrived in Walikale territory, the AFDL/APR soldiers held public meetings for the attention of the Zairian people. In these meetings, they accused the Hutu refugees of being collectively responsible for the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. They also claimed that the refugees were planning to commit genocide against Zairian civilians in the region. In their speeches, they frequently likened the refugees to “pigs” running rampage through the fields of the villagers. They also often called on the Zairians to help them flush them out and kill them. According to several sources, the term “pigs” was the code name used by the AFDL/APR troops to refer to the Rwandan Hutu refugees. When the AFDL/APR soldiers blocked the Zairians from accessing some execution sites, they told them that they were “killing the pigs”.²⁵³

In this region, massacres were staged on the basis of an almost identical plan, designed to kill as many victims as possible. Every time they spotted a large group of refugees, the AFDL/APR soldiers fired indiscriminately at them with heavy and light weapons. They would then promise to help the survivors return to Rwanda. After herding them up under a variety of pretexts, they most often killed them with hammers or hoes. Those who tried to escape were shot dead. A number of witnesses have claimed that in 1999, APR/ANC²⁵⁴ soldiers went specifically to the sites of several massacres to dig up the bodies and burn them.²⁵⁵ In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• From 9 December 1996, AFDL/APR soldiers shot dead several hundred refugees, including a large number of women and children at the Hombo bridge. Over the course of the following days, they burned alive an unknown number of refugees along the road in the town of Kampala, a few kilometres from Hombo. Many women were raped by the soldiers before they were killed. Before killing them, the soldiers had asked the victims to assemble so they could be repatriated to Rwanda.²⁵⁶

• Around 9 December, AFDL/APR soldiers intercepted and executed several hundred Rwandan refugees in the vicinity of the village of Chambucha, four kilometres from Hombo. The victims, who included a large number of women and children, were shot dead or killed by blows of hammers and hoes to the head near a bridge over the Lowa River. Before killing them, the AFDL/APR soldiers had promised the refugees that they would repatriate them to Rwanda with the aid of UNHCR. Most of the bodies were then dumped in the Lowa River.²⁵⁷
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When the AFDL/APR soldiers took control of the tarmac road between Hombo and Walikale, the Rwandan refugees who had not yet reached the main road between Bukavu and Walikale had to turn back towards Masisi. The majority set up home temporarily in the village of Biriko in the Walowa-Luanda groupement.

• Around 17 December 1996, AFDL/APR soldiers from Ziralo (South Kivu), Bunyakiri (South Kivu) and Ngungu (North Kivu) surrounded the makeshift camps at Biriko and allegedly killed hundreds of refugees, including women and children. The soldiers shot the victims dead or killed them with hoes. The people of Biriko buried the bodies in the village. Many bodies were also dumped in the Nyawaranga River.²⁵⁸

In the days that followed, the AFDL/APR soldiers continued their hunt, attacking refugees in the villages of Kilambo, Busurungi (Bikoyi Koyi hill), Nyamimba and Kifuruka in the Walowa-Luanda groupement in the Walikale territory.

• In December 1996, AFDL/APR soldiers allegedly killed several hundred refugees around the town of Kifuruka, ten kilometres from Biriko. The soldiers had rounded up the victims in the village of Kifuruka and then led them to the road, leaving them to believe that they were going to help them return to Rwanda. Once they had left the village, however, the soldiers shot them dead or killed them with machetes.²⁵⁹

While some units of the AFDL/APR were committing these massacres in the Walowa-Luanda groupement, others continued to head towards the administrative centre of the territory, Walikale.

• During the third week of December 1996, AFDL/APR troops allegedly killed hundreds of Rwandan refugees in the Musenge locality, between Hombo and Walikale. The AFDL/APR soldiers had set up several checkpoints along the roads to intercept the refugees. They promised to help the victims return to Rwanda through UNHCR, then led them into houses in Musenge. After a while, the victims were taken from the houses and killed with blows of iron bars in the hills of Ikoyi and Musenge (next to the dispensary).²⁶⁰

An execution system was rolled out around Itebero where, from December 1996, special AFDL/APR units set about systematically hunting down refugees.

• In December 1996, AFDL/APR soldiers allegedly killed several hundred refugees in the Mutiko locality. After being intercepted at checkpoints set up by the soldiers, the victims were transported to the village of Mukito. The soldiers gave them food and asked them to prepare to board UNHCR trucks that were supposedly waiting for them at the edge of the village. The victims were then led out of Mukito on to the road and killed with blows of sticks, hammers and axes to their heads. The soldiers encouraged the indigenous population to participate in the killings. They then forced them to bury the bodies.²⁶¹

Around 16 December 1996, the AFDL/APR soldiers arrived in Walikale-Centre.

• Between late 1996 and early 1997, AFDL/APR units allegedly killed an unknown number of refugees in Walikale-Centre. Most of the victims were killed in the Nyarusukula district. The district had been transformed into a military zone after the AFDL/APR troops had moved into the town, and civilians were banned from entering. Most of the victims’ bodies were dumped in the Lowa River and its tributaries.²⁶²

Another group of Rwandan refugees from Masisi reached Walikale territory in December 1996 via a forest track linking the villages of Ntoto and Ngora, around fifteen kilometres north of Walikale-Centre. After Walikale was captured by AFDL/APR forces, these refugees and some ex-FAR/Interahamwe tried to hide in the village of Kariki, sheltering in an abandoned fish farm on the winding track between the Ntoto and Ngora villages.

• In early 1997, AFDL/APR soldiers allegedly killed an unknown number of refugees at the makeshift Kariki camp, 13 kilometres from Walikale. The soldiers came from Ngora, where they had forced civilians to follow them and carry their kit and their ammunitions boxes. When they arrived in Kariki, they launched a surprise attack on the ex-FAR/Interahamwe units at the foot of the hill and disarmed them. After having killed the ex-FAR/Interahamwe, they attacked the camp on the other side of the valley. Most of the bodies were not buried and the Mapping Team was able to confirm that remains were still visible as at the date of this report.²⁶³