Goma city

On 29 October 1996, having captured the Rumangabo military base between Goma and Rutshuru, near the Rwandan border, AFDL/APR troops launched an attack on the city of Goma. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• Between 29 October and 1 November 1996, the struggle for the control of Goma caused the deaths of an unknown number of civilians. During the fighting, FAZ soldiers committed many acts of looting.³¹⁷

• After the capture of Goma, on 1 November 1996, AFDL/APR troops killed or forced the disappearance of an unknown number of civilians, including many influential members of the Hutu Banyarwanda community. They also killed several FAZ units that were out of combat, including soldiers undergoing treatment at Goma General Hospital.³¹⁸ In the week of 2 November to 9 November, Équipe d’urgence de la biodiversité (EUB)³¹⁹ removed 776 bodies from the streets of the town. Some of the victims had been killed by stray bullets but others had been deliberately executed. The AFDL/APR troops also proceeded to systematically pillage the town, even attacking the stores and offices of aid agencies such as the ICRC and those of UN organisations like WFP and UNHCR.³²⁰

In spite of the capture of Goma by AFDL/APR forces, the ex-FAR/Interahamwe from the Mugunga camp remained active in the area around the city. On 3 November 1996, they looted vehicles and property from the Grand Séminaire in Buhimba, on the outskirts of Goma.

• On 6 November 1996, ex-FAR/Interahamwe units and Zairian gunmen allegedly killed three Tutsi members of religious orders at the Grand Séminaire in Buhimba, not far from the Mugunga refugee camp. The victims – two abbots and a nun – failed to escape from the Grand Séminaire when the building came under attack on 3 November. After hiding out for three days, they were stopped and killed when they went in search of food and water. A fourth person, of Tutsi ethnic origin, was saved.³²¹