Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > C. Attacks against other civilian populations > 3. Orientale

In December 1996, President Mobutu sent his elite troops and large stockpiles of weapons into the provinces of Orientale and Maniema. Mercenaries and the ex-FAR were integrated into the Zairian military system. The counter-offensive promised by the Kinshasa government in the Kivu provinces never materialised, however, owing to the state of decline of Mobutu’s regime, the prevailing disorder within the FAZ and the careful planning by the AFDL/APR/UPDF soldiers of their attacks on Kindu and Kisangani.

After their lightning conquest of the Kivu provinces and Ituri, AFDL/APR/UPDF leaders made contact with Mobutu’s generals and various Mayi-Mayi groups and led an intensive campaign of demoralisation against the FAZ. The AFDL President, Laurent-Désiré Kabila,⁴⁰⁰ who initially had only very few troops, drafted in many CAAFAG⁴⁰¹ or Kadogo recruited during his conquests, then received strategic reinforcement from the “Katangese Tigers”. These long-time opponents of Mobutu’s regime, who had served for decades in the Angolan government army, arrived in Orientale province in February 1997 and provided the AFDL/APR/UPDF soldiers besieging Kisangani with the heavy artillery capacity they lacked.

• From November 1996, the AFDL/UPDF soldiers allegedly recruited thousands of young people, including many minors, across the Ituri district.⁴⁰²

As they retreated, FAZ soldiers committed acts of murder and rape against civilians. They also looted and destroyed much of their property. They often forced civilians to carry the goods they had looted over long distances.⁴⁰³ The looting was of such an intense and systematic nature that the Kinshasa government declared Orientale province (formerly Haut-Zaïre) a disaster area on 10 January 1997. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• Between December 1996 and March 1997, retreating FAZ elements carried out widespread looting of places of worship and buildings used for education and aid efforts across Orientale province. The looting began in Ituri after their defeat in December 1996 at the hands of the AFDL/UPDF troops. The pillaging then continued as they retreated across the territories of Buta and Aketi in the district of Bas-Uélé, and Opala in the Tshopo district. In the same period, the FAZ looted the facilities of the companies Plantation Lever au Congo (PLC) and Plantations et Huileries au Congo (PHC) at Lokutu, Hasson et Frère and Regideso (state-owned water distribution company) at Opala, the Compagnie de développement du Nord (CONEDORD) at Aketi, Dingila, Malingweya and Maleganda and those of the Congolese institute for agronomic studies and research (INERA) at Yangambi.⁴⁰⁴

• Between December 1996 and March 1997, retreating FAZ units killed and tortured an unknown number of civilians during their acts of pillage. Most of the victims were killed because they refused to allow the soldiers to loot their property. FAZ members also raped an unknown number of women and girls. In December 1996, in the Yayango, Yomaie and Yalingo chiefdoms in the Opala territory and in the territories of Buta and Bondo, they raped an unknown number of women and a man whom they had kidnapped to carry the looted goods. The FAZ also committed many acts of gang rape against women in Ituri, in particular at Komanda.⁴⁰⁵

• Following the capture of Kisangani, on 15 March 1997, retreating FAZ soldiers set fire to the village of Yaolalia, in the Opala territory.⁴⁰⁶

After the AFDL captured Bunia, in December 1996, military leaders in Kinshasa sent an elite Civil Guard unit comprising Katangese ex-Tigers siding with Mobutu into Orientale province to support the FAZ.

• In the night of 24 January to 25 January 1997, a FAZ commando unit comprising many Katangese ex-Tigers from the Civil Guard allegedly killed several dozen civilians in the village of Bafwanduo in the Bafwasende territory. The victims were shot dead, killed with bayonets or burned alive after the soldiers threw grenades at their huts. According to several sources, soldiers also carried out acts of cannibalism on their victims. Before they fled when Mayi-Mayi from the Nia Nia locality launched a counter-attack, the soldiers set fire to the village. According to the sources, the total number of dead is thought to be between fifty and over three hundred. The bodies of the victims were buried in the village by the Mayi-Mayi.⁴⁰⁷

As they withdrew in the face of the advancing AFDL/APR/UPDF, the ex-FAR/Interahamwe also attacked civilians. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• On 6 March 1997, in Bamoneka village, eighty-seven kilometres from Kisangani in the Ubundu territory, ex-FAR/Interahamwe executed four unarmed villagers whom they had accused of being part of the FAZ group who had betrayed them in the AFDL/APR attack on the Tingi-Tingi camp.⁴⁰⁸

• In the first three months of 1997, AFDL/APR units summarily executed an unknown number of CAAFAG (child soldiers known as Kadogo in Swahili) and Mayi-Mayi serving in the ranks of the AFDL. In early 1997, having captured the town of Dungu, in the Haut-Uélé territory, AFDL/APR units killed an unknown number of Kadogo accused of carrying out acts of violence against civilians, committing rape or lacking discipline. In February, they killed around twenty Kadogo with cold weapons in the town of Wamba in the Haut-Uélé district. On 18 February, in the town of Isiro in the Rungu territory, they bombarded a camp housing Kadogo and Mayi-Mayi with cold weapons, killing at least ten of them. In the days that followed, AFDL/APR soldiers went to the hospital where survivors of the attack were being treated and kidnapped them. The victims were never seen again.⁴⁰⁹

After the capture of Kindu, on 27 February 1997, AFDL/APR/UPDF troops stepped up the military pressure on Kisangani and the surrounding area. The FAZ and foreign mercenaries in Kisangani stepped up their acts of violence against the population, known for its hostile attitude towards the Mobutu regime. According to some sources, they executed over 120 civilians at this time.⁴¹⁰ In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• On 9 March 1997, nine kilometres from Kisangani, near the Tshopo bridge, foreign mercenaries killed 15 civilians in the village of Benwengema in the Banalia territory. The victims were part of a group of 16 civilians arrested a short while earlier that day near the Tshopo bridge and accused of being Mayi-Mayi in league with the AFDL. The 16 civilians were locked in a house and the commanding officer of the mercenaries gave orders to fire at the house with rocket launchers. After the massacre, the inhabitants of Bayanguna village went to the scene to bury the bodies and collect the only survivor. On 10 March, FAZ units and foreign mercenaries led a punitive campaign against the village of Bayanguna, killing at least four civilians. Some were stabbed; others were shot dead.⁴¹¹

• Between 1 March and 14 March 1997, FAZ units and foreign mercenaries arbitrarily arrested over one hundred civilians and summarily executed an unknown number of them. Most of the people arrested were tortured in cells located near Bangoka Airport, twenty kilometres east of Kisangani. Some were executed on the airport runway. Before leaving the town, on 14 March 1997, the mercenaries kidnapped 11 detainees, who were never seen again. In all, between 13 March and 14 March, the mercenaries killed or forced the disappearance of at least 28 people at Kisangani Airport and along the road linking Kisangani and the Ituri district.⁴¹²

Deserted by the FAZ, Kisangani fell into the hands of the AFDL/APR/UPDF soldiers on 15 March 1997. Over the course of the months that followed, AFDL leaders tried to form a new army incorporating Kadogo and young Mayi-Mayi militiamen recruited during their conquests. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• After the capture of Kisangani, on 15 March 1997, the AFDL/APR/UPDF soldiers billetted almost one thousand CAAFAG (Kadogo) and Mayi-Mayi in the Kapalata training camp, seven kilometres north of Kisangani, in conditions likely to cause considerable loss of human life. In 1997, between ten and twenty Kadogo and Mayi-Mayi died each day. In all, around 400 Kadogo and Mayi-Mayi died at the Kapalata camp or at Kisangani General Hospital. Between January and February 1998, under pressure from the international community and with the support of UNICEF, the FAC transferred several hundred children in the camp to the “Mama Mobutu” orphanage in the Mangobo district. One night in June 1998, FAC/APR soldiers kidnapped between 200 and 300 Kadogo, who were never seen again.⁴¹³
• After Laurent-Désiré Kabila came to power in Kinshasa, the AFDL/APR/UPDF soldiers, and then the FAC/APR,⁴¹⁴ led several operations to secure Orientale Province, which gave rise to serious violations against civilians. In several towns, cases of torture, summary execution and rape were reported, particularly in Kisangani, in the territories of Isangi and Opala in the Tshopo district and in the district of Bas-Uélé.⁴¹⁵
• On 22 December 1997, FAC/APR soldiers from Buta killed two civilians and tortured seventeen in the village of Bondo in the district of Bas-Uélé. The victims were accused of instigating a revolt against the local security services controlled by Mayi-Mayi bandits who were oppressing the people. Having been detained at Buta, and then Kisangani, the survivors were finally released on 16 January 1998.⁴¹⁶