Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER III. The Second War > B. Attacks on other civilian populations > 10. Équateur

In November 1998, a new rebellion, the Mouvement pour la libération du Congo (MLC) began with support from Uganda. Led by Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, in the early days the MLC had just one battalion consisting mainly of ex-FAZ soldiers supported by elements of the UPDF. In a few months, however, the MLC army, the Armée de libération du Congo (ALC) added numerous ex-FAZ to its ranks and took control of several urban areas in the north of Équateur province. The town of Bumba fell on 17 November, the town of Lisala on 10 December, the village of Businga, on the crossroads to the towns of Gemena and Gbadolite on 20 December, the town of Gemena on 24 December and the village of Libenge, in the far west of the province, on the border with the Central African Republic, on 4 January 1999. The FAC conducted very intense air bombardments in December 1998 to block the advance of the ALC/UPDF. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 22 December 1998, an FAC Antonov dropped 11 home-made bombs on the village of Businga, killing five civilians. On 24 December, an FAC Antonov plane bombed the village a second time, killing two civilians.⁶⁶⁹

• On 25 December 1998, an FAC plane Antonov bombed the town of Gemena, lightly wounding two civilians. On 28 December, an FAC Antonov plane indiscriminately dropped several home-made bombs on Gemena, killing at least 27 civilians.⁶⁷⁰

At the same time, the FAC, elements of the Armée nationale tchadienne (ANT) and others from the ALiR launched a land-based counter-offensive. During the operation, FAC/ANT/ALiR soldiers committed serious violations directed at civilians whom they considered to be hostile to the regime of President Kabila and accomplices of the ALC. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 28 December 1998, elements of the FAC killed at least four civilians in the forest surrounding the village of Businga. An eye witness reported that one of the victims, an injured woman, was shot and killed by an FAC soldier. The previous day, the FAC/ANT/ALiR had chased the ALC/UPDF from the village, causing the civilians to flee into the forest.⁶⁷¹

• On 9 January 1999, elements of the ANT set fire to 55 houses and 18 civilians were burned alive in Boyasegbakole I in the Gemena area. The massacre took place on the fringes of the confrontations between the ANT and ALC/UPDF for the control of Gemena.⁶⁷²

• Around 10 January 1999, elements of the FAC and units of President Kabila’s Presidential Guard known as the PPU⁶⁷³ killed 25 people, including six women, in the village of Nduma, around 100 kilometres from Zongo. The bodies of the victims were thrown into wells. Around the same date, elements of the FAC/PPU killed 15 inhabitants of the village of Mase, two kilometres from Nduma. Some victims were burned alive, whilst others were shot dead.⁶⁷⁴
• On 29 March 1999, in the Businga region, elements of the FAC/ANT/ALiR looted the IME Loko development centre, the hospital between Businga and Gbadolite and property belonging to the Evangelical Community of Ubangi-Mongola (CEUM).⁶⁷⁵

After the ALC/UPDF troops had withdrawn to Lisala, the FAC/ANT/ALiR soldiers continued their offensive and arrived in Umangi during the night of 23 to 24 February 1999. On 24 February, the FAC attacked the town of Lisala. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 24 February 1999, elements of the FAC/ALiR shot and killed three civilians in the village of Umangi and a fourth in the village of Edjeke, less than 20 kilometres from Lisala.⁶⁷⁶

• Between 24 and 26 February 1999, the FAC/ANT/ALiR and ALC/UPDF shelled the town of Lisala, killing at least 15 civilians.⁶⁷⁷

On 26 February 1999, ALC/UPDF troops regained control of Lisala, forcing the FAC/ANT/ALiR to withdraw to Umangi.

• On 26 February 1999, elements of the FAC/ANT/ALiR killed three civilians as they withdrew to Umangi in the village of Bopuo, seven kilometres from Lisala.⁶⁷⁸

• On 28 February 1999, elements of the FAC/ANT/ALiR killed seven civilians in the village of Ngonzi-Rive, nine kilometres from Lisala. The victims, who had been taken hostage the day before, were executed in front of the school complex building in Ngonzi-Rive. One of the victims was killed for having claimed the bicycle the soldiers had taken from him.⁶⁷⁹

During the following months, violent fighting broke out between elements of the FAC/ANT/ALiR and the ALC/UPDF around Businga and Kateke, two villages in the district of Nord-Oubangui. The fighting resulted in heavy losses on both sides. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 28 May 1999, 12 kilometres from Businga, elements of the ALC/UPDF executed an ALiR member who was no longer able to fight. Numerous witness statements indicate that the ALC soldiers cut off the lips of Chadian prisoners. Cases of prisoners being summarily executed and mutilated were very frequent.⁶⁸⁰

• In May 1999, whilst they were withdrawing from Congolese territory, elements of the ANT pillaged large amounts of civilian property and several tonnes of coffee in the town of Zongo in the district of Sud-Oubangui.⁶⁸¹

Taking advantage of the withdrawal of ANT troops and the arrival of reinforcements from the recruitment and training camps, ALC/UPDF soldiers launched a second major offensive in May 1999. In three months, ALC/UPDF troops regained control of the towns of Kateke (27 April 1999), Businga (14 May 1999) and Gbadolite (3 July 1999). As they retreated, elements of the FAC/ALiR carried out deliberate attacks on civilians, either because they were accused of collaborating with ALC/UPDF soldiers or in order to provide an opportunity to loot their property. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 10 May 1999, elements of the FAC/ALiR killed three minors between Businga and Loko. An unknown number of civilians were also killed in the villages of Bokosa, Bogbudu, Bobusu and Bobale.⁶⁸²

• In June 1999, elements of the FAC/ALiR killed at least eight civilians in Inke, a village 50 kilometres from Gbadolite.⁶⁸³

• Towards the end of July 1999, elements of the FAC killed between 32 and 45 civilians in the village of Bogwaka, south of Gemena. The victims, who belonged to a group of young choir members from the village of Bogon, were heading for Akula to enlist in the ALC. When they arrived in Bogwaka, in the Gemena region, the victims were intercepted by the FAC. Assuming the FAC were ALC soldiers, the victims told them they wanted to enlist in the army of the MLC. The civilians were led to the house of the FAC commander and executed one by one. The bodies were buried in Bogwaka in a mass grave behind the house used by the FAC commander at the time.⁶⁸⁴

In June 1999, the ALC/UPDF troops took control of Bongandanga, a town south of Lisala. Elements of the FAC, belonging to a battalion nicknamed “Robot” because of the uniforms and equipment used by the soldiers, beat a retreat towards Djolu. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• Before leaving Bongandanga, elements of the FAC Robot battalion killed two civilians behind the Bongandanga Institute. The victims had been accused of belonging to the ALC.⁶⁸⁵

• In July 1999, elements of the Robot battalion kidnapped 36 women in the village of Bolima-Likote, halfway between the Bongandanga and Djolu regions, and raped them in the forest.⁶⁸⁶

• In July 1999, elements of the Robot battalion killed six civilians and set fire to the village of Djilingi, the administrative centre of the Likote groupement.⁶⁸⁷.

In spite of the signature of the Lusaka Agreement by all parties to the conflict,⁶⁸⁸ none of them respected the ceasefire in Equateur province. In the hope of blocking the advance of ALC/UPDF troops towards Mbandaka, the FAC restarted their air raids over the region, using hand-made bombs. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 4 August 1999, an FAC Antonov carried out an air raid on Makanza, in the Basankusu territory, killing an unknown number of civilians.⁶⁸⁹

• After the town had been captured by ALC/UPDF troops, on 30 November 1999, the FAC bombed Basankusu on several occasions, killing an unknown number of civilians.

• Around 9 November 1999, having regained control of the village of Mbombe, between Dongo and Imese, elements of the FAC killed 17 people in Mbombe. The victims had been accused of supporting the MLC.⁶⁹⁰

On 23 February 2000, violent fighting broke out between the FAC and ALC/UPDF troops around Bolomba. As they retreated, the FAC turned on the civilian population on at least three occasions. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 24 February 2000, elements of the FAC based in Likwelo shot dead five civilians in the Bolomba region. The victims had come from Likwelo to Bolomba in order to sell fish, but the soldiers accused them of collaborating with the MLC. The Chief of Likwelo was one of the victims.⁶⁹¹

• On 25 February 2000, elements of the FAC shot six civilians in Eliki, 23 kilometres from Bolomba. The executions took place following a summary judgment passed after a travesty of a trial that condemned the victims to death because of their support of the MLC. The victims had been arrested by the FAC on 24 February with nine other civilians from Boso-Nzote and taken by jeep to Eliki. The nine other civilians had managed to escape, having distracted a soldier who was supposed to be guarding them. The six victims were buried in two mass graves in the village of Eliki.⁶⁹²

• On 3 March 2000, elements of the FAC based in Maponga buried two women alive in the village of Bobganga. The victims had been accused of collaborating with the MLC.⁶⁹³

• On 25 February 2000, following their retreat from the village of Lotoko, elements of the FAC/ALiR shot nine civilians from Mompanga and Mange, two villages on the main road between Basankusu and Boende, in the Befale region. The victims had been accused of supporting the MLC. They were executed one-by-one, close to the FAC/ALiR camp in Mange. Some of the victims were shot and others clubbed to death; one of them was asphyxiated. The Chief of Mompanga was one of the victims.⁶⁹⁴

• At the end of February 2000, the same elements of the FAC/ALiR raped around 20 women in Mange, one of whom died from injuries sustained during the rape. They also kidnapped an unknown number of women, including one minor, and used them as sex slaves for several months. ⁶⁹⁵

According to some sources, some of the perpetrators of the crimes committed around Mange were summarily judged at the Military Court in Boende and then executed.

In early May 2000, the ALC/UPDF troops gained control of the village of Buburu, on the River Oubangui. In July, the FAC regained control of all the villages as far as Libenge by mounting heavy artillery on boats. Numerous civilians living in the villages along the riverbank were indiscriminately killed by the bombardments.

• Around the end of May 2000, elements of the FAC allegedly killed seven boys in the village of Buburu because they had refused to hand over their bicycles. The victims’ bodies were thrown into the Oubangui.⁶⁹⁶

On 9 August 2000, a UPDF tank is said to have fired on a boat transporting FAC soldiers and at least several dozen soldiers drowned near the Protestant Mission in Kala, a village 30 kilometres from Libenge:

• Between 20 July and 10 September 2000, elements of the 10th Brigade of the FAC executed tens of civilians in the village of Dongo. On 21 July, the soldiers first arrested and executed the civilians who were still in the village when they arrived. During the days that followed, they arrested and executed the civilians who had fled into the bush and who had finally agreed to return. The killings ceased on 10 September when the ALC/UPDF regained control of Dongo. The bodies of the victims were placed in a number of mass graves opposite the area office on avenue Mbenga, close to the market, on the road between Dongo and Ikwangala. On 14 September, the MLC brought several international journalists to the area so that international public opinion would become aware of the massacres.⁶⁹⁷