Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER III. The Second War > B. Attacks on other civilian populations > 2. Kinshasa

At the end of August 1998, soldiers from the ANC/APR/UPDF and FAC/ZDF fought each other for control of Kinshasa. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• At the end of August 1998, the ZDF used heavy weapons to bombard the municipalities of Kimbanseke, Masina and Ndjili and the village of Kingatoko, on the border with the province of Bas-Congo, and killed around 50 civilians. During the night of 27 to 28 August, 282 wounded civilians were taken into the capital’s main hospitals and medical centres. The bombardments prompted thousands of people to move to other municipalities. Elements of the ZDF fired with heavy weapons, making no distinction between civilian and military targets. These therefore included healthcare institutions and places of worship. The military authorities often exposed civilians to indiscriminate fire, ordering them to remain in their homes so that ANC/APR/UPDF soldiers were unable to hide in abandoned houses.⁵¹³

• Between 28 August and 1 September 1998, the fighting between ANC/APR/UPDF and FAC/ZDF troops caused several civilian deaths, primarily in the municipality of Mont-Ngafula.⁵¹⁴

• On 28 August 1998, the FAC killed at least two Red Cross volunteers, one of them by smashing his skull, whilst they were trying to rescue victims from the bombardments in the Mitendi and Mbenseke neighbourhoods of the municipality of Mont-Ngafula. During the same incident, they also seriously wounded an unknown number of Red Cross volunteers.⁵¹⁵

On 13 August 1998, ANC/APR/UPDF troops took control of the Inga hydroelectric power station in the Bas-Congo and stopped the turbines on the dam.

• By stopping the turbines on the Inga dam for three weeks during August and September 1998, the ANC/APR/UPDF troops deprived part of the province of Bas-Congo and several neighbourhoods in Kinshasa of power and water supplies. They thus made unusable property that was essential to the survival of the population, such as medical centres and the General Hospital in Kinshasa. During these three weeks, the mortality rate in the medical centres increased significantly, particularly amongst children.⁵¹⁶

During the same period, the security forces in general committed assassinations, murders, extrajudicial executions, rapes and acts of torture directed against political opponents and ordinary civilians, with almost complete impunity.⁵¹⁷

Between the months of August 1998 and January 2001, around 50 reports of incidents that had occurred in Kinshasa were sent to the Government through the mechanisms provided by the Commission on Human Rights, which included: the Working Group on enforced or involuntary disappearances, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading punishments or treatments and the Working Group on arbitrary detentions.⁵¹⁸

The incidents are too numerous for them all to be listed. The Mapping Team was able to document the following alleged cases, which are included by way of example.

• Between the end of 1998 and 2001, elements of the security forces of the Government in Kinshasa organised the disappearance of, torture and rape of numerous militant members of the UDPS and PALU political parties. The serious violations to which they were subjected typically took place in the prison cells of the Police d’intervention rapide (PIR) of the Direction des renseignements généraux et services spéciaux (DRGS) [Kin Mazière], the Ipkin (ex-Circo) and the Kokolo camp.⁵¹⁹
• From 28 October 2000, President Kabila’s security services arbitrarily arrested and tortured at least 93 people, including 60 soldiers and 33 civilians from the provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Maniema. The victims had been accused of planning a coup d’état led by one of the founder members of the AFDL, Anselme Masasu Nindaga. Most of the soldiers were held at the training centre in Maluku, Camp Kokolo, Camp Tshatshi and the GLM. Some of those held were summarily executed, whilst others were tortured to death. Some of the victims remained in detention for over three years and were only released after the promulgation of the government decree declaring a general amnesty.⁵²⁰

As part of their alliance with the Angolan Government, the authorities in Kinshasa tried to impede the activities of the members of the Cabindan independence movement, the FLEC (Front pour la libération du Cabinda).

• From 1998 to 1999, the security forces of the Government in Kinshasa closed the offices of the FLEC and carried out numerous arbitrary arrests of Cabindan independence militants. Most of the victims are said to have been tortured. Some Cabindan militants were reportedly transferred to Angola. Some are still recorded as having disappeared.⁵²¹