Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER III. The Second War > B. Attacks on other civilian populations > 6. Orientale Province

Between August and September 1998, ANC/APR/UPDF soldiers took control of almost all of Orientale Province. FAC soldiers engaged in looting as they fled, in particular in the regions of Opala, Basoko and Yahuma. They also brutally suppressed all those whom they suspected of supporting the RCD.

• On 5 October 1998, elements of the FAC allegedly summarily executed 25 people on the Bomokande bridge in the village of Dingila in the district of Buta. Having been arbitrarily held for three weeks, the victims, 15 FAC soldiers who were no longer able to fight, eight Nande civilians and two civilians of Rwandan origin were decapitated and their bodies thrown in the river. The 25 victims had been accused of having helped UPDF troops during their successful attack on the town of Isiro. During their two months in Dingila, the soldiers reportedly also raped an unknown number of women, including several minors and systematically looted civilian property.⁵⁹¹

After the withdrawal of the FAC from Orientale Province, numerous civilians joined the Mayi-Mayi armed groups and attacked ANC/APR soldiers at several places in the region. In retaliation, ANC/APR soldiers led punitive expeditions against civilian populations suspected of collaborating with the Mayi-Mayi. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents.

• On 24 October 1998, elements of the ANC/APR executed 28 civilians, including several minors, in the village of Makoka, on the border with Maniema province, in the Lubutu region. The soldiers also raped at least seven women. Before they left, they pillaged and set fire to the village. According to the villagers, there were no Mayi-Mayi in Makoka at this time.⁵⁹²

• At the end of 1999, in the Opala region, soldiers from the ANC/APR killed two boys between the villages of Yatolema and Yalikoko and raped an unknown number of women. At the end of 1999, soldiers raped at least one young girl in the town of Opala.⁵⁹³

• In October 2000, at the 63-kilometre marker on the road between Kisangani and Lubutu, elements of the ANC/APR summarily executed four young boys accused of being Mayi-Mayi. The soldiers then arrested seven members of the victims’ family and tortured them for three consecutive days before releasing them. The day before the incident, a group of Mayi-Mayi had killed several ANC/APR soldiers during an ambush, forcing them to withdraw to their base in Wanie Rukula, in the Ubundu region.⁵⁹⁴

During the period under consideration, FAC planes bombarded ANC/APR/UPDF positions in Orientale Province on several occasions.

• On 10 January 1999, a FAC plane apparently indiscriminately bombarded the town of Kisangani, killing 12 civilians and wounding 27. On 22 February, FAC bombardments of the town of Opala caused five civilian deaths. The number of casualties caused by the bombardments could have been much higher if military sources in Kinshasa had not warned civilians in time, allowing them to leave the towns that had been targeted.⁵⁹⁵

In August 1999, whilst international pressure on the leaders of the RCD-Goma to sign the Lusaka Agreement⁵⁹⁶ was intensifying, the simmering crisis between Rwanda and Uganda for the control of the RCD degenerated into open conflict in Kisangani. On the morning of 7 August, APR and UDPF soldiers fought with heavy weapons for several hours without any civilians being wounded. The situation calmed down again over the course of the following days. Tension continued to build, nonetheless, and both sides strengthened their positions and brought large numbers of weapons into the town. On the evening of 14 August, fighting again broke out between the two armies at the airport and extended along the main roads and into the town centre.

• From 14 to 17 August 1999, APR and UPDF soldiers are said to have used heavy weapons in areas with a dense civilian population as they fought to gain control of the town of Kisangani. The fighting allegedly caused the deaths of over 30 civilians and wounded over 100 of them. The APR fired on both military targets and private homes belonging to civilians suspected of supporting the Ugandans. Once the hostilities were over, Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers pillaged several places in Kisangani.⁵⁹⁷

After three days of fighting, Uganda and Rwanda signed a ceasefire agreement that provided for Kisangani to be demilitarised and the headquarters of the pro-Ugandan branch of the RCD, the RCD-Kisangani-Mouvement de Libération (RCD-K-ML) led by Wamba dia Wamba, to be relocated to Bunia on 1 October 1999. During the months that followed, Orientale Province found itself divided into a “Rwandan zone” under the control of the RCD-G and a “Ugandan zone” dominated by the various movements supported by Kampala. In May 2000, however, tension between the Ugandan and Rwandan armies again moved up a notch in Kisangani. The UPDF strengthened its military positions to the north-east of the town and the APR reacted by bringing in additional weapons.

• On 5 May 2000, the APR and UPDF are said to have used heavy weapons in densely populated areas, causing the deaths of over 24 civilians and wounding an unknown number of them. Before the start of the hostilities, the Ugandan army had warned the population of the imminent bombardments and had asked for the evacuation of several areas located close to their targets.⁵⁹⁸

On 12 May 2000, a team of United Nations military observers was sent to the area. Under international mediation, the two parties adopted a demilitarisation plan for the town, which they began to implement on 29 May. Fighting broke out again on 5 June, however, resulting in the so-called “Six-Day War”.

• The APR and UPDF fought each other in Kisangani from 5 to 10 June 2000. Both sides reportedly embarked on indiscriminate attacks with heavy weapons, killing between 244 and 760 civilians according to some sources, wounding over 1,000 and causing thousands of people to be displaced. The two armies also destroyed over 400 private homes and caused serious damage to public and commercial properties, places of worship, including the Catholic Cathedral of Notre-Dame, educational institutions and healthcare facilities, including hospitals. The UPDF had taken steps to avoid civilian losses by ordering the evacuation of combat zones before the start of hostilities and prohibiting access to three areas that were declared off-limits to non-combatants. This restriction was, however, also extended to humanitarian workers, in particular the ICRC, which was not able to get help to the wounded for several days.⁵⁹⁹