The photo may date back to May 2022, but it is more relevant than ever. Around a coffee table set up in the middle of a courtyard, men in khakis pose, relaxed, in front of the lens. They are in Pinga, an isolated village located between the territories of Walikalé and that of Masisi, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Regular army officers seated alongside several warlords, rebels who once took up arms against the DRC Armed Forces (FARDC) and are accused of crimes, trafficking or abuse by the courts Congolese or the UN.
“Today, we are no longer enemies with the national army,” acknowledges Marcellin Shenkuku Nkuba, spokesman for the armed group Nduma Defense of Congo-Rénové (NDC-R). The militiaman claims to now act "in the name of a coalition of patriots" formed at the end of this meeting in Pinga and composed of at least four armed groups, including the NDC-R and the Alliance of Patriots for a Free Congo and Sovereign (APCLS). This "coalition" has strengthened its presence on the front lines since Masisi territory became the epicenter of fighting in December and January. Clashes in which the Congolese soldiers also took part.
All are fighting against a common adversary: the March 23 Movement (M23). Since the end of 2021, this predominantly Tutsi armed group has continued to expand its influence and now controls part of the province of North Kivu. One more conflict in this region already devastated for nearly thirty years by repeated wars and destabilized by the 122 militias operating there, according to the latest estimate made in 2020 by the Kivu Security Barometer. "With the FARDC and the other groups of the coalition, we shared the areas of intervention to block the road to the M23", continues Marcellin Shenkuku Nkuba, who assures that the NDC-R fights alone on the ground and does not receive any FARDC support.
Former rebel leaders turned generals
His boss, Guidon Shimiray Mwissa, is in the front line with his men. This warlord, under UN sanction since February 2018 for recruitment of child soldiers and illegal levying of taxes, is at the head of one of the main armed groups established in the territory of Walikalé. Since 2019, he has also been wanted by Congolese justice. An arrest warrant was issued against him for, among other things, "participation in an insurrectionary movement" and "crime against humanity for rape". Charges that did not prevent a regular army colonel from appearing on video in December alongside the NDC-R leader, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a February 6 report.
Several other meetings between FARDC and warlords took place, notably in December and January, continues HRW. According to the NGO, two generals – Janvier Mayanga and Hassan Mugabo – sent by the government to oversee military operations in Masisi took part. These high-ranking officers know the terrain well: they are former rebel leaders, integrated into the national army for more than ten years.
Also according to HRW, Congolese soldiers also provided logistical support to another armed group – foreign this time – the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which had been in the DRC for more than twenty-five years. "More than a dozen boxes of ammunition were provided to FDLR combatants in July 2022," the NGO wrote in a report published on October 18.
However, since the beginning of the crisis linked to the M23, the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, has precisely denounced this connivance. Kigali considers the FDLR as the heirs of the 1994 genocidaires and presents this armed group as a threat to the security of Rwanda. “I will do everything that can be done to make sure that the history of the FDLR and the genocide does not come back again,” Paul Kagame said on February 9 during a dinner with the diplomatic corps based in his country.
For their part, Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi and his government have repeatedly condemned Rwanda's "manipulation" of alleged FARDC collaboration with the FDLR. "False" accusations used, according to Kinshasa, to justify the unofficial intervention of the Rwandan army in the DRC and Kigali's support for the M23.
A struggling disarmament program
The resurgence of the M23, despite its defeat in 2013, has created "a new dynamic between the armed groups active in North Kivu and the FARDC", noted the UN Group of Experts in December 2022. Among the local population , this new game of alliances worries. “The way things are going, the M23 is still in danger of gaining ground. What will become of the fallen armed groups? Will abuses against residents continue to increase? », asks Voltaire Batundi Sadiki, president of the civil society of Masisi, a group of civic associations.
Especially since other armed groups traditionally based in a province for the time being far from the front lines, South Kivu, intend to come and lend a hand to those who are already on the ground in North Kivu against the M23. . This is the case of the Mai-Mai coalition led by William Yakutumba, but also of certain Raïa Mutomboki (RM) present in the territory of Kalehe, in South Kivu. “The RMs were mobilized by MP Anselme Enerunga. Unfortunately, this elected national, who financed them, died at the end of January. For lack of means, these fighters have for the moment stopped their journey towards North Kivu and have remained in the towns, totally idle. They bother the population and several cases of looting have been reported,” laments Didier Kitumaini, from Bunyakiri civil society.
Further south still, in the highlands of Fizi, Uvira and Mwenga, several security sources report that Banyamulenge militias, a Tutsi pastoral community speaking a language close to that of Rwanda, have left their stronghold to other localities. . Neither the Congolese soldiers nor the Burundian soldiers deployed as part of the East African Community (EAC) force reacted. However, these displacements could further destabilize the area, with the Mai-Mai militiamen accusing, among others, the Banyamulengue of being "invaders" in the pay of Paul Kagame.
All these movements and renewals of alliances could also jeopardize the program for the demobilization and disarmament of combatants launched by the Congolese authorities in 2021. “However, we had seen a real decrease in the activities of armed groups last year. But with the intensification of fighting linked to the resurgence of the M23, no one sees the point of laying down their arms, ”regrets Delphin Birimbi, from Kalehe civil society. The government program had already encountered difficulties in setting up. Its coordinator, Tommy Tambwe Ushindi, is strongly criticized for his past as an ex-rebel and his closeness to the M23.
