SUMMARY
UPC (Union des Patriotes Congolais, Union of Congolese Patriotes) was officially formed in Mid-2002 by Thomas Lubanga. Earlier, an embryo organisation of the group was formed on 15 September 2000, funded by Gegere business people and supported by Uganda. From the outset UPC claimed to be a national political movement that strived towards peace and reconciliation in Ituri but the group’s constituency was mainly ethnic Hema more specifically the northern Hema also called Gegere.
Lubanga had during the intrastate conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) been part of RCD (Congolese Rally for Democracy; Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie) rebel group and through its splinters remained loyal to the Uganda supported faction. In mid-2002, Lubanga left RCD-K-ML (Congolese Rally for Democracy-Kisangani-Liberation Movement; Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de Libération) ) who he claimed favoured the Nande ethnic group over the Hema and set up the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo’ (Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC) military wing of the UPC and became its commander-in-chief. In the same year UPC started a campaign of ethnic purification rallying for an uprising against the Lendu.
As UPC split from RCD-K-ML, Uganda, who was previously a strong supporter of RCD-K-ML, shifted its support to UPC. This is often interpreted as a sign that Uganda wanted to support this Hema group and through it retain control of the mineral-rich Ituri region. However, as Uganda concluded the Luanda agreement with the government of DRC UPC looked for support elsewhere. Their new allies became Rwanda and their proxy group RCD. According to the UN panel of experts, Rwanda trained over one hundred UPC soldiers in training centres in Rwanda between September and December 2002. And in January 2003, after being excluded from the Mambasa ceasefire talks in December 2002 UPC formed an alliance with RCD. Rwanda did not only supply UCP with training for its soldiers, it also shipped weapons to the group. The UN panel of experts has established that Rwanda did not only ship mortars, machine gun and ammunition to UCP, but also that the country on occasion airdropped supply to UCP strongholds. Furthermore, Rwanda was often involved in the planning and even the execution of attacks, to the discontent of some rebels. UPC consisted of approximately 3000 fighters.
UPC was based in the Ituri province and had its stronghold in Djugu territory with bases in Igan Barriere and Fakati. As soon as the group had formed its military wing they initiated a battle for the control over Bunia, the provincial capital of the Ituri region in north-eastern DRC. With the help of the Ugandan army they managed to take control over the town and Bunia was then seen as the main establishment of the UPC. However, when UPC shifted its alliance to Rwanda, it was ousted from Bunia by the Ugandan army in March 2003. Yet in May of the same year, UPC fought its way back into control of Bunia and was only forced to leave by the French-led Emergency Interim Multinational Force in June. The territorial control in Ituri stabilized after late-2003, with the UPC surrounding Bunia to the north until demobilization programs started in 2005.
Two splinter factions emerged in December 2003, when Commander Kisembo announced leadership of the party, following the departure of Lubanga to Kinshasa, to which his movements had been restricted by the transitional government. Kisembo had tried to unseat Lubanga before, but failed when most UPC members remained loyal to UPC’s original leader. In 2003 he led his faction to the support of Uganda. UPC-K has never been considered a major player in the conflicts in Ituri.
UPC’s main leader was Thomas Lubanga, who established UPC in 2002. Lubanga was seen as a hero by many Northern Hema. In 2005 he was arrested in Kinshasa, and in 2006 he became the first person that the ICC (International Criminal Court) had issued an arrest warrant for. Lubanga is currently tried in The Hague and is accused for the war crime of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers under the age of 15 to advance the war in Ituri district during 2002 and 2003.
When Lubanga was confined to Kinshasa, the UPC-L (UPC-Lubanga) faction was led by his new chief of staff, Bosco Ntaganda. Other important UPC leaders include Commander Kisembo Bahemuka, Commander Jérôme Kakwavu and two other officers associated with him, Commanders Salumu Mulenda and Sey. Commander Jérôme switched alliances easily: he joined UPC after leaving RCD-K-ML and formed the Ugandan-backed FAPC (Forces armées du peuple Congolais, Peoples Armed Forces of Congo) in March 2003. Bosco Ntaganda has become a central figure in CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, National Congress for the Defence of the People) rebel group.
UPC has been involved in the non-state and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
