SUMMARY
Mayi Mayi Simba Formerly known as Mayi Mayi Lumumba and Mayi Mayi Morgan, was a Mayi Mayi armed group active mainly in and around the Okapi Fauna Reserve, also known as the Okapi Wildlife Reserve, in Mambasa territory, Ituri District, in DR Congo (Zaire). The group was led by Paul Sadala, alias Morgan, a local commander from the Bombo community. This actor should be distinguished from other armed groups that also used the Simba label. In this description, Mayi Mayi Simba refers only to the Morgan-centred network in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and to later remnants linked to Morgan, Mangaribi, Manu, Mambasa, Bafwasende and the reserve’s gold-mining areas.
The group’s incompatibility was primarily rooted in local grievances and resource control. Although one humanitarian source described the group as articulating a political discourse against the central authorities, the available reporting mainly portrayed Morgan’s network as a predatory armed group involved in poaching, gold mining, taxation, abductions, trafficking, and clashes with FARDC.
Mayi Mayi Lumumba was formed in early March 2012 as a merger between Morgan’s poaching and mining network, elements of Mayi Mayi Simba from Maiko National Park, and FARDC deserters under Colonel Kahasha, a former Mayi Mayi commander. Representatives of the Simba leader Kasambaza reportedly approached Morgan after FARDC units in Ituri were withdrawn from the field following the February 2012 mutiny at Marabo. This created a security vacuum in which armed groups expanded. The merged group adopted the name Mayi Mayi Lumumba in reference to the Lumumbist roots of the Simba elements. Around the time of the merger, non-Mayi Mayi members, including Morgan, underwent initiation rites to become Mayi Mayi. The group’s first reported attack took place on 12 March 2012 at Pangoy, where its elements raped more than 25 women and girls and looted goods.
The group operated mainly in Mambasa territory, especially in and around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. Important areas included Epulu, the reserve headquarters, Pangoy, Elota, Mabuo, Lulumo and gold-mining sites inside or near the reserve and along the Orientale-North Kivu border. The reserve’s forested terrain, gold sites, elephant population and contested resource economy were central to the group’s operations. Morgan had reportedly been poaching elephants and engaging in gold mining within the reserve since at least 2005, before the formal creation of Mayi Mayi Lumumba. The group controlled or taxed several gold mining sites and sold gold to traders, while also profiting from ivory trafficking and other local commercial monopolies.
The group recruited from communities in and around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve and the wider Ituri-North Kivu borderlands. Its membership reportedly included men from the Ndaka, Bakumu, Nande and Bapiri communities, which together made up most of the group, with Nande fighters forming the largest component. Pygmy fighters reportedly made up a smaller but significant part of the group. One later splinter group was described as composed entirely of Pygmies and led by “Manu”, reportedly Morgan’s second in command. The group’s recruitment and cohesion drew on the merger between Morgan’s criminal network, Simba fighters and FARDC deserters, rather than on a formal political organization. The group was also accused of recruiting and using children.
The group’s structure was commander-centred and unstable. Paul Sadala, alias Morgan, was the key leader, but the merged force also included Simba elements linked to Kasambaza and army deserters under Colonel Kahasha. Senior commanders sometimes wore FARDC uniforms before or after attacks, while attacks themselves were reportedly carried out naked as part of Mayi Mayi ritual practice. The merger was fragile. In July 2012, relations between Morgan and the Simba elements deteriorated. Some Simba members reportedly objected to Morgan’s extreme methods of violence. Around 31 July 2012, Simba elements arrested Morgan at Mabuo in Lubero territory, but he escaped or paid off his captors on 6 August and returned to the bush. Increased FARDC and ICCN pressure in August 2012 scattered the group and produced several splinter groups.
The group’s military capacity was limited but locally severe. It had access to small arms as well as heavier weapons, reportedly including heavy machine guns, RPGs, mortars, AK-47s and ammunition. Its access to weapons was facilitated by links between Morgan, FARDC deserters and senior FARDC officers in Beni, Bafwasende and Kisangani. The group relied on ambushes, raids, abductions, looting, rape, intimidation and control of forest routes and mining areas rather than sustained conventional combat. In August 2012, FARDC and ICCN operations wounded Morgan, killed several fighters and recovered weapons, but did not immediately eliminate the network. The group comprised 150-200 men in 2012
Paul Sadala, alias Morgan, led the group until his death in April 2014. Before the 2012 merger, Morgan was already known for elephant poaching and gold mining in the Okapi Wildlife Reserve. He had reportedly been arrested for poaching in 2005 and 2010, but FARDC soldiers collaborating with him helped secure his release in the latter case. After Morgan’s death, no single leader appears to have controlled all remnants. Some remnants were associated with Mangaribi Sadala, Morgan’s brother, while others were associated with Manu or followers of the late Maitre Jesus. By 2021, Mangaribi’s faction was the clearest documented Morgan-linked Simba remnant around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve.
The group’s alliances and transitions were fluid. Morgan’s network had strong ties to FARDC officers, gold and ivory traders and local criminal networks. The 2012 merger linked Morgan’s followers to Simba elements from Maiko National Park and FARDC deserters, but this alliance soon fractured. Some FARDC units were accused of complicity with Morgan or of failing to confront the group effectively, while other FARDC and ICCN units later fought the group. After Morgan’s death, the group fragmented into several remnants. Around November 2021, Mayi Mayi Alaise, another Mayi Mayi armed group that had targeted gold mines around the Okapi Wildlife Reserve since at least 2020, joined forces with Mayi Mayi Simba of Mangaribi.
