General information
Part of Conflict: n/a
First Battle Related Death: 1996-04-26
Date when dyad reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1996-06-08
Comment on date when dyad reached 25 battle related deaths: ALiR first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1996, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in June that year when the group targeted survivors of the Rwandan genocide.
Conflict issues
Annual information
This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.
1996
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 5429 |
| Best | 1386 |
| Low | 865 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
1997
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 2269 |
| Best | 757 |
| Low | 727 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
1998
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 737 |
| Best | 681 |
| Low | 679 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
1999
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 222 |
| Best | 51 |
| Low | 43 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
2000
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 173 |
| Best | 73 |
| Low | 72 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
2001
| Estimated Fatalities | |
|---|---|
| High | 11 |
| Best | 0 |
| Low | 0 |
Secondary Warring Support:
Side A (ALiR): n/a
Side B (Civilians): n/a
Dyad Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1996 Dyad Archive
Comment on Active: 1996 saw the first year of activity for the Hutu rebels who had organised themselves under the PALIR banner. During the year PALIR troops conducted several raids into Rwanda from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), attacking rural villages in north-western Rwanda. PALIR also attacked civilians in the Kivus region. In an especially bloody encounter at least 28 civilians were killed when PALIR forces executed an ambush close to the Rwandan border in Northern Kivu region.
Terminated: NO
1997 Dyad Archive
Comment on Active: In 1997 the FDLR (during 1997 referred to as PALIR) officially launched its armed struggle against the government of Rwanda, and intensified attacks into Rwanda across the border from the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This increase in activity subsequently led to an intensive campaign of one-sided violence, primarily in Rwanda’s border areas, with the stated goal of destabilising the government of Rwanda. This objective can however not account for all the violence perpetrated during 1997, since several attacks also took place against civilians in Burundi.
Refugees and returnees of Tutsi origin found themselves being especially targeted in the FDLR campaign, with several attacks targeting camps and other sites that housed members of these groups. In an especially bloody incident FDLR troops attacked a refugee camp in Gisenyi in north-western Rwanda, killing approximately 270 civilians. Attacks on refugees took place also in Burundi and the DRC.
The FDLR also attacked civilian homes and villages in rural areas, as well as continuing its campaign of ambushes near roads.
Terminated: NO
1998 Dyad Archive
Comment on Active: In 1998 the intra-state armed conflict between the government of Rwanda and the FDLR group (during 1998 referred to as PALIR) reached the intensity of war, this being the peak year of activity in the 1990s in this armed conflict. Rwandan forces fought against the FDLR mainly in the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but the FDLR made several forays into the western and north-western parts of Rwanda from their bases in the Kivus (eastern DRC), leading to significant numbers of civilian casualties.
The attacks were allegedly a continuation of the FDLR’s strategy of discrediting the government of Rwanda and destabilising the country through large-scale killings of civilians. The FDLR continued to attack villages in rural Rwanda, ambush buses and travellers on roads, and attacking refugee camps housing returning Tutsis. Commonly the killings would have a clear ethnic tint.
Attacks were focused to Rwanda, but killings of civilians took place also in Burundi and the DRC. In one high-profile event in the DRC up to 400 Tutsi prisoners in the Makala Prison in the capital city, Kinshasa, were killed by members of the FDLR.
Terminated: NO
1999 Dyad Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: It is likely that the true estimates for 1999 are above those reported here. The situation in the Kivus in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was however chaotic during 1999, with very few reliable and precise news reports retelling what happened and who did what. This leads to estimates being increasingly problematic to make for this year.
Comment on Active: In 1999 the backbone of the FDLR’s offensive (under the PALIR name in 1999) against the government of Rwanda, which began in 1997, had been broken by the Rwandan army, which succeeded in pushing the fighting almost completely into the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This in turn led to a significant decrease in one-sided activity perpetrated by the FDLR in the Rwandan territories.
However, some one-sided activity was carried out in the eastern parts of the DRC, specifically in the Kivus and in Rwanda and Uganda. All of these attacks took place near the borders between the countries in question.
Terminated: NO
2000 Dyad Archive
Comment on Yearly Battle Related Deaths: It is likely that the true estimates for 2000 are above those reported here. The situation in the Kivus in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo was however chaotic during 2000, with very few reliable and precise news reports retelling what happened and who did what. This leads to estimates being increasingly problematic to make for this year.
Comment on Active: In the intra-state conflict between the FDLR and the government of Rwanda the government had succeeded in 1999 to push back the Hutu insurgents into the eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). As a consequence FDLR one-sided activity within the borders of Rwanda decreased significantly in 1999 and 2000, and was focused instead to the eastern parts of the DRC where the group had its main bases.
Terminated: NO
2001 Dyad Archive
Terminated: NO
