SUMMARY
Elements (Luba militia) attacked civilians as part of an ethnic conflict between Balubas/Bantus and Batwas/Pygmees in the northern parts of Katanga. The Baluba and Batwa have been living together for centuries but Batwa had been subordinate to the Baluba. The Batwa struggle for basic rights, including access to land and end to forced labor, coincided with an escalation of violence in the area by the Kata Katanga rebel group in 2013. The Congolese army FARDC used Batwa as scouts in their fight against Kata Katanga. As revenge Kata Katanga who was dominated by the Baluba ethnic group attacked villages and killed v civilians. As a response the Perci (Batwa militia) Lwas formed and started to attack Baluba villages. FARDC stepped in to calm things down but kills the Batwa chief Luhala on 9 November 2013. Perci then consolidate their group under the leaders Nyumbaisha, Sac Vide, and Lebon. The Baluba community forms their own militia the Elements (Luba militia) in response to the intensified threat. These two militias have then conducted regular tit for tat attacks on each other’s population that continued into 2015.
MONUSCO instigated different peace initiatives in order to reconcile the groups. A dispute resolution board was installed on 24 September 2015 in Mukebo and on 1 October 2015 a conflict resolution committee was installed in the Mbayo à Mbayo Groupement consisting of 14 members, after these negotiations were held between the communities and on 8 October Sac Vide leader of Perci and Sakade leader of Elements declared that they would accept a peaceful resolution of the conflict. A legal process has started to prosecute members of both groups for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Lubumbashi.
Elements (Luba militia) first became active as a one-sided actor in the UCDP data in 2015, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached on 30 April 2015 when the group torched the Vumiliya 1 Internally Displaced People's camp situated in Nyunzu, Katanga province, resulting in 30 deaths.
