SUMMARY
The conflict between FDC (Front de la défense du Congo, Defence Front of the Congo) and FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda) was mainly fought in the Nord Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). The Nord Kivu province is situated in the eastern parts of the country bordering Rwanda and Uganda. Much of the land in the Nord Kivu province is fertile and it is more densely populated than other parts of the country. The Nord Kivu province is and has for centuries been inhabited by a broad range of different communities: Hunde, Nyanga, Tembo, Kano, Twa, Pere, and Hutu and Tutsi. Before colonization these communities were governed differently in different chiefdoms. And under the colonial administration these chieftaincies were absorbed by the new power and in some cases re-drawn into Sectors and in some cases importing new chiefs. The Belgians also made a distinction between the indigenous/autochthonous tribes of the area who were entitled to holding land and the foreigners; oftentimes being those of Rwandan descent (Hutu and Tutsi), who were not entitled to holding land. At the same time all land belonged to the colonial power and they could expropriate customary land to lease or sell it to plantation-owners.
During the colonial rule the plantation-owners needed labor on their farms. To meet this demand labor workers were recruited in neighboring Rwanda. In some areas of the Nord Kivu Province this new wave of immigration changed the ethnic balance. In total it is believed that 150,000 and 300,000 Hutu and Tutsi immigrants moved to Nord Kivu during the colonial period. After independence these shifts have been one of the roots of conflicts in the area. While the indigenous communities have kept the customary power and the right over land, the Hutu and Tutsi have been more numerous and therefore a threat in a democratic DR. Congo. Different laws regulating citizenship have granted or ripped the Hutu and Tutsi communities of their rights aggravating the situation. Under the Mobutu Zairianisation process the big plantations were nationalized and then granted to close allies of president Mobutu according to his patronage system of ruling the country. Hutu and Tutsi elite manage to by land during this period and consequently manage to gain economic power.
In this context we should see the conflict between FDC and FDLR. FDLR was seen as foreigners of Rwandan Hutu origin, and FDC was seen as the autochthonous tribes, nationalists from mainly Bahunde and Wanianga communities. The conflict between FDC and FDLR was situated in the border area between the Masisi and Walikale territories of the North Kivu Province and most clashes were reported from the Waloa Yungu and Waloa Uroba groupements in Walikale Territory. Ethnic tension in these areas intensified in 2009 as FDLR was forced to resettle further into the rainforest hunted by Rwandan and Congolese military forces. Rwanda and DR. Congo had deployed Umoja Wetu a joint operation against FDLR as part of bilateral agreements between the countries to finally establish peace in the eastern parts of the country. The operation and the following operations conducted by the DR. Congo and MONUC/MONUSCO Kimiya II and Amani Leo forced FDLR out of Lubero, Rutshuru, Nyarigongo, Masisi in Nord Kivu and Walungu, Mwenga and Shabunda in Sud Kivu. FDLR then managed to forge new alliances with groups in Walikale in the Collectivité of Wanianga, for example with Maï Maï Kifuafua and resettled in this area. FDLR massacred the population and whole villages fled the area.
In 2011 the local society mobilized in order to fight the FDLR presence. A group of the local population that had helped out during the Umoja Wetu operation as Guides to the Congolese forces formed a Maï Maï group known as the Guïdes, this group later took the name FDC (Congolese Defence Force) with the stated aim of flushing FDLR from the Walikale and Masisi territories.
Clashes between the groups were first reported in November 2011 as FDC managed to oust FDLR from Kimua the capital of the Waloa Yungu groupement and continued in 2012 when the conflict mixed with other regional dynamics. Both FDC and FDLR has attacked civilians accused of supporting the other.
The non-state conflict between FDC and FDLR is first included in UCDP data in 2011. By the end of December that year, clashes between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.
