SUMMARY

RCD-ML and its armed wing APC killed civilians mainly as part of the Hema-Lendu conflict in the Ituri district of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first one-sided violence was reported between June and December 1999 when the group killed an unknown number of Lendu civilians in villages in the Djugu together with Ugandan soldiers. Villages were set on fire or the civilian victims were shot dead at close range. At the time of the attacks RCD-ML included Hema combatants loyal to John Tibasima that would later from the main Hema milita in Ituri - UPC.

RCD-ML first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2001, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached after an attack on the Gobu village when rebels massacred 40 Lendu villagers.