SUMMARY
The conflict between CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, National Congress for the Defence of the People) and PARECO (Patriotes Resistants Congolais, Congolese Patriotic Resistance) 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 CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, National Congress for the Defence of the People) and PARECO (Patriotes Resistants Congolais, Congolese Patriotic Resistance), it should also be viewed in connection to previous local conflict and tension in North Kivu for example violence between Hutu - Hunde and Nyanga in 1993 and Hutu-Tutsi violence in 1995, as well as in connection to the CNDP conflict with the government of DR. Congo. The CNDP and PARECO respectively trace their origins to the RCD (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie, Congolese Rally for Democracy) and Mayi Mayi militias which have previously been engaged in non-state conflict in eastern DR Congo.
CNDP drew its main support from, and claimed to fight for the interests of, the Tutsi population of the Kivus. It was supported by Rwanda, which used CNDP as a means to retain influence in the region. Laurent Nkunda, the leader of CNDP, motivated the insurgency by claiming that the Tutsi population was threatened by other armed groups, including the Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), and by the government's policy. Meanwhile, PARECO drew on groups that had been fighting against the former RCD and other movements that had been perceived as Rwandese interference in the Kivus. Their members were multi-ethnic drawn from the Nande, Hutu, Hunde, Nyanga, Tembo, and Havu communities but the Hutu had a prominent position in the group and therefore the conflict was also mixed up with the regional Hutu-Tutsi context.
Both groups used propaganda spurring ethnic hatred to mobilize support. The CNDP often played on the fear of genocide among the Tutsi population, and portrayed all non-Tutsi as potential FDLR members. PARECO, on the other hand, described CNDP as a foreign movement with no interest in peace in the DR. Congo. On the national level PARECO generally supported the government side in the conflict with the CNDP, and cooperated with the government and FDLR in military attacks on Nkunda's troops.
Locally the conflict issues were about land and the control over local power in the Petit Nord both groups tell a story about being marginalized. Both groups were also tightly connected to local elites and business interests have also spurred the conflict. The groups have attacked civilians perceived to be part of the other side in the conflict.
The non-state conflict between CNDP and PARECO is first included in UCDP data in 2008. In April that year, over 40 people were killed in clashes between the two groups in three villages northwest of Goma, Nord Kivu province, DR Congo.
