SUMMARY
The Ituri province, a region in the north-eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) has been a foci of fierce conflicts and violence targeting civilians. Most of the violence, perpetrated by a vast number of more or less organized groups, sprung from a land conflict between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups but evolved more and more into a regional conflict over resources. The Lendu are one of the largest ethnicities in Ituri, with a size of between 750 000 and 1 million people, whereas the Hema are remarkably smaller with a size of between 300 000 and 400 000 people.
Tensions between the Hema and Lendu can be led back to pre-colonial times, although most of the time lived peacefully alongside each other. The first violence between the groups was reported already in 1880, although the oral history in the region often state 1911 as the first main clash between the groups. Under the Belgian colonizers the Hema were favored. They had access to higher positions and got better chances for education. The Lendu were mainly treated as a manual labor force. When the decolonization process started, the Hema minority remained in place as the elite, with at times even employing the Lendu as their servants. Tensions between the Hema and Lendu led to violent conflict in 1973, 1990 and 1997. The major conflict in Ituri started however in 1999. In that year, a commander of the Ugandan army, General James Kazini created a separate province of Ituri with Bunia as its capital. He then appointed a Hema as the province top-administrator triggering the violence.
The magnitude of violence after 1999 cannot be compared to the conflicts in earlier years. The different ethnicities in the province started to organize themselves, first into ethnic militias, then into rebel groups, allied to regional players in the main DRC intrastate war before splintering and forming new alliances across ethnicities. While the conflict over land and local power has been the prime reason for violence, the presence of gold and other minerals in Ituri has been the reason for the continuation of fighting. Ituri’s war officially ended with peace agreements in 2005 and 2006, but some armed group activity persisted most of it by groups just as opposed to the disarmament process.
The conflict between the FNI (Front Nationalist et Integrationist, Front for National Integration) and UPC (Union des Patriotes Congolais, Union of Congolese Patriotes), which started in 2003, can also be considered as a conflict between the Hema and Lendu. The UPC is predominantly Hema, while the FNI consists mainly out of Lendu fighters. The conflict had two main stakes: First, the control over Ituri’s capital Bunia and second, access to the gold mines in Ituri. The fighting was triggered when the Ugandan forces, who were in control over Bunia and Ituri in general left after four and a half years due to strong international pressure. While the Ugandan withdrawal was somewhat anticipated, it turned out to be too fast for MONUC (Mission de l'Organisation des Nations Unies en République démocratique du Congo, United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) to fill the security vacuum. This led to heavy battles for the control over Bunia and over gold mines in for instance Mongbwalu.
Both groups fought relentlessly, not distinguishing between civilian and military targets. Additionally, civilians were recruited to fight with the rebels on the line of their ethnicity. Both sides used modern weapons like AK-47 and Kalashnikov rifles but also machetes, spears, and arrows. Civilians were often directly targeted in the conflict between FNI and UPC, simply for the reason they belonged to either the Hema or the Lendu ethnicity.
All the fighting between FNI and UPC happened in either Bunia, or in the Djugu territoire of Ituri.
The non-state conflict between FNI and UPC is first included in UCDP data in 2003. In May of that year, fierce clashes between the two groups resulted in 200 civilian deaths. Clashes between the two groups continued throughout the year.
