SUMMARY
The conflict between APCLS (Alliance des Patriotes pour un Congo libre et souverain, Alliance of the People for a Free and Sovereign Congo) and M23 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, Nande, Nyanga, Tembo, Kano, Twa, Pere, Hutu, and Tutsi, with the latter two collectively referred to as Banyarwanda. 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 APCLS and M23. M23 was seen as foreigners of Rwandan Tutsi origin, and APCLS was seen as the autochthonous tribes, nationalists of Hunde ethnicity. Still APCLS has at times allied with the Hutu FDLR also foreigners in the area. The conflict was a continuation of the non-state conflict between CNDP and PARECO, M23 being a group formed by mainly ex-CNDP soldiers and APCLS being a splinter group of PARECO.
The non-state conflict between APCLS and M23 is first included in UCDP data in 2012. On 25 October 2012, clashes between the two groups had resulted in 30 battle-related deaths.
