SUMMARY
The CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, National Congress for the Defence of the People) has employed one-sided violence against civilians in connection to its armed struggle against the Government of DR Congo (Zaire) and against other non-state groups in the conflicts related to the Nord-Kivu context. Most one-sided violence by the CNDP (Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, National Congress for the Defence of the People) was perpetrated 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 one-sided violence by CNDP. CNDP draws its main support from, and claims to fight for the interests of, the Tutsi population in the Kivus. It is supported by Rwanda, which sees the CNDP as a means to retain its influence in the region. Laurent Nkunda, the leader of the CNDP, has motivated its insurgency by claiming the Tutsi population is threatened by other armed groups, including Rwandan Hutu rebel group FDLR (Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda, Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda), and by government policy. In this context, the CNDP has attacked civilians accused of supporting the government or non-state groups opposed to the CNDP, such as FDLR and PARECO (Patriotes Resistants Congolais, Congolese Patriotic Resistance). It has also conducted attacks in retaliation for deaths of CNDP fighters.
CNDP first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2007, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in September that year after a number of attacks against civilians in the Nord Kivu province of DR Congo (Zaire).
