SUMMARY

In the tumultuous year of 2004, all of the former insurgents were to be integrated into the new Congolese National Army (FARDC) under the Sun City agreement. Some of the commanders either refused to be integrated or defected after only a short period of time. Many accused Rwanda of trying to instigate a new insurgency in the northwest. One of these commanders who remained outside of the integration process was Laurent Nkunda.

RCD - Laurent Nkunda faction was formed by former RCD-Goma (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie-Goma, Congolese Rally for Democracy-Goma) fighters who rejected the DRC peace process, in the context of a perceived threat of military intervention by the transitional government. The situation in the Kivus had remained characterized by extreme ethnic tensions since the end of the 1998-2001 conflict, and these divisions were exacerbated by RCD-Goma dissidents and Rwanda, who argued that the Banyarwanda population was under threat of genocide by the transitional government and its allies, necessitating continued RCD-Goma military control and Rwandese intervention in the region. Whereas RCD-Goma had earlier mainly drawn its support from the Tutsi population in the Kivus, the RCD - LN faction drew its support from, and claimed to be protected, both the Hutu and Tutsi communities, jointly referred to as "Congolese Rwandophones".

In this context, and with government forces threatening military intervention against RCD-Goma dissidents in the Kivus, RCD - Laurent Nkunda faction carried out one-sided attacks against civilians perceived as supporters of the transitional government or pro-government militias, and in retaliation for attacks on their own fighters.

RCD - Laurent Nkunda faction first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2004, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in November that year when the group killed at least 60 civilians in the Walikale territory of DR Congo (Zaire).