SUMMARY

UPC (Union des Patriotes Congolais, Union of Congolese Patriotes), a Hema-led armed group, emerged as a key player in the Ituri conflict in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire). The violence in Ituri was driven by longstanding grievances over land, political representation, and identity, between the between the Hema and Lendu communities. These tensions were exacerbated by regional power struggles during the Congo Wars, the proliferation of local militias, and shifting foreign support from Uganda and Rwanda. Seeking to establish control over Ituri, UPC frequently employed violence against civilians as a means of consolidating power and punishing suspected collaborators with rival groups. After the withdrawal of Ugandan forces from Bunia in May 2003 European Union Force Democratic Republic of the Congo (EUFOR) was deployed to Bunia and UPC attacks on civilians subsided.

UPC mainly targeted Lendu civilians and communities considered as allies of the Lendu. Many of the UPC attacks were in revenge for massacres of Hema civilians. After capturing Bunia in August 2002, the UPC conducted organized manhunts targeting opponents on pre-established lists. Victims included political opponents, intellectuals, journalists, religious leaders, administrators, and civil servants, primarily from non-Hema groups such as the Lendu, Bira, Nande, Alur, and Topoke, as well as some moderate Hema. Traditional chiefs who resisted UPC demands or retained ties to rival factions were also killed.

The UPC’s tactics consisted primarily of brutal massacres targeting civilians based on ethnicity. Their violence included mass killings, executions, rape, looting, and destruction of civilian infrastructure such as schools and hospitals. Attacks commonly involved machetes, spears, and blunt weapons, alongside firearms.

UPC one-sided violence was concentrated to Ituri, primarily affecting communities in the Irumu and Djugu territories. The violence both targeted urban and rural communities.

UPC first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2002, when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. On 26 January 2002, UPC killed around 100 Lendu civilians, that had been chased from Datule, in the Bahema-Sud community in the Irumu region. The civilians were killed in the forest with machetes, spears and studded batons.