SUMMARY

Mayi Mayi - Makabe (Mai Mai Makabe, Maï Maï Makabe) was a Mayi Mayi militia active in the Katanga Province of the DR. Congo (Zaire) mainly in the Malemba-Nkulu territory. Makabe was one of the most prominent Mayi Mayi commanders in Katanga. His militia was fighting alongside the Congolese armed forces (FAC) and their Zimbabwean allies during the war against RCD to prevent RCD from taking control over Malemba Nkulu. In 2001 however the relationship between Mayi Mayi - Makabe and FAC changed. As the front stabilized and the government started to attack civilians in the area, Mayi Mayi - Makabe went into open conflict with the armed forces of the government. The Mayi Mayi forces of Makabe also attacked civilians whom they perceived as enemies or witches.

In order to restore calm to the Malemba Nkulu region, two relatives of Makabe, the Governor of Katanga, Ngoy Mukena, and General John Numbi Banza Tambo, tried to convince Makabe to disarm in August 2002. Although the Mayi Mayi leaders, Makabe, Mwende, and Kabale received some gifts as persuasion, the leaders good not agree on how to share the spoils and violence continued. In February 2003, Governor Mukena and General John Numbi made Makabe a General and gave him the title of Head of Security for the Malemba Nkulu region, in return, Makabe reorganized his militia, gave up the life of a militia leader and withdrew to the village Musao. Around 1000 combatants followed him, around the elections in 2006 it was feared Mayi Mayi - Makabe would take up arms again if Kabila did not win the elections.

In 2002 Makabe signed an order making his subordinate Kabale Makana a Nshimba, commonly known as Kabale, and Mayi Mayi Kabale responsible for security in Mukanga town and the surrounding area. In 2003 Makabe had Kabale arrested and according to the NGO Commission de Vulgarisation des Droits de l'homme et de Developement he was killed in an attack by the police on 13 May 2003. Between 2002 and 2003, Mayi Mayi - Makabe conducted a reign of terror in the chiefdom of Kayumba in the Malemba Nkulu region. They killed villagers opposing the group, killed elderly women accused of being witches, committed rape, looted, set fire to the villages, and cases of cannibalism were reported.

Mayi Mayi - Makabe first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2002, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached at the end of that year when violence by the group had resulted in 26 deaths.