SUMMARY

Perci (Batwa militia) attacked civilians as part of an ethnic conflict between Balubas/Bantus and Batwas/Pygmees in the northern parts of Katanga. The Baluba and Batwa have been living together for centuries but Batwa had been subordinate to the Baluba. The Batwa struggle for basic rights, including access to land and an end to forced labor, coincided with an escalation of violence in the area by the Kata Katanga rebel group in 2013. The Congolese army FARDC used Batwa as scouts in their fight against Kata Katanga. As a revenge Kata Katanga, who was dominated by the Baluba ethnic group, attacked villages and killed Batwa civilians. As a response the Perci (Batwa militia) was formed and started to attack Baluba villages. The government army FARDC stepped in to calm things down but killed the Batwa chief Luhala on 9 November 2013. Perci then consolidated their group under the leaders Nyumbaisha, Sac Vide, and Lebon. The Baluba community formed their own militia the Elements in response to the intensified threat. These two militias then conducted regular tit for tat attacks on each other’s population.

MONUSCO instigated different peace initiatives in order to reconcile the groups. A dispute resolution board was installed on 24 September 2015 in Mukebo and on 1 October 2015 a conflict resolution committee was installed in the Mbayo à Mbayo Groupement consisting of 14 members. After this negotiations were held between the communities and on 8 October Sac Vide leader of Perci and Sakade leader of Elements declared that they would accept a peaceful resolution of the conflict. A legal process started to prosecute members of both groups for crimes against humanity and war crimes in Lubumbashi.

Perci (Batwa militia) first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2015, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 35 civilians deaths. The threshold was reached in February that year Perci attacked different Baluba villages in the Manono and Nyunzu territories, resulting in more than 25 deaths.