SUMMARY

Since its emergence in early 2020, the Patriotic and Integrationist Forces of the Congo (FPIC), locally known as Chini ya Kilima, has become a key perpetrator of violence against civilians in Irumu territory, located in the southern part of Ituri province in northeastern DR Congo (Zaire). Composed largely of young men from the Bira community.

FPIC has operated under the banner of local self-defense. And the group put forward an aim of reclaiming the land occupied by Hema in Irumu.

FPIC systematically targeted civilians, often through night raids or early morning assaults. The group regularly attacked villages, killing residents, burning houses, and looting livestock and property. Victims included men, women, and children, some of them killed with bladed weapons, others shot at close range. In several incidents, survivors reported that civilians were beheaded or mutilated. Cattle looting has been a consistent feature of FPIC’s violence, with large herds stolen in many attacks, particularly from Hema herders.

FPIC violence has focused primarily in southern and central Irumu territory, in areas in the vicinity of Bunia and along RN27, a critical route in the region. The group has on occasion collaborated with factions of CODECO for example URDPC.

FPIC first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2020, when the one-sided violence resulted in at least 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in July that year when FPIC targeted Hema civilians in the Irumu territory.