SUMMARY
The UPLD, also known as Mayi Mayi Luc Yabili, Mayi Mayi Shokoro and Mayi Mayi Kumu, was primarily active in the Bafwasende area of the DR Congo (Zaire). The group was formed after the Second Congo War by med who refused integration into the national army. Violence by the group escalated in response to their opposition against the creation of Maiko Park without compensation to locals. UPLD also sought to exclude foreign actors (including the Congolese army and other ethnic groups such as the Rumbi) from mining and natural resource exploitation in areas they considered theirs. In 2024 UPLD was involved in skirmishes against Mayi Mayi Maradona, a group who splintered from UPLD after a leadership struggle Luc Yabili’s death. Maradona is the biological son of Luc Yabili. Some argued that Maradona had ties with the Government of DR Congo while UPLD was forming ties with AFC tying the Bafwasende violence to the intrastate conflict over government.
UPLD justified its violence by claiming civilians were collaborators or sympathizers of rival groups, particularly other Mayi-Mayi factions or the national army. The group fought for the control over Maiko Park, to protect the land against foreign groups i.e. FDLR, against people of Rumbi ethnicity, and to prohibit all ‘foreigners’ (including FARDC) from mining in areas of their control. Civilian victims of one-sided violence by the group were allegedly targeted based on opposing these aims. Additionally, UPLD was accused of spreading false claims that it was aligned with VDP in fighting the M23 in North Kivu, using this narrative to justify its presence and operations in Tshopo. Contrary the provincial deputy of the region claimed UPLD collaborated with the AFC and that AFC was aiming for control over the Tshopo province and its natural resources.
UPLD's violence against civilians has involved killings during looting, ransom-taking, rape and burning of villages. An example is the August 2020 events in Mabuo and Bududia in the Bapere sector (Lubero territory), where the group, led at the time by Luc Yabili, systematically looted property, raped women, burned houses, and executed at least two civilians who fled the village. The killings have been part of a larger effort to seize control of mining sites and eliminate rival militias.
The one-sided violence attributed to UPLD has been geographically concentrated, primarily in Bafwasende territory in the Tshopo province and Lubero territory North Kivu province. They have particularly been active in the area around the Opinge locality which is rich in gold. UPLD has controlled mining sites operated by companies such as Ndjokam and Jocam. Violence have also focused on the area around the Maiko National Park where the group have occupied strategic forest zones.
UPLD first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2024 when the one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in in June 2024 when 65 civilians were killed by UPLD in Balobe village in the Opinge locality.
