SUMMARY

The Nduma Defence of Congo NDC was a Nyanga-led militia commanded by Ntabo Ntaberi Sheka, active in the territories of Walikale, Masisi, and Lubero in North Kivu, eastern DR Congo. The group emerged in 2009 during intensified fighting in the Kivus and gained notoriety for extreme brutality against civilians, particularly in contested areas around Pinga in Walikale. In the early years of NDC attacks were mainly reported by a coalition between NDC and the Rwandan Hutu militia FDLR. And in 2010 a temporary coalition between NDC, FDLR-FOCA and Forces of Nsengiyumva attacked villages along the Kibua–Mpofi axis in Walikale territory, North Kivu province.

NDC positioned itself as a defender of Nyanga interests. NDC fighters often appeared to treat rival ethnic communities and suspected collaborators of other armed groups as legitimate targets and they and frequently targeted Hunde civilians.

NDC became notorious for its extreme brutality against civilians, which included mass killings, executions, sexual violence, and mutilation. Tactics used by the group were often deliberately cruel and designed to terrorize, including decapitations, acts of cannibalism, and the use of rape as a weapon of war. Looting, extortion, and forced taxation were also widespread. Women and children were frequently among the victims, and entire villages were often emptied during raids. Civilians were also targeted for perceived disloyalty, failure to pay illegal taxes, or ethnic identity.

The violence was geographically concentrated in the Nord Kivu province of DR Congo but spread across multiple territories, including Walikale, Masisi, and Lubero, reflecting the group’s shifting area of operations in response to military pressure or internal dynamics.

NDC first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2013, when one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in June that year, when NDC killed mainly Hunde civilians around Pinga in Walikale in the Nord Kivu province of DR Congo.