SUMMARY
The Ituri province, a region in the north-eastern parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) has been a focus of fierce conflicts and violence targeting civilians. Most of the violence, perpetrated by a vast number of more or less organized groups, sprung from a land conflict between the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups but evolved more and more into a regional conflict over resources. The Lendu are one of the largest ethnicities in Ituri, with a size of between 750 000 and 1 million people, whereas the Hema are remarkably smaller with a size of between 300 000 and 400 000 people.
Tensions between the Hema and Lendu can be led back to pre-colonial times, although most of the time they lived peacefully alongside each other. The first violence between the groups was reported already in 1880, although the oral history in the region often state 1911 as the first main clash between the groups. Under the Belgian colonizers the Hema were favored. They had access to higher positions and got better chances for education. The Lendu were mainly treated as a manual labor force. When the decolonization process started, the Hema minority remained in place as the elite, with at times even employing the Lendu as their servants. Tensions between the Hema and Lendu led to violent conflict in 1973, 1990, and 1997. The major conflict in Ituri started however in 1999. In that year, a commander of the Ugandan army, General James Kazini created a separate province of Ituri with Bunia as its capital. He then appointed a Hema as the province top-administrator triggering the violence.
The magnitude of violence after 1999 cannot be compared to the conflicts in earlier years. The different ethnicities in the province started to organize themselves, first into ethnic militias, then into rebel groups, allied to regional players in the main DR Congo intrastate war before splintering and forming new alliances across ethnicities. While the conflict over land and local power has been the prime reason for violence, the presence of gold and other minerals in Ituri has been the reason for the continuation of fighting. Ituri’s war officially ended with peace agreements in 2005 and 2006, but some armed group activity persisted most of it by groups just as opposed to the disarmament process.
In all the conflicts that were ongoing in Ituri in the early 2000s, civilians were often targeted, simply for belonging to the wrong ethnicity.
The FRPI, RCD-K-ML (Forces de Résistance Patriotique d’Ituri, Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri / Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie-Mouvement de Libération, Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement) attacked Nyankunde, the main town of the Andisoma region in the Ituri district in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (Zaire) in September 2002. Prior to the attack, Nyankunde was a major center in the region due to its commercial activities and its well-equipped hospital in which international staff provided high-quality and specialized care in the region. Nyankunde had around 14 000 inhabitants.
Tensions between the Ngiti population (Lendu) and the Bira and Hema of Nyankunde had been high. The Ngiti were intimidated and abused and eventually forced out of Nyankunde. The Ngiti, organized under the umbrella of the FRPI, at times attacked the district, which further fuelled hatred. Rumors about the September attack were present a few days before the event. A five-member high panel from Nyankunde traveled to Bunia to alert MONUC, but the United Nations Peacekeeping operation did not have the means nor the mandate to act at this time.
On the morning of the 5th of September, FRPI and RCD-K-ML combatants launched an attack from three different directions: Singo, Songolo and Atele. For two weeks the Ngiti combatants systematically sought and killed Bira, Hema and Gegere individuals.
The attackers appeared to be overexcited by drugs, and were wearing vials and fetishes on their chest. They mutilated victims’ bodies (removing especially the throat and heart) in order to create these fetishes. The main weapons they used were machetes, spears, and arrows.
It appears that the FRPI militia carried out the largest portion of the violence. The RCD-K-ML committed widespread looting and extortion, but at times intervened to prevent the killing of victims or to allow the evacuation of wounded. Yet, it seems as that an RCD-K-ML commander Faustin Kakule negotiated and agreed upon the attack with the FRPI forces.
The FRPI, RCD-K-ML coalition 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 in September of that year when the coalition conducted a massacre in Nyankunde town, resulting in over 1000 civilian deaths.
