SUMMARY
The Government of Congo (Zaire) with clear peaks during major escalation phases.
Under the authoritarian regime of President Mobutu Sese Seko, which ruled from 1965 to 1997, the state relied heavily on patronage networks and repression to maintain control. Throughout the early 1990s, Mobutu’s government suppressed uprisings and civil protests with brutal force. Soldiers frequently targeted civilians during peaceful demonstrations or engaged in violence during episodes of looting and criminal activity. Ethnic tensions further inflamed the situation. In 1995, Mobutu’s armed forces, alongside Hutu militias, were involved in killings of ethnic Hunde civilians amid the local conflict between Hunde and Hutu communities.
The most severe escalation in one-sided violence began in 1996 with the outbreak of an intrastate conflict, as the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo ( AFDL), supported by Rwandan, Ugandan, and Angolan troops troops, launched an armed campaign to depose Mobutu. In retaliation, government forces carried out massacres targeting Banyamulenge civilians, an ethnic Tutsi group the regime accused of collaborating with the rebels. Mobutu was eventually overthrown in May 1997. But the massacres escalated further under the new government of Laurent-Désiré Kabila leading to the highest number of one-sided violence by the Government of DR Congo reported in the period. His administration continued the mass killing of thousands of Rwandan and Burundian refugees as well as population belonging to the Hutu Banyarwanda community that the government of Rwanda and AFDL had started in 1996 in revenge for the Rwandan-genocide.
When a new civil war broke out in 1998, the Government of DR Congo) again turned against civilians suspected of supporting rebel groups. During the civil war, one-sided violence gradually declined but remained significant. The one-sided violence by the government de-escalated with end of this war.
Following a peace agreement in 2003, former rebel groups were integrated into the national army. However, the civilian population remained vulnerable to attacks from elements within the army, which engaged in widespread looting, sexual violence, and killings. The government also continued to kill civilians accused of supporting different smaller militias. In 2009, government-perpetrated violence worsened again. As part of the 23 March Peace Agreement, rebels from the CNDP were incorporated into the army. These newly integrated forces participated in joint operations with Rwanda against FDLR. However, all sides in the conflict deliberately targeted civilians, resulting in widespread displacement and near-daily reports of civilian deaths. The situation deteriorated again in 2012 with the emergence of the M23 rebellion. Disgruntled soldiers, frustrated by unpaid salaries and poor conditions on the front-lines in North Kivu, looted villages and attacked civilians.
A new escalation began in 2016, when government operations against the Kamuina Nsapu militia in the Kasai region led to large-scale civilian killings. In some one-sided attacks the Government of Congo (Zaire) civilians together with the Bana Mura militia. Although levels declined after 2018, one-sided violence persisted at lower but steady levels.
A renewed increase was observed in 2024, followed by a still elevated level in 2025, largely driven by localized military operations, clashes with various armed groups, and incidents of looting and targeted killings by state forces.
While direct public statements from the Congolese government explicitly justifying violence against civilians are limited, state actions and military campaigns have frequently been framed as counterinsurgency or efforts to restore order. Civilians targeted were often labeled as collaborators with rebel groups, foreign infiltrators, or enemies of the state. For instance, Banyamulenge civilians were scapegoated during the 1996-1997 conflict for their ties to the Rwandan-backed AFDL rebellion. Similarly, during later escalations, the state justified its one-sided violence by accusing civilians of supporting rebel movements like RCD, CNDP. M23, Kamuina Nsapu, BDK or the FDLR. Framing civilians as supporters of rebel-groups served to legitimize otherwise indiscriminate or retaliatory violence. After peace agreements incorporating different rebel groups into the national army, the state accused undisciplined soldiers for one-sided attacks.
The Congolese state has employed a wide range of tactics in its one-sided violence against civilians, including massacres, extrajudicial executions, ethnic targeting, and killings during operations against protests or during looting. During Mobutu’s rule, the one-sided violence primarily occurred during crackdowns on protests or during looting. From 1996 onward, as intrastate conflict intensified, government forces escalated violence against civilians and conducted systematic massacres and ethnic targeting, particularly against Banyamulenge and Hutu civilians. Over time, violence has also taken the form of killings during the looting of villages, killings during rape, and revenge attacks on villages hosting armed groups.
While the vast majority of violence by the Congolese government has occurred within the country’s borders where all corners of the country have been affected, one event also occurred in neighboring Zambia in May 1993 when Zairean troops looted a village and killed an elderly man in the Mwinilunga district.
The Government of Congo (Zaire) was first recorded as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989, when its forces killed at least 25 civilians. This threshold was reached in February of that year, following government crackdowns on student protests in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi.
