Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > B. Attacks against Hutu refugees > 1. South Kivu > Shabunda territory

Many refugee survivors of the Uvira and Bukavu camps tried to escape via the Shabunda territory. These refugees took the old Bukavu to Kindu road, passing through the villages of Chimanga, Kingulube, Katshungu and Shabunda, 71, 181, 285 and 337 kilometres east of Bukavu respectively. Around mid-December 1996, 38,000 refugees were registered in three makeshift camps around Shabunda: Makese I, Makese II and Kabakita (also known as Kabakita I, Kabakita II and Kabakita III). An unknown number of these refugees, often those falling behind, were killed by AFDL/APR (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo / Rwandan Patriotic Army) soldiers on the Shabunda road. Massacres were reported in the villages of Mukenge, Baliga and Kigulube in January 1997. In the region, there were some sporadic clashes between AFDL/APR soldiers, the FAZ and ex-FAR/Interahamwe soldiers beating their retreat. The victims of the AFDL/APR units were for the most part unarmed civilians.²¹¹

• On 5 February 1997, AFDL/APR units allegedly killed around 500 refugees at the metal bridge over the Ulindi River at Shabunda, nine kilometres from Shabunda-Centre. Most of the victims were refugees who had fled the Kabakita I, II and III camps when the soldiers approached. After the massacre, villagers were made to dump the bodies in the river and clean the bridge. The soldiers forcefully ledaway the survivors in the direction of Kabatika and executed them the following day.²¹²

The refugees who managed to escape in time headed in the direction of Kindu. Others, after hearing that UNHCR had opened a branch at Kigulube, headed towards Bukavu. Several thousand refugees went this way, moving through the forest in small groups of 50 to 100 people. Since January 1997, AFDL/APR soldiers had controlled the zone and had set up many checkpoints along the major routes. Between February and April 1997, AFDL/APR units allegedly carried systematic killings of refugees travelling through the village of Kigulube and the surrounding forest, and on the 156 kilometres of road between Kigulube and the town of Shabunda.

When they intercepted refugees at Kigulube, the AFDL/APR soldiers usually asked them to follow them under various pretexts, in particular helping them push their vehicle to Mpwe. Along the way, they reportedly killed them with machete blows or knives. Despite orders given to villagers to recover the bodies of the refugees, international NGOs and local witnesses observed many corpses and skeletons on the roads around Kigulube, as well as personal effects that belonged to the refugees. On several occasions, international NGO personnel witnessed the clean-up operations between Shabunda and Kigulube and observed the presence of mass graves around graveyards in several villages and at several remote sites along the roadside. The total number of victims is hard to ascertain but runs to several hundred, and could even exceed one thousand.²¹³ In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• In the evening of 13 February 1997, units of the AFDL/APR killed between 70 and 180 refugees with machetes in the town of Mpwe, on the road leading to Kigulube village. After gathering the refugees together, the soldiers told them that they had come to sort out the “problem” that existed between the Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda. They then suggested to the refugees that they rest and eat to build their strength before continuing their journey to Kigulube. Lastly, they led them in small groups into a house where they killed them. Those who tried to escape before they were led into the house were shot dead. The bodies of the victims were for the most part buried in a mass grave behind the house.²¹⁴
• On 15 February 1997, AFDL/APR units killed around 200 refugees at two sites, four and seven kilometres from Kigulube. In one particular incident, a group of around sixty refugees were imprisoned in a house which was then set on fire by the soldiers. The victims’ bodies were thrown into mass graves.²¹⁵
• On 30 March 1997 and in the days that followed, AFDL/APR units killed several hundred refugees in the presence of a number of senior APR officials between Katshungu and Shabunda in the towns of Ivela, Balika, Lulingu and Keisha, and at the Ulindi bridge. The victims, including a large number of women and children, were mostly survivors from the Chimanga camp who had found refuge in Katshungu, a town fifty-four kilometres north-west of Shabunda. The massacre zone remained officially inaccessible to aid agencies for a number of days but these organisations were nonetheless able to observe cleanup operations and the presence along the road of human remains and personal effects that belonged to the refugees. ²¹⁶
• In the first three months of 1997, many refugees died of exhaustion and hunger during their journey between Kigulube and Shabunda. In danger of being killed at any moment, those in these groups, who were unfamiliar with their surroundings and undernourished, received no humanitarian aid. Having blocked aid agencies from operating outside a 30-kilometre radius of Bukavu, AFDL/APR officials established the condition that AFDL facilitators must accompany all their missions. According to several witnesses, these facilitators took advantage of their presence alongside the aid workers to supply AFDL/APR soldiers with information about the whereabouts and the movements of refugees. In this way, the soldiers were able to kill the refugees before they could be recovered and repatriated. During the same period, AFDL/APR soldiers officially barred Zairian civilians living in the region from giving assistance to refugees. Under this restriction, soldiers killed an unknown number of Zairians who had directly assisted refugees or collaborated with international NGOs and UN organisations to locate them and bring them assistance. The total number of refugees who died of hunger, exhaustion or disease in this part of South Kivu is impossible to establish but is probably in the region of several hundred, or even several thousand.²¹⁷

The murders and serious violations of human rights carried out against Rwandan and Burundian refugees continued well after the military conquest of the province by the AFDL/APR/FAB troops.

• Between 26 April and 29 April 1997, AFDL/APR units allegedly kidnapped, arbitrarily detained and tortured around fifty Rwandan Hutu minors and nine adult refugees near Kavumu Airport, in the Kabare territory. The victims were kidnapped from the Lwiro processing centre for child refugees on 26 April, between the hours of 4am and 5am. They were tortured and then transported by bus to Kavumu Airport, where they were placed in a container, tortured further and submitted to cruel, inhuman and degrading acts. The soldiers also reportedly beat the medical staff at the Lwiro centre on the grounds that they had agreed to treat refugees. On 29 April, after strong international pressure, the victims were handed over to UNHCR. The victims reported that there were many other containers at the airport and that they were used by soldiers to torture refugees.²¹⁸