Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > C. Attacks against other civilian populations > North Kivu > Nyiragongo (Petit Nord) & Beni and Lubero (Grand Nord)

Nyiragongo territory (Petit Nord)

Situated between the city of Goma and the Mount Nyiragongo volcano, Nyiragongo is the smallest territory in the province of North Kivu. One refugee camp was located in this territory, on the Goma to Rutshuru road. From mid-October 1996, AFDL/APR soldiers moved on to the small strip of land of the Virunga National Park between the village of Rugari, in the Rutshuru territory, and Kibumba, in the Nyiragongo territory. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• Around 19 October 1996, unidentified men armed with guns and rocket launchers killed at least one hundred people between the villages of Rugari and Kibumba. The victims were killed in a series of attacks on vehicles on the Goma to Rutshuru road. 18 members of a Butembo football team who were on their way to Goma were killed when rockets were fired at their minibus. According to one source, members of the FAZ appointed to oversee the security of the vehicles were among the victims. The survivors were pursued by the attackers and killed in the forest.³⁷³

• On 12 April 1997, AFDL/APR units killed at least 33 people in the villages of Kanyati and Mudja. Upon their arrival at Kanyati, the soldiers asked the people to follow them to help them find Interahamwe. On the way, they ordered the civilians to lie on the ground and opened fire, killing 23 people. In the afternoon, they entered Mudja and opened fire on the people, killing ten civilians and injuring four. The soldiers had accused the people of Mudja of bartering supplies and coal with the Interahamwe operating near Goma.³⁷⁴

Territories of Beni and Lubero (Grand Nord)

In 1997 and 1998, the AFDL/APR soldiers (known as the Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC) from June 1997³⁷⁵) and those of the APR committed massacres in the territories of Lubero and Beni. As the local population is 95% Nande and few refugees attempted their escape via these two territories, these massacres fulfilled a different logic to that observed in the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru. The main massacres took place in 1997 after the breakdown of the alliance between the AFDL/APR soldiers and the numerous local Mayi-Mayi groups. Denouncing the constant interference of Rwanda in the region and the brutal methods used by the AFDL/APR soldiers towards refugees and local people alike, many Mayi-Mayi groups distanced themselves and then entered into conflict with them. In response, the AFDL/APR soldiers carried out several attacks on populations suspected of collaborating with Mayi-Mayi groups. In this context, the Mapping Team documented the following alleged incidents:

• On 6 January 1997, AFDL/APR units killed 184 people and torched the village of Kyavinyonge, in the Beni territory. The soldiers, who had come from Butembo, were pursuing Mayi-Mayi units from Kasindi. The “Kasindian” Mayi-Mayi had made Kyavinyonge one of their strongholds. Two weeks before the massacre, violent clashes took place forty kilometres from Kyavinyonge in the village of Kyondo, forcing AFDL/APR troops to withdraw to Butembo. Having driven the Mayi-Mayi out of Kyavinyonge, the soldiers asked some of the civilians to come out of their houses and shot them dead. They also threw grenades at dwellings, resulting in many casualties. Among the 184 bodies recovered was that of a pastor, killed while he was trying to persuade soldiers to spare the civilians who were sheltering in his church. The victims’ bodies were buried in various mass graves located in the village.³⁷⁶

• At the start of January 1998, FAC/APR soldiers killed an unknown number of people in the village of Kyavinyonge. The soldiers had come to Kyavinyonge to flush out the Mayi-Mayi. In the course of the operation, they killed civilians and looted dwellings.³⁷⁷

• On 20 February 1998, FAC/APR soldiers killed and raped an unknown number of civilians and looted dwellings during a combing operation in the city of Butembo. The victims were accused of collaborating with the Vurondo Mayi -Mayi, who had attacked the FAC/APR camp on the Kikyo hill, near Butembo city centre.³⁷⁸

• From 14 April to 17 April 1998, FAC/APR units killed several hundred civilians, committed many rapes and carried out a large number of arbitrary arrests in the villages on the outskirts of Butembo. Some sources have put forward a figure of 300 victims. The FAC/APR had accused the victims of supporting the Mayi-Mayi responsible for the recent attack on their military base at Butembo. The combing operation lasted several days. Some of the victims were shot dead in their homes; others were taken to the Kikyo military camp where they were shot, run over by jeeps or buried alive. During the combing operation, the soldiers moved from house to house looking for Mayi-Mayi. They raped dozens of women and girls in their homes. On several occasions they forced the men to sleep with their sisters and/or their daughters.³⁷⁹

• From 1996 to 1998, the “Kasindian” Mayi-Mayi forcibly recruited a large number of minors and adults in the Lubero territory. After the death of their commanding officer, part of the group assumed the name of Vurondo Mayi-Mayi. Some of the minors, many of whom were no more than 11 years old, were recruited in schools on a voluntary basis, mainly on the promise of sums of money. Others, however, were kidnapped and forcibly enlisted. Once enrolled, the minors underwent secret initiation ceremonies. They were also tattooed to mark their lifelong connection with the group. The minors lived in appalling conditions under a reign of terror.³⁸⁰