Photo of the week : eventful week between allies in North Kivu

During the week of September 23, 2024, several clashes took place between the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) and the Congolese army on one side and between local militias maintained by Congolese authorities and the FARDC on the other. The army confirms the death of militiamen and civilians but refuses to admit that it clashed with the Hutu-FDLR genocidaires. The latter also say they did not fight the regular army. The fighting took place in an area where war displaced people have settled. It caused new displacements. The governor of North Kivu called a meeting to ease tensions. Militia leaders participated.
INFO SOS Médias Burundi
It all started on September 23 when Congolese soldiers started tracking down a military leader – FDLR, not far from the city of Sake in the territory of Masisi in the province of North Kivu in eastern Congo. And during the night from Wednesday to Thursday, clashes were reported in the Rusayo area, in the Virunga Park, between the FDLR and the FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo). According to the local civil society, the fighting continued throughout the morning of Thursday. It is in the territory of Nyiragongo.
A spokesperson for the FDRL denied this information.
« You know, we are refugees, we are not in our own country. It is Congo that shelters us. How can we dare to confront the FARDC? It is a stupidity that we will never be able to commit, » explained to SOS Médias Burundi Cure Ngoma, spokesman for the FDLR. His statements are confirmed by military sources in North Kivu who say that the clashes have rather broken out between the regular army and a local armed group maintained by the Congolese government. This is the APCLS (Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo) of self-proclaimed General Janvier Karairi.
« The problem exists between these two sons of the country – the FARDC and the Wazalendo (local militias maintained by Congolese authorities) and not between the FDLR and the FARDC, » according to Cure Ngoma.
Decision taken outside the province
According to high-ranking security sources, the attack on FDLR positions was decided in Kinshasa by a group of senior officers, without informing the « corrupt » authorities of North Kivu.
Some sources say that even the Congolese presidency was not informed of this operation.
« Those who decided on this intervention will certainly have problems, » believe members of Congolese intelligence. At the time of the events, President Félix Tshisekedi was in New York to participate in the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly where he called for new sanctions against Rwanda. Our sources believe that senior officers who took the measure wanted to « please the international community ».
Two units had been dispatched in the greatest secrecy to « surprise » the FDLR, according to our sources.
Recently, Congolese authorities had agreed to fight the FDLR during negotiations with Rwanda under the aegis of Angola, before withdrawing. The deputy spokesman for the Rwandan government, Alain Mukularinda, spoke of an « abnormal » situation.
Fighting with the Wazalendo confirmed
According to the FARDC spokesman in North Kivu, Lieutenant Colonel Guillaume Ndjike Kaiko, hostilities between the Congolese military and APCLS militias left seven dead, including four civilians. At least 17 other people were injured.
FARDC-Militia Meeting
On Friday, September 27, several local militia leaders were invited to Goma, the capital of North Kivu. They met with the commander in charge of military operations in North and South Kivu and General Peter Cirimwami Nkuba, the military governor of North Kivu.
According to the FARDC spokesperson in North Kivu, the meeting was aimed at « clearing up ambiguities about the incidents that occurred in the Rusayo groupment in Nyiragongo territory where an APCLS position was attacked by loyalist forces ».
Innocent Kanyabungo, an APCLS colonel complained.
« We lost 2 men in this attack and 9 others were injured », he lamented. « I do not understand why the FARDC decided to attack us ».
Colonel Kanyabungo said he ordered a temporary withdrawal of his fighters, while investigations are conducted and responsibilities established.
« Our ammunition was also set on fire. Currently, it is the FARDC who are occupying our positions, evidence that they are behind the attack, » he further complained.
The fighting between the Congolese military and the militia took place around the camp for displaced persons camp in Lushagala, in the Nyiragongo territory not far from the city of Goma. Local sources speak of a misunderstanding between the army leaders in this region and those of the militias. The latter refused to give up positions that they had set up next to this site whose occupants fled the war between the FARDC and the M23, a local armed group that controls a large part of North Kivu including the city of Bunagana, on the border with Uganda.
Several internally displaced persons were forced to flee again to head to Goma, fearing for their safety. The head of the Rusayo groupment told SOS Médias Burundi that it was a mix-up.
« A FARDC commander found himself, with his men, in the areas controlled by the Wazalendo, » he explained. « This happened in Rusayo and Sake. »
Financial interests
According to the local civil society, the FARDC and the APCLS militia clashed over financial interests.
« There was an altercation between the FARDC and a group of Wazalendo in Rusayo. They were arguing over revenues they illegally collect on this section. Clandestine roadblocks have already been erected on different sections of the road where they receive forced contributions. So they shot at each other, » testifies Thierry Gasisiro, technical rapporteur of the Nyiragongo civil society.
In an interview with SOS Médias Burundi, Mr. Gasisiro believes that « it is surprising that they resorted to heavy weapons ». He states that calm has returned to the region since Friday evening. He speaks of deaths on both sides, without specifying the number.
Since the resurgence of the M23, this is the first time that the Congolese army has targeted FDLR posts. Several groups and individuals associated with the FDLR have called the attack a « betrayal ».
The FDLR, like local militias, are called upon by Congolese authorities despite their alleged daily abuses, to fight the M23.
The M23 is a former Tutsi rebellion that took up arms again at the end of 2021, accusing Congolese authorities of not having respected their commitments on the reintegration of its fighters. Congolese authorities remain convinced that it benefits from support from Rwanda, which prompted them to file a complaint against Kigali at the Court of Justice of the EAC, the East African Community of which the two sister nations of the Great Lakes region of Africa are members. The case began to be heard on September 26. Rwanda, which has always dismissed these allegations out of hand, called the action a « non-event ».
Our photo : a displaced woman leaves her house and goes to Goma, coming from the Lushagala site (SOS Médias Burundi)