ITURI conflict – Wikipedia

The Ituri conflict or war of ituri Following the Second Congo War (1998 – 2002), he essentially opposed Lendu militias (the Patriotic Resistance force of Ituri) and Hema in the Ituri district located in the eastern province north -east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It is linked to criminal interests and geopolitics of the Great Lakes.

In 1911, war broke out after the assassination of the great Hema chief, Bomera, by the Indru (also called Walendu-Bindi, Lendu-Bindi or Lendu-Sud). Hostilities will extend the following year in the territory of Djugu ^{[ first ]} .

During the Second Congo War in 1999, Ugandan troops used this litigation to form ethnic armed militias to better control the population but also for extraction and (illegal) gold (illegal) ^{[ 2 ]} . After the departure of the Ugandan armed forces, the criminal cartels involved in this traffic remained on the spot and continued to rely on rural militias and other self -defense groups; Different testimonies agree to affirm that since the colonial era, there has never been deplored any conflict of land between the Hema peoples and this despite the tangle of their villages particularly in the territory of Djugu ^{[ 3 ]} . Ethnicity is instrumentalized in local economic, local, national and international goals ^{[ 4 ]} . Several ethnic cleaning operations, with the culmination of the massacre of a thousand biras and Hemas at the Nyankunde hospital ^{[ 5 ] , [ 6 ]} .

The December 16, 2002 , Pretoria’s global and inclusive agreement officially ends the Second Congo War. In accordance with this peace treaty, the Ugandan army which occupied the district of Ituri withdrew from its capital Bunia the May 6, 2003 . Immediately, Lendu militias launched a raid on the city and massacre tens of hemas without being able to have an exact assessment of the number of victims ^{[ 2 ]} . The same week, the Hemas in turn organize deadly attacks in retaliation.

Dozens of militias, armed bands and warlords, sometimes using children-soldiers, make terror reign in the region, the situation is chaotic and the population is taken hostage ^{[ 7 ]} . Some militias are still controlled by the Ugandan army, sometimes with competitions between the Ugandan generals themselves because they are linked to criminal networks and trafficking. Rwanda and the government of Kinshasa also support certain militias ^{[ 8 ]} .

The forces of the mission of the United Nations Organization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Monuc) deployed in the region are exceeded but in June 2003 , the UN authorizes the European Union to deploy the Artémis operation, 2,000 essentially French blue soldiers. Bunia is secure, certain neutralized militias, international judgments mandates are launched against the most notable warlords, and several of them are actually imprisoned in The Hague to be tried before the International Criminal Court: Hemas Thomas Lubanga and Bosco Ntaganda, and Lendus Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui and Germain Katanga, accused of being responsible for the Bogoro massacre. MONUC officials and soldiers in Bunia are also accused of crimes, in particular to organize and take advantage of prostitution networks with sometimes minors and even children ^{[ 9 ]} .

Massacre de Bogoro [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

The February 24, 2003 , an attack by Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, Congolese militia leaders from the FPRI and the FNI, takes place against the military camp and the village of Bogoro, mainly populated by Hemas. During this attack, 200 civilians are killed and many others are suffering from abuses.

This leads the International Criminal Court to issue arrest mandates for war crimes and crimes against humanity and in particular for “Murders, rapes, sexual slavery, use of children-soldiers, attacks on civilians, looting, destruction of goods” ^{[ ten ]} .

Arrested by the Congolese authorities, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui are transferred to the ICC to The Hague the first October 17, 2007 and the second the February 7, 2008 . Following the trial, Germain Katanga is found guilty of part of the charges but bleached accusations of rape and sexual slavery. He is sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment knowing that he has already carried out seven since his arrest ^{[ 11 ]} . The lack of appeal from the accusation leads to a disagreement between the various parties linked to the accusation. For his part, Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui is acquitted the December 18, 2012 Loads of war crimes and crimes against humanity. This verdict is then confirmed by the call chamber.

Even if the Second Congo War officially ended in 2003, a low intensity conflict continued for several years in Ituri, with tens of thousands of additional dead. This resurgence of the conflict is due to both the absence of real authority in the region, which has become a patchwork of areas claimed by armed militias, and the competition between the various armed groups for controlling the region’s natural resources. The most important rebellious group is the Patriotic Resistance force of Ituri (FRPI), based in Walendu Bindi and trained in 2002.

Half of the members of this militia are children-soldiers under the age of 18, some barely eight years old ^{[ twelfth ]} .

FRPI attacks (2008–2012) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Despite the ceasefire accepted in 2006, a dissident group of FRPI activists launched sporadic attacks on government forces and the civilian population from 2008. These attacks include many atrocities, rapes, fires, rapids ^{[ 13 ] , [ 14 ] , [ 15 ] , [ 16 ]} .

In January 2010 , Kakado Barnaba Yunga, the spiritual leader of the FPRI goes into trial in Bunia. Yunga is accused of rebellion, abstract, rape and cannibalism, among other crimes ^{[ 17 ] , [ 18 ]} .

During the following years, tens of thousands of civilians are moved by FRPI activists, who continue to attack them and perpetrate many crimes ^{[ 19 ] , [ 20 ] , [ 21 ] , [ 22 ] , [ 23 ]} .

FARDC counterattacks and surrender offer (2012–2014) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Due to the rise of FRPI’s attacks, the FARDC (Congolese army) begin large -scale operations against him. Cattle and other stolen goods are recovered and returned to the local population ^{[ 24 ] , [ 25 ]} . Little by little, FRPI activists have disunited, and many are incorporated into the FARDC ^{[ 26 ] , [ 27 ]} .

In September 2014 , Monusco opens an office in the village of Avebo in order to provide activists with a place to get, with mixed success ^{[ 28 ] , [ 29 ] , [ 30 ]} . Cobra Matata chief, for example, goes to the Congolese authorities the November 21, 2014 ^{[ thirty first ] , [ 32 ]} , but the FRPI does not abandon.

New offensives from the FRPI (2014 – Present) [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Despite the government’s efforts, the FRPI manages to launch attacks against civilians until today, creating resurgence after 2014. More goods are stolen and crimes are committed ^{[ 33 ] , [ 34 ] , [ 35 ] , [ 36 ]} . Activists may use bases in Uganda as support for their operations ^{[ 37 ]} .

FARDC soldiers on patrol in Aveba in 2015.

Although the commander of the FRPI Mbadu Adirodu has promised the surrender of 300 activists to May 2015 , in June the peace negotiations are broken and the fight continues ^{[ 38 ] , [ 39 ] , [ 40 ]} .

Related article [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Massacre de Plaine your

External link [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Le Proc. The Germain Katanga It Mathii Ngudjolo Chui, on project the Open SOCIETY INITIAL

Bibliography [ modifier | Modifier and code ]

Franck Leibovici and Julien SerousSi , Bogoro , Paris, theoretical questions, coll. “Non -covered realities”, 2016 , 351 p. (ISBN  978-2-917-13146-6 )