Ituri Province, Democratic Republic of Congo

Ituri is in the NE of the DRC and was formerly part of Province Orientale. It has it’s capital at Bunia, and has borders with Uganda and the DRC provinces of North Kivu and Orientale. It has a population made up of numerous ethnic and tribal groups, the most important of which are the Hema and the Lendu. The province is resource-rich, with extensive mineral deposits and recently discovered oil reserves.

History

Since the start of the second Congo War Ituri has been under the influence of Ugandan forces, with the first elements of the Ugandan Peoples Defence Force (UDPF) arriving in November 1998. The UDPF announced the creation of an independent Ituri Province in June 1999. Actual power has rested with a spectrum of different political factions, changing according to infighting and shifts in UDPS patronage. Ugandan forces largely pulled out in September 2002, in line with the Luanda accords signed between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Uganda, with the final 6,000 troops departing in early May 2003.

There has been widespread violence between ethnic groups over the last few years, often triggered by disputes over land. However, manipulation by the UDPF has fanned the flames of these conflicts, particularly between the Hema and the Lendu. When the UDPF declared Ituri to be an independent province, they appointed a local Hema businesswoman to be Governor, a move that aggravated land disputes into open warfare and led to an estimated 7000 deaths. Ugandan commanders have been accused of hiring their soldiers out to Hema landowners, and of being involved in the training of both Hema and Lendu militias. Other Ugandan commanders, apparently acting independently, have intervened directly in fighting on both sides of the conflict.

The RCD-ML took over de facto authority in Ituri following the departure of the MLC of Jean Pierre Bemba in November 2001. Led by Mbusa Nyamwisi, a member of the Nande ethnic group from Beni, North Kivu, they have increasingly been associated with the Lendu ethnicity and their allies. In early 2002, a resurgence of Hema-Lendu violence led the RCD-ML to appoint a military governor not from the area to take charge of a pacification programme. This move was opposed by a Hema leader within the RCD-ML named Tibasima, leading to further political violence.

When the Inter-Congolese Dialogue in April 2002 ended with all parties except the Rwandan-backed RCD-G signing an agreement, the impact on Ituri was immediate. The RCD-ML began to see itself as an ally of the Kinshasa government and, because of their affiliation with the Lendu, the RCD-G started to support the Hema people of Ituri in their fight against the Lendu. The support of the UPDF in Bunia began to move away from the RCD-ML.

Then, in August 2002, the RCD-ML were forced out of Bunia by a new faction led by a notorious Hema leader and former RCD-ML Minister of Defence Thomas Lubanga. Having taken the town he announced the creation of a new political party, the Union des Patriots Congolese (UPC), with himself as President. He included in his Cabinet known Hema extremists, including Adele Lutshove, the first Hema governor of Ituri who’s appointment was responsible for the first escalation of ethnic violence in 1999, and Chief Kao, a traditional Hema leader who earlier this year took the DRC Minister for Human Rights hostage during a rare visit to the province.

The complexion of Lubanga’s cabinet very clearly demonstrated that political and ethic fault-lines in Ituri were becoming ever more closely aligned. Bunia increasingly became a mono-ethnic town, with non-Hema residents being killed or forced to flee. In response Lendu militias cut the town’s water supply, leading to outbreaks of Cholera. At the same time, Hema residents in surrounding towns and villages were subject to appalling levels of violence – for instance, during an attack on a town called Nyankunde, UPC forces were driven away by the retreating RCD-ML, the hospital attacked and any patient that looked like a Hema killed. Some reports had as many as 1000 people dead in this one attack alone.

Developments in 2003

On the 6th of January 2003 the UPC signed a formal military alliance with the RCD-G, marking the final split between the UPC and Uganda. The RCD-ML are re-established in Beni, North Kivu, the home town of their leader Mbusa Nyamwisi. They have maintained their alliance with the Kinshasa government, with some reports placing as many as four battalions of government troops in Beni. They have retained good relations with Uganda.

Fighting continued in Ituri with the RCD-ML, allied to Lendu ethnic militias, engaged with UPC forces supported by the Hema. Ethnic violence, revenge attacks and human rights abuses have continued on all sides. To complicate matters further, the MLC of Jean-Pierre Bemba have started to push back into Ituri and stand accused of some of the most disturbing human rights abuses, including allegations of forced cannibalism.

Then, on March the 6th this year, the UPDF in Ituri turned against the UPC, removing them from Bunia and the surrounding areas, and handing leadership to a pro-Ugandan traditional chief. This has been followed by a wave of revenge killings taking place across the district against Hema civilians. Rwanda and their allies the RCD-G were accused of supplying, arming and training the UPC.

Following heavy international pressure Uganda finally pulled out its remaining troops, with the last leaving Bunia in early May. Although the UN deployed some 700 MONUC troops they were vastly inadequate to fill the vacuum left by the Ugandan departure. Bunia was quickly over-run by fighting militias, with ethnically targeted killing, rape and looting widespread. This led to the death of over 300 people and the flight of an estimated 75% of the Town’s 350,000 population.

Although relative calm returned when the UPC retook control of Bunia in alliance with a new Hema group named PUSIC, tensions remain extremely high. Lendu militia groups are active close to the town and the humanitarian situation is critical. There are now reports of fighting between Hema and Lendu in different parts of the district and the fate of the vast majority of those that fled Bunia is unknown.