Congo Civil War - 2022
Armed groups, militias and other hostile forces are highly motivated by access to the abundant natural resources in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. That turned the country’s natural wealth into a driver of conflict and instability, rather than development and prosperity. most of the armed conflicts appear to be unrelated to mining activities. Armed interference in artisanal mining often rather concerns illegal ‘protection rackets’, while armed confrontations largely take place elsewhere and for other stakes. Nevertheless, these protection rackets do contribute to the overall insecurity in eastern DRC and further stigmatises the region to be an impossible area to conduct ethically responsible business.
In conflict areas, both armed groups and elements of the SSF regularly set up roadblocks and ran illegal taxation schemes. In 2019, IPIS published data showing state agents regularly sold tags meant to validate clean mineral supply chains. The validation tags, a mechanism designed to reduce corruption, labor abuses, trafficking in persons, and environmental destruction, were regularly sold to smugglers. In April, the NGO Global Witness published a report finding that government agents routinely and knowingly tagged minerals from unvalidated mines in North and South Kivu Provinces through the International Tin Supply Chain Initiative (ITSCI), a program to monitor supply chains and ensure extracted minerals are not linked to child labor or the influence of armed groups.
Conflict between government military forces and the more than 15 significant and cohesive armed groups continued in the eastern provinces of the country. In response the president announced a state of siege akin to martial law in Ituri and North Kivu Provinces in May 2021, which parliament repeatedly extended and remained in effect as of November. The state of siege transfers powers from civilian to military authorities, provides for increased police powers, extends the jurisdiction of military courts to try civilian criminal offenses, restricts certain rights and fundamental freedoms, and suspends immunity from prosecution for certain elected officials (including national and provincial deputies and senators). Separately, beginning in April the armed rebel group March 23 Movement significantly increased attacks against the country’s forces and in June took over the border town of Bunagana. In December, the UN Group of Experts reported it had evidence the Rwandan Defense Forces supported the March 23 Movement and were conducting operations on Congolese territory.
The seven-nation EAC decided in June 2022 to create a military force, with the aim of stabilising eastern Congo, which has been plagued by armed groups for decades. The M23 first came to international prominence in 2012, when it captured the eastern Congolese city of Goma before being driven out. But the Tutsi-led group re-emerged from dormancy in late 2021, arguing that the government had ignored a promise to integrate its fighters into the army. It went on to capture large chunks of North Kivu province and displace hundreds of thousands of people, and has come close to surrounding Goma.
The SSF continued fighting armed groups in the east of the country, and conflict among armed groups resulted in significant population displacement and human rights abuses, especially in Ituri and North Kivu Provinces. Among the 15 major armed groups in the country, Nyatura, ISIS-Democratic Republic of the Congo (ISIS-DRC, locally known as the Allied Democratic Forces), and the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) perpetrated the most abuses according to a UNJHRO report covering the first half of the year. A UN Group of Experts report released in June noted that rising tensions since October 2021 between the armed groups CODECO and Zaire contributed to numerous crimes against civilians, particularly in Djugu Territory.
Operations by M23, Nyatura, Nduma Defense of Congo-Renewal, the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and ISIS-DRC caused significant population displacement in North Kivu Province, which experienced 63 percent of all human rights abuses in conflict-affected provinces. CODECO attacks in Ituri also resulted in significant population displacement, particularly in Djugu Territory. In South Kivu Province, there continued to be reports of cycles of retaliatory clashes between armed groups and attacks against civilians in the Hauts-Plateaux of Mwenga, Uvira, and Fizi Territories.
The government took steps to neutralize armed groups and fight impunity. Operational cooperation between MONUSCO and the government continued in the east. The MONUSCO Force Intervention Brigade supported FARDC troops in North Kivu and southern Ituri Provinces. MONUSCO forces deployed and conducted patrols to protect internally displaced persons (IDPs) from armed group attacks in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri Provinces. The FARDC continued joint operations with Ugandan military forces, the Uganda Peoples’ Defense Force, under Operation Shujaa.
There were credible reports that armed groups and the SSF perpetrated serious human rights abuses during internal conflicts in 2022. In the first half of the year, the UNJHRO documented a total of 2,960 human rights abuses in conflict-affected provinces, including North Kivu (1,871), followed by Ituri (485), and to a lesser extent South Kivu, Tanganyika, and Maniema. Conflict-affected provinces accounted for more than 90 percent of all abuses throughout the country. Local NGOs reported that SSF committed abuses under the cover of the state of siege in North Kivu and Ituri Provinces. Armed groups committed approximately 69 percent of documented cases in conflict-affected provinces in the first half of the year according to UNJHRO. Combatants abducted victims for ransom, for forced labor, and in retaliation for suspected collaboration. UNJHRO reported that armed groups used extrajudicial killings as a tactic to force populations to abandon their property, crops, or areas vital for agriculture and mining.
Peacekeepers were also responsible for deliberate killings of civilians and the indiscriminate use of force. On July 31, Tanzanian MONUSCO forces opened fire on civilians at a border crossing with Uganda near Kasindi, North Kivu Province, killing two persons and injuring 15 others. The suspected perpetrators were arrested and removed from their positions with MONUSCO. The troop contributing country in question has responsibility for judicial proceedings, and a joint Democratic Republic of the Congo-MONUSCO investigation into the incident remained pending as of the end of August 2022.
UN agencies and NGOs reported armed groups abducted individuals to perform forced labor or guide them, or to ransom them. Armed groups also utilized abductions as reprisal for a victims’ alleged collaboration with the security and defense forces or rival groups, or because of their refusal to pay illegal taxes or to participate in so-called community work. The UNJHRO reported that from January through June, a total of 297 children were abducted from the provinces of North Kivu, Ituri, Tanganyika, South Kivu, and Maniema. Mai Mai armed groups, ISIS-DRC, CODECO, and Nyatura were responsible for most abductions.
Gender-based violence was often used as a tactic of war, and the FARDC, PNC, ANR, armed groups, and civilians perpetrated widespread sexual violence. From January through June, the UNJHRO documented 239 cases of conflict-related sexual violence affecting women and children. Nearly 18 percent of these violent crimes were attributable to state agents, notably FARDC soldiers and PNC agents. UNJHRO found that FARDC soldiers perpetrated sexual violence against 54 survivors (30 women and 24 children) from January through June. Most of the sexual violence attributable to state agents was committed in North and South Kivu Provinces. Physical mistreatment of civilians, prisoners, and injured or sick persons by the government and armed groups was also common.
According to the UN Conduct in UN Field Missions online portal, there were seven allegations of sexual abuse or exploitation committed by MONUSCO personnel during the year. There were also during the year seven UN investigations into allegations of sexual abuse or exploitation. Armed groups also perpetrated numerous incidents of physical abuse and sexual violence.
According to the Conduct in UN Field Missions online portal, there were three open allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse by the country’s peacekeepers deployed to UN peacekeeping missions. Of the 32 allegations against the country’s military personnel deployed to peacekeeping missions from 2015 to the present, the United Nations repatriated six perpetrators, all of whom received prison time upon return to the country. The United Nations and the local government were conducting 20 investigations into allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by non-Congolese MONUSCO forces deployed to the country that remained pending as of August.
In January 2022, the FARDC and PNC disseminated action plans to combat conflict-related sexual violence. As part of the implementation of these action plans, the FARDC and PNC held monthly meetings with UNJHRO beginning in May. The FARDC and PNC collaborated with UNJHRO on training activities as part of a campaign on child protection in armed conflict and gender-based violence in North Kivu. In February, as part of the Joint Technical Working Group, UNJHRO conducted training sessions in Bunia (Ituri) for FARDC and PNC commanders on the mechanisms for prevention and protection of civilians from gender-based violence and the commitments contained in the FARDC and PNC action plans.
The U.S. government has determined that the SSF and armed groups in the country had or used child soldiers throughout 2021. The country was also included on the 2022 Child Soldiers Prevention Act list because the FARDC recruited or used child soldiers. Please see the Department of State’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report.
Armed groups deliberately targeted health-care facilities and medical personnel and intentionally deprived civilian populations of food, water, and humanitarian aid. For example, in July, ISIS-DRC claimed responsibility for an attack on a hospital in Lume, North Kivu Province, which left 13 persons dead, including infants and patients.
Fighting between the FARDC and armed groups as well as among armed groups continued to displace populations and limit humanitarian access, particularly in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema, and Tanganyika Provinces. The government took steps to assist displaced persons, including by coordinating with humanitarian organizations, UNHCR and MONUSCO on IDP protection and humanitarian assistance.
In North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Kasai-Oriental, and Haut-Katanga Provinces, armed groups and elements of the FARDC continued to illegally tax, exploit, and trade natural resources for revenue and power. Clandestine trade in minerals and other natural resources facilitated the purchase of weapons and reduced government revenues. Gold, cassiterite (tin ore), coltan (tantalum ore), and wolframite (tungsten ore) were the most exploited minerals, but wildlife products, timber, charcoal, and fish were also sought after.
The illegal trade in minerals financed armed groups and individual elements of the SSF. Both elements of the SSF and certain armed groups continued to control, extort, and threaten remote mining areas in North Kivu, South Kivu, Ituri, Maniema, and Haut Katanga Provinces and the Kasai region.
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