05 10 12 HRW – DR Congo: Awaiting Justice One Year After Ethnic Attack

On October 4, 2011, members of the Mai Mai Yakutumba, a largely ethnic
Babembe armed group, attacked a vehicle of the nongovernmental organization Eben
Ezer Ministry International in Kalungwe village, near the town of Fizi. The Mai
Mai separated passengers based on their ethnicity and then executed the seven
who were members of the Banyamulenge ethnic group.

“One year has passed
since Mai Mai executed seven humanitarian workers on ethnic grounds, and the
victims’ families still await justice,” said Daniel Bekele, Africa director
at Human Rights Watch. “The Congolese government has done almost nothing to
arrest those responsible while the killing of civilians in South Kivu
continues.”

Human Rights Watch researchers interviewed all seven
survivors of the attack, as well as other witnesses, local human rights
defenders, Congolese judicial authorities, and other sources. Detailed witness
accounts indicated that the killings of the seven Banyamulenge were ethnically
motivated, Human Rights Watch said.

Witnesses told Human Rights Watch
that armed Mai Mai deliberately singled out and stopped the Eben Ezer vehicle, a
white Land Cruiser with the organization’s logo.

“We could hear them [the
Mai Mai] talking about waiting for a white jeep,” one witness said. “It was
clear they were waiting for the Banyamulenge. Before the attack, I heard one of
them say, ‘We will trap the people here.’”

Survivors described how a
large group of armed men appeared ahead of their vehicle in Kalungwe. When the
driver turned the vehicle around, a second group had emerged from behind,
blocking their way. The Mai Mai fired on the vehicle, killing the driver almost
instantly.

The Mai Mai forced the passengers out of the vehicle. One
survivor told Human Rights Watch that the attackers separated the passengers
into two groups on the basis of their appearance: those who appeared to be
Banyamulenge and those who did not. The Mai Mai then took five of the
Banyamulenge to a nearby location in the village and shot and killed three of
them; the two others escaped. The Mai Mai returned to the Banyamulenge on the
road beside their vehicle and killed three of them with machetes. A fourth
survived by hiding in the bush.

The dead, all Banyamulenge, were
Eraste Rwatangabo, Tite Kandoti, Edmond Gifota, the driver Fidèle Musore, Gisèle
Nabisage, Pasteur Amédée Ngeremo, and Gitandu Muhoza.

“The Mai Mai
ruthlessly singled out and killed their victims because of their ethnicity,”
Bekele said. “The Congolese government should recognize that its failure to
address the abuses long rampant in this region allows ethnic tensions to
smolder.”

After the attack, senior Congolese provincial military and
government officials said that the attackers would soon be arrested and tried.
Military justice officials said they had opened an investigation, but no arrest
warrants have been issued and no one has been charged or tried in connection
with the killings. The officials told Human Rights Watch they were not able to
apprehend members of armed groups hiding in the forests. Local residents and
local human rights defenders told Human Rights Watch that to their knowledge, no
government or judicial officials had been to Kalungwe to investigate the attack.

Although there have been other cases of ethnic violence in this region,
the October 4 attack was notable because of the overt ethnic motives and the
large number of victims, Human Rights Watch said.

Banyamulenge cattle
herders have historically contested grazing rights with the Babembe and other
ethnic groups. Ethnic tensions increased following the October 4 attack. Human
Rights Watch received reports that several people from both groups were killed
soon afterward. Low-level inter-ethnic conflict has continued in
2012.

During 2012, the Congolese government and army have concentrated
their efforts on combating the
rebellion by the M23 armed group in North Kivu. International attention has
also largely focused on events in North Kivu.

“The Congolese government
should not use new abuses in one area to ignore atrocities elsewhere,” Bekele
said. “Ensuring that perpetrators of horrific crimes are brought to justice is a
necessary part of broader efforts to end abuses in this troubled
region.”

For background and details
about the attack and aftermath, please see below.

For more Human Rights
Watch reporting on the DR Congo, please visit:
http://www.hrw.org/drc

For more information, please
contact:
In
Bujumbura, Carina Tertsakian (French, English): +257-79-17-88-65 (mobile);  or
+257-79-02-47-19 (mobile)
In
Goma, Ida Sawyer (French, English): +243-81-33-78-478 (mobile); or
+243-99-86-75-565 (mobile); or sawyeri@hrw.org
In Paris, Jean-Marie Fardeau (French,
English, Portuguese): +33-1-43-59-55-31; or +33-6-45-85-24-87 (mobile); or fardeaj@hrw.org

Mai Mai
Yakutumba
The Mai Mai Yakutumba is a Congolese armed group thought
to number several hundred members, primarily from the Babembe ethnic group. It
is based in the territory of Fizi, in the southern part of South Kivu province.
The group is named after its leader, William Amuri, known as Yakutumba. The
group claims to represent the interests of various local ethnic groups and to
protect them against those they perceive as “foreigners,” in particular members
of the Banyamulenge and Tutsi ethnic groups, as well as people of Rwandan origin
(referred to as Banyarwanda). There have been longstanding tensions between the
Babembe and the Banyamulenge in this part of South Kivu.

Eben Ezer Ministry
International
Eben Ezer Ministry International is a Congolese
humanitarian organization based in the town of Uvira, in South Kivu, and working
in the areas known as the Hauts and Moyens Plateaux. Created in 1997, it
initially focused on ethnic reconciliation during the turbulent period of
Congo’s “first war,” in 1996 and 1997. It has since branched out into other
projects, including in education, gender awareness-raising, and a peace and
reconciliation program.

On
October 4, 2011, members of Eben Ezer were travelling from Uvira to Fizi, en
route to Minembwe, in the Hauts Plateaux, to carry out activities for their
organization there. They were ambushed in the late afternoon as they entered the
small village of Kalungwe, 10 kilometers north of Fizi.

Preparing the Ambush
Residents of
Kalungwe, a village of about 50 households along the main road between Uvira and
Fizi, told Human Rights Watch that they saw a group of about 40 to 80 armed men
approaching. The men encircled the village, told residents not to leave their
homes, and demanded food and water.

All the survivors and local witnesses
who spoke to Human Rights Watch stated categorically that the armed men were not
Congolese army soldiers, but members of a local Mai Mai group. One witness told
Human Rights Watch: “I was behind my house [and] a small child said, ‘Look, the
military are coming.’ A large group of soldiers … had surrounded the village. We
knew right away that they were not regular army because of the way they were
dressed. … Their uniforms were mixed; some wore military trousers but then had
only a singlet on.” Other witnesses told Human Rights Watch that they had seen
these men before and that they were from the area, but that they did not live in
the village.

Shortly
thereafter the Mai Mai started to communicate by mobile telephone with people
outside the village. One resident told Human Rights Watch: “They were telling
people: ‘We are here at Kalungwe.’ It was clear they were communicating with
someone and coordinating their arrival.” Several residents saw an Isuzu vehicle
belonging to a local nongovernmental organization pass through the village. One
of them told Human Rights Watch he heard a Mai Mai telling someone on the phone,
“‘We have an Isuzu here,’ but I heard the caller tell him, ‘It is not
them.’”

The residents said that the Mai Mai then set up positions around
the village. Before the Eben Ezer vehicle arrived, a motorcycle carrying three
people, including a police officer, attempted to pass through the village. When
it refused to stop, the Mai Mai shot at the motorcycle, killing two of the
people, including the police officer. The third person ran away. After
witnessing this, one resident told Human Rights Watch, “The local population was
scared… [They said to the Mai Mai] ‘You did not tell us you were here to do
this.’ [The Mai Mai] said that they could not have someone passing through [the
village] and telling people where they were.”

As the Eben Ezer vehicle entered
Kalungwe, the passengers saw a large group of men in the road, dressed in a mix
of military uniforms and civilian clothes. The driver turned the vehicle around
and tried to drive off, but another group of armed men had come from behind,
effectively blocking the vehicle. “It was too late as the Mai Mai had already
surrounded the village and they had already surrounded the vehicle,” a witness
said.

The passengers heard
some of the Mai Mai say, “Here they come!” Then the Mai Mai opened fire on the
vehicle. The driver, Fidèle Musore, was hit in the head and died almost
instantly. The vehicle veered to the side and turned over. The Mai Mai continued
to fire on the vehicle. While survivors’ accounts differ on how long the firing
continued, all recount a flurry of bullets. One survivor told Human Rights
Watch, “The cartridges fell like rain.” Another said, “I heard bullets all
around. I heard one bullet go right by [my head].”

The Mai Mai stopped firing and
approached the vehicle. They asked if any soldiers were inside. The passengers
confirmed that they were all civilians. The Mai Mai ordered them to open the
vehicle. One said, “Let’s have a look at the guns of these Banyarwanda!” They
forced the remaining passengers out.

One survivor told Human Rights
Watch that the passengers begged for their lives. “We pleaded, ‘Why are you
killing us? We are civilians!’ They said, ‘Because you are Rwandan!’” A witness
told Human Rights Watch that as the passengers were forced out of the vehicle,
he heard one of the Mai Mai say, “Here are the people we are looking
for.”

Dividing the Group: “Rwandan”
and “Congolese”
After the Mai Mai pulled the passengers out of the
vehicle, they quickly set about determining who, in their view, was Banyamulenge
or “Rwandan” and who was “Congolese.” From their comments reported by survivors
and witnesses, it was clear that they were looking for Banyamulenge. A survivor
told Human Rights Watch the Mai Mai said to him, “Get the Rwandans out.”

A survivor who was badly injured sat down on the ground next to the
vehicle. He told Human Rights Watch that after separating the Banyamulenge and
non-Banyamulenge passengers on the basis of their physical appearance, the Mai
Mai told the second group: ‘You are Congolese. We have no problem with you. We
having been telling you for a long time not to stay with these people, but you
don’t listen to us. We only have problems with these Rwandans. We will attack
them as far as Minembwe [in the area considered the Banyamulenge
heartland].”

The Mai Mai escorted the “Congolese” passengers into the
village and presented some of them to a Mai Mai commander whom witnesses
identified as “Ebuela.” He said: “No, not the Congolese, we are only looking for
the Rwandans.” Survivors said the commander then declared, “You Rwandans have
killed many of us. … It is now your turn. Call your Rwandan friends to help
you. We own this country, you are foreigners. You are here to destabilize [the
situation], but we are the owners here. Today you will see.”

Executing the Banyamulenge Humanitarian
Workers
The commander called Ebuela asked the Banyamulenge
passengers if there was a pastor among them, the survivors said. When one
answered yes, he said they “must take confessions… We are going to kill you
now.”

A survivor told Human Rights Watch: “They took [a] young woman
behind a house and we heard two shots. They did not ask her if she was a Rwandan
or a Tutsi, they only looked at her.” Witnesses in the village saw the woman
being taken away: “She pleaded: ‘I am a student. Why are you doing this to me?
Have mercy please!’ They said to her, ‘Shut your mouth!’” The woman, Gisèle
Nabisage, who was in her 30s, was killed on the spot.

The Mai Mai then selected the other
Banyamulenge passengers who had been taken to the commander and ordered them
executed in the village. Witnesses heard shots. Two Banyamulenge men, Pasteur
Ngeremo Amédée and Gitandu Muhoza, (the driver’s father-in-law), were killed.
Two others survived.

One of the survivors told Human Rights Watch how he
escaped: “I was sure we were being taken to be killed. I made a decision. I
decided that I did not want to be tortured and that I would rather be shot in
the back. So I decided to run. They were going to have to shoot me. They shot at
me and I heard the bullets going by, but thanks to God I was not
hit.”

The Mai Mai then shot another Munyamulenge woman in the side. She
said: “They shot me there on the spot… I fell down. I had been hit in the back.
The bullet had gone in and out at the same moment. I think they thought I was
dead.”

Meanwhile, on the road the Mai Mai set fire to the Eben Ezer
vehicle. Witnesses in the village heard the Mai Mai yelling to the injured, “Is
it your home here? You are foreigners!” The Mai Mai had kept one able-bodied
survivor, a non-Banyamulenge, by the vehicle to pull out the injured and
materials inside. He told Human Rights Watch: “I was wearing my work
identification and when they saw my name, they said: ‘Why are you travelling
with these people? You will die.’ They took everything out of the vehicle and
[then] said, ‘Burn the vehicle’… We started to walk toward the village and I saw
smoke from the vehicle and heard the sound of tires exploding. As we were
walking, one of the [Mai Mai] made a phone call and said, ‘We have hit them
seriously.’”

After burning
the vehicle, the Mai Mai ordered one of the injured Banyamulenge passengers: “Go
lie down next to your brothers so that we can shoot you.” They made him lie down
on the road with his face turned away from them so that he could not see them.
One of the Mai Mai, whom the passenger described as behaving like a commander,
ordered the others to shoot him. One fired a shot; the bullet passed very close
to his head but missed him. The commander then said: “Let’s go, the job is
finished.”

This survivor was able to leave the area before the Mai Mai
returned. He told Human Rights Watch, “About 30 minutes later, I heard the group
of assailants come back. They stopped near [the other injured] and I heard them
say, ‘These people are not dead yet!’ They started cutting them with machetes…
[One] may already have died because he had been shot in the chest. I heard [the
victims] scream. The assailants could not see me in the bush because it was dark
by then, but I could hear them clearly. They cut my friends with machetes until
they died. It was very quick – just a few minutes. There were no gunshots.”
Those who died were Eraste Rwatangabo, Edmond Gifota, and Tite Kandoti.

The Mai Mai left soon afterward. As
they were leaving they told some of the villagers that they had been under
orders to carry out this attack, though it was not clear exactly who had given
the order. Villagers believed the attack was premeditated. One told Human Rights
Watch, “They came quickly, they did the act and they left quickly. It was as if
they knew and had information that the vehicle was coming.”

After the Attack
The seven
survivors – three Banyamulenge and four non-Banyamulenge – spent the night in
the bush, then made their way separately to nearby towns. Several were wounded.

Residents of Kalungwe told Human Rights Watch that the attack spread
fear in the village and that a number of residents fled, fearing retaliation
from the Congolese army or Banyamulenge armed groups. Some did not return to
Kalungwe for several months.