The latest report by the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo highlights Kinshasa's growing use of FDLR, a genocidal militia group, to fight M23 rebels, thereby escalating the conflict and chaos in eastern DR Congo.
The FDLR, a UN sanctioned genocidal group based in eastern DR Congo for close to three decades, was formed by the masterminds of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.
The FDLR is at the heart of the insecurity affecting eastern DR Congo
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The UN report a copy of which The New Times has obtained notes that in September 2023, the DR Congo government created the Volontaires pour la défense de la patrie (VDP) from select members of Wazalendo armed groups operating in North Kivu Province to serve as its "official" proxy force.
The new formation, according to the report, aimed to distinguish them from other Congolese armed groups that had also adopted the Wazalendo banner.
Despite denying support of and cooperation with the FDLR, the Congolese army (FARDC) in November 2023 ordered its soldiers to end ties with members of the terrorist group. But reports say the FDLR was actually fully integrated into the Congolese army.
The FARDC directive came a day after the visit by White House Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to Rwanda and DR Congo where she met with Presidents Paul Kagame and Felix Tshisekedi. The US government has, on numerous occasions, condemned the FARDC-FDLR collaboration but done nothing significant to actually stop it.
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The FDLR genocidal militia is at the heart of fometting hate speech and violence against the Congolese Tutsi communities who, by and large, the M23 rebels are fighting to protect from the FDLR and its allied militias.
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Last year, the UN report notes, Lieutenant-General Christian Tshiwewe, the FARDC Chief of Staff, issued instructions banning FARDC-FDLR cooperation. But it was a ruse as the report states that FDLR and its armed wing, FOCA, remained part of the coalition supporting the Congolese army, "and continued to be active at frontline positions," at the request of the Congolese national army.
The 45-page UN report reads: "FDLR commander Fidel Sebagenzi was the liaison between FDLR-FOCA and VDP, as well as between sanctioned FDLR-FOCA military commander 'major-general' Ntawunguka Pacifique alias Omega and the North Kivu Governor, Major General Cirimwami.
"The FARDC also provided military equipment and financing to FDLR-FOCA, in exchange for its role in fighting M23, in violation of the arms embargo."
As revealed, despite all the impediments and casualties due to attacks by M23, the FDLR "remained an influential armed group in Petit Nord, with an estimated 1,000 to 1,500 combatants, regrouped in three battalions, each in charge of one of three axes: "Samariya" (Kishishe, Kalengera, Kibirizi, et Mabenga); "Jericho" (Rwindi-Nyanzale); and "Médaillon" (Sake, Mubambiro, Karuba).
The FDLR-FOCA's special intelligence unit known as the Commando de recherche et d'action en profondeur (CRAP) is estimated to comprise some 350-500 combatants.
"In late January 2024, 600 new combatants, mostly Congolese nationals who received military training at a centre in Miyanja, Masisi territory, joined FDLR-FOCA ranks to compensate for the numerous combatants lost in combat."
Also, FDLR-FOCA continued to largely finance itself from the exploitation of charcoal and wooden planks in the Virunga National Park (VNP), kidnappings for ransom and illegally collected taxes at checkpoints, as already revealed in a 2022 report by Pole Institute - a non-governmental organization operating in DR Congo - which showed that the economic empire of the FDLR is based on three pillars, including the deforestation of the Virunga National Park, poaching, and collection of royalties for agriculture as well as transport exploitation.
In April this year, the United Nations Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, stressed that the Congolese government has the responsibility to protect the Tutsi and Banyamulenge communities who are targeted for their identity. In an exclusive interview with The New Times, Nderitu, echoed her warning that there are "risk factors for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity," in eastern DR Congo.
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Her office has documented the violence in eastern DR Congo, especially the persecution of the Tutsi communities who are targeted by groups like FDLR.
FDLR-FOCA illegal taxes and logging revenue
The UN report states that FDLR/FOCA did not directly engage in the production of planks, but rather sold to wholesale plank retailers the "permit" for tree felling along the border of VNP, southwest of Kibumba, in Nyiragongo territory.
As reported, thirty tonnes of mixed shuttering and ordinary timber were cut weekly under FDLR-FOCA control.
"Assuming that an equal share of the two qualities of timber was produced, this corresponded to $5,150 for FDLR-FOCA weekly, averaging $268,000 per year.
"Plank production controlled by FDLR-FOCA in Nyiragongo territory was sold to wholesalers and picked up by transporters in Rusayo. The latter were compelled to pay $407 to FDLR-FOCA before loading planks destined for Goma. FDLR-FOCA in Rusayo earned an average of $1,425 weekly, or $74,000 in illegal taxes per year," reads part of the report.
The genocidal militia, as reported, gained an estimated $340,000 per year from illegal logging and taxation.
