| Walikale Territory | |
| Type: | Territory |
| Image Map1: | Democratic Republic of the Congo (26 provinces) - Nord-Kivu.svg |
| Map Caption1: | North Kivu on a map of DR Congo |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | North Kivu |
| Timezone: | CAT |
| Utc Offset: | +2 |
Walikale Territory is a territory located within the Congolese province of North Kivu, in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The headquarters are in the town of Walikale. The locality is situated between Bukavu and Lubutu (Maniema Province) on DR Congo National Road No. 3 in the valley of the river Lowa, 135 km to the west of Goma.[1]
Walikale is rich in cassiterite, which is refined elsewhere into tin. As of 2008, Walikale's cassiterite resources were largely controlled by warlords empowered by the ongoing Kivu conflict. Specifically, the renegade FARDC 85th Brigade, under Colonel Samy Matumo, controlled the mine at Bisie up to early 2009, when it was replaced by "accelerated integration" FARDC elements.[2]
The FDLR is continuing its activities in the territory, with May 2009 attacks in Busurungi, in the area bordering South Kivu.[3] Busurungi has around 7,000 inhabitants, spread between the villages of Bunyamisimbwa, Busurungi, Kahunju, Kamaito, Kamanyola, Kasebunga, Katokoro, Kitchanga, Kifuruka, Bukumbirwa, Kilambo, Kitemera, Moka, Ndaboye, Nyamimba, and Tuonane.[4]
The ‘Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda’ (FDLR) was initially a political-military movement that was created in 2000 by Hutu rebels that had participated in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. During the first Congo war in 1996, the Rwandan army started to dismantle the refugee camp that had been created to host the refugees of 1994, in search of ex-FAR (Forces Armées Rwandaises). The ALIR (Armée de Libération du Rwanda), former FDLR, was, therefore, created by these Hutu rebels in order to dismiss the new Rwandan Government and to resettle a Hutu government. The use of the acronym FOCA (Forces combattantes Abacunguzi) refers to a kinyarwanda word meaning ‘saviors’ or ‘liberator’.
However, their presence in the DRC was supposed to be temporary, in order to allow them time and protection (the wideness of the territory and its forests offers much more possibility to hide than Rwanda) to build up an army and to organize their potential coup d'État.[5]
The FDLR FOCA is, today, divided in three main brigades commanded by ‘Colonel’ Mutima, ‘Colonel’ Sadiki and ‘Colonel’ Omega. Their number has been evaluated between 3000 and 4500 rebels (Mercier 2009) In order to develop their influence and control over the territory, the FDLR tried on a few occasions to create alliances with the Mayi-Mayi Kifufua, Simba or Tseka, but at the moment no long term alliance has been created and fights between the FDLR and these groups are believed to have occurred on access to mines.
The FDLR have an important impact in Walikale today: from all the armed groups’ presents in the region, they are the most organized, numerous, structured and their knowledge of the territory constitutes their strength. On the other hand, the accumulation of years and years of fighting and wild livelihoods (part of their members literally live in the forest all year long) as well as the discovery that their chiefs (involved in the 1994 genocide) have absolutely no interests in going back to Rwanda (the official and initial aim of the FDLR), where they would probably be judged by the National of International court of justice.
Location in Walikale: approximate zones of FDLR’s actions.
The FDLR controls the territory of Walikale on wide superficies. Their presence has been detected on a wide axis going from the east of Oninga (border with Lubutu) to Walowa Yungu (Mpito/Ntoto area) as well as on the western part of the southern axis going from the Kahrizi-Biega Park. They have different basis:
The areas controlled by the FDLR are mainly isolated forests and mining sites, exploited illegally and manually, with their own governance system, out of which we can identify:
Cassiterite, coltan, and gold are being extracted from these mines and brought illegally to Goma through Masisi territory. The only way to reach these sites is by plane from Goma to Walikale Centre, followed by a long trek into the forest by motor bike and on foot (of a minimum of six hours).[7]
The Mayi-Mayi Simba group was initially created in 1964 during the ‘Lumumbist rebellion’. It used to share communitarians ideals and motivations, but its motivations today are exclusively related to pillage and looting. They are located in the north of Walikale territory, on the western axis near the borders with Lubutu and Maniema (region of Oninga), but their activities have decreased in the last years in Walikale. It is very hard to evaluate their number, as today they often attack in alliance with the Mayi-Mayi Tseka, or very occasionally with the FDLR. One of the most recent grouped attacks is the one lead in the famous mining site of Bisié.[8]
Initially, the Mayi-Mayi Kifuafua was a self-defense group, aiming at defending their villages against the CNDP (previously called the RDC) in the region of Ufamando, in South Kivu. Today they have moved to South Walikale, in Walowa Loanda and Walowe Ubora regions, and control the southern axis of Chambucha to Karete. This position is very strategic as it is right on the trade road linking Bukavu to Walikale. They also control the eastern area of the Chambucha-Karete axis.
The Mayi-Mayi Kifuafua is divided into two groups, and antagonisms have started to arise between the leaders of these factions
These different tendencies and orientations are believed to be at the origins of ethnic tensions between Walowa Loanda and Walowa Ubora.
The official motivation of the Mayi-Mayi Tseka is the protection of Walikale against the Tutsi invader. This faction was formed by Tseka, a merchant of ore, by young peasant from Walikale having lost their lands during the war, by some deserters of the FARDC or by formers CNDPs. Their location – on the western axis directed toward Kisangani, on the North of the cities of Mubi and Ndjingala, next to the famous mining area of Bisié – is representative of their concrete motivation, which is mining exploitation.[11]
The territory is divided into 2 collectivities, Bakano (4238 km2) and Wanianga (19,237 km2), and comprises 15 "groupements" totalling 90 localities. Walikale is the largest territory in the province of Nord-Kivu, with 39.46% of its surface.[12]
The territory is bordered by Lubero Territory on the north, Rutshuru Territory and Masisi Territory on the east, Tshopo Province and Maniema Province on the west, and South Kivu on the south.
Many armed groupings, often former Interahamwe or the militias of Laurent Nkunda, control the forests and have forced a significant proportion of the population into urban settlements. These armed groups often inflict robbery and violence on the local people, as well as engage in hunting and poaching of nominally protected species.
The territory is composed of various terrestrial and fresh water eco-regions. There are transition forests in the northeast and wet tropical forests and farmed land in the southeast and from Gilbertiodendron and Uapaca to the western edge of the province.[12] Since 1975, the southwest corner of the Walikale has been a part of Kahuzi-Biéga National Park.[13]
The principal peoples of the territory are:
There are three main ways to access Walikale Centre from Goma. The easiest and most secure way is by plane: there are no internal flights between Walikale and Goma, but the MONUSCO often flies from one city to the other, as well as some commercial planes. The landing strips are also very precarious.
The other ways of accessing Walikale Center from Goma are by land:
Another possibility to access Walikale Centre is from Kisangani, the capital of the Orientale Province. It is the longest way of the three (the distance between Goma and Walikale Centre via Kisangani is more or less 1700 km) but it is the safest. From Goma, it is possible to take planes to Kisangani. The itinerary from Goma to Walikale via Kisangani is the best to transport material, as the roads are good enough for trucks. It implies crossing North Kivu, following the axis Goma – Butembo, Butembo – Komanda, Komanda – Nia Nia, Nia Nia – Bafwasende and finally Bafwasende – Kisangani. Then from Kisangani to Walikale, until Lubutu, the road follows the N3, and then secondary roads link Lubutu to Walikale Centre. The overall trip can take up to one week.
In 2011, 55% of the population of Walikale has been affected by the consequences on the ongoing crisis in North-Kivu. This ongoing crisis is a security crisis but also tends to become a food crisis. Years of recurrent conflicts in Walikale has increased the vulnerability of the population and has disrupted the basic functioning of the economy and the society; without being considered as a humanitarian emergency yet, the situation in Walikale is too unstable and threatens the life of too many people to be left out of food security programs planning.[14]
The context of protracted crisis worsened food insecurity but did not totally originate it; it is essential not to limit the analysis to insecurity itself, but also to consider the root causes of food insecurity, which can vary from one region to another. Unlike some other conflicts, where armed groups' activities and insecurity directly provokes food insecurity, in the case of Walikale it appears that structural causes, historical causes of food insecurity and insecurity itself are intrinsically linked.
Walikale Territory is represented in the National Assembly by two deputies:
After the Congolese wars, Walikale territory had known a period of relative calm: surely, armed groups' activities had not ceased, "food lootings" were still frequent, and armed groups benefited from the central state’s ignorance of the region to continue their mining exploitation activities and to extend their local power. However, almost no conflicts were going on between armed groups, and neither the governmental army nor was the MONUC was interfering with their activities.[24]
In addition, some armed groups such as the FDLR had even started to integrate into the social and economic organization of Walikale; as shown in a report by the Pole Institute dating from 2008, the FDLR had begun to constitute "a state within a state" (Rudahigwa, 2008): customary chiefs admitted at the time that an important part of Walikale territory was under control of the FDLR, who had imposed its own rules and organization. Regular collections were organized within the local population of each village, and a part of their harvest had to be given, as a sort of tax. In exchange, the FDLR protected them. Furthermore, the members of the FDLR even started to develop economic activities other than mining looting, such as farming, local trade of foodstuff or manufactured products, and even building a hospital or social infrastructures.[24]
Even though in 2008 the FDLR represented an obstacle to food security in the sense that, through their taxing system and their lack of integration within the local population, the population was deprived from an important part of their harvest, the stability they imposed to the region ensured a certain regularity of food production and trade. In addition, the vulnerability of the population was lower because the FDLR taxing system encouraged the production of foodstuff and the cultivation of land; the farmers and peasants were fewer victims of attacks and could access their camp with lesser fear than today.
The growing power and activities of the FDLR in North Kivu led Kagame and Kabila to plan a joint intervention in 2009, to stop FDLR activities and to repatriate to Rwanda its combatants: this 2009 Eastern Congo offensive was named Umoja Wetu ("Our Unity" in Swahili). Judging whether this first intervention was efficient or not is irrelevant here, but two months after, in March 2009, the FDLR had grown in power again and started to lead reprisal attacks on the population. In Walikale, the consequences of these reprisals led to a food and humanitarian crisis in 2009 and marked the beginning of insecurity and violence in Walikale. (GRIP, 2011)
Many "volunteers" also joined the FDLR after the Umoja Wetu operation, mostly members of the CNDP and various Mayi-Mayi groups. The FDLR therefore represented at that moment, the most powerful opposition to the FARDC and by extension, to the central government, and therefore reassembled all military groups or rebels opposed for various reasons to the Congolese government.[25]
The consequences on the population of Umoja Wetu were dreadful: civilians became tools of the war, and the instauration of terror, recurrent massacres, and killings that followed Umoja Wetu were exclusively meant to put a pressure on the government. The military operation Kimia II and Amani Leo, led by the FARDC and supported by MONUC (which then became MONUSCO), worsened the insecurity in Walikale: not only were civilians victims of abuses meant to force the FARDC to stop their attacks, but also, entire villages were destroyed by fighting between the FDLR and the FARDC. (GRIP, 2011)
Therefore, this military operation completely destabilized the relative organization of food production and trade in Walikale. Instead of regular taxation, armed groups began to steal directly from the populations and to commit exactions in villages and on the fields. Food and rapes became weapons of the FDLR and other armed groups in Walikale, weapons that led to the current situation of food instability and humanitarian upcoming crisis.
The November 2011 election was also a factor in explaining the resumption of armed groups’ activities, and in particular of FDLR activities. In fact, the accumulations of the alliance between Kabila and Kagame and of the various military operations led to the development of a real hatred on behalf of the FDLR against the government of Kabila; his reelection in November therefore provoked a movement of protest orchestrated by the FDLR, which once again was reflected as a resumption of attacks on the population and the intensification of fighting with the FARDC. According to a member of a local NGO, this resumption could also be related to the fact that the opposition was constituted by members supporting the FDLR and the Mayi-Mayi.