Bunia calm but tense following ethnic bloodbath

The city of Bunia in northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was reported to be calm but tense on Monday following several days of intense fighting among ethnic groups, rebel militias and the Ugandan People's Defence Forces (UPDF).

"Although the centre of town is a bit more calm than last week, the population is still very frightened and markets are still closed," a Bunia resident told IRIN on Monday morning. "Despite promises by the UPDF to control the [ethnic] Hema militias and move them away from town, they continue to harass the population in certain areas of Bunia."

Bunia, with a population of about 300,000 people, is less than 50 km from the Ugandan border.

At least 100 people, including a large number of civilians, are reported to have been killed since the latest regional clashes erupted on 6 August, when Hema militias supported by the UPDF and a dissident faction of the rebel Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani-Mouvement de liberation (RCD-K-ML) called Union of Congolese Patriots seized control of most of Bunia and took charge of local government, according to news reports.

Mbusa Nyamwisi's RCD-K-ML, which was reportedly supporting the Lendu ethnic community, fled the city, as did the rebel governor of region, Jean-Pierre Molondo. Uganda originally backed Nyamwisi's RCD-K-ML, but reportedly switched their support to Hema fighters last week.

The death toll thus far includes a mass grave containing 38 mutilated bodies, including women and children, found on 9 August by UN officials; another 37 bodies found on 8 August, all but three of which were those of women and children, and most with machete wounds, according to the Ugandan independent daily newspaper, the Monitor; 15 corpses found at the Ituri provincial governor's residence on Sunday, though it was not clear if the dead had been combatants or civilians; and 11 UPDF soldiers. Many businesses and homes were pillaged and/or destroyed.

A regional humanitarian source told IRIN on Monday that these most recent displacements of Bunia residents was "bound to aggravate an already serious humanitarian situation", which already included 4,000 displaced families "in need of urgent humanitarian assistance following last month's attacks". The source noted that the humanitarian community was already facing shortages in their assistance for this group of displaced.

Although humanitarian organisations in the region have temporarily halted their activities, most still believe that the situation has not deteriorated to a point at which their evacuation would be necessary.

Ambassador Amos Ngongi, the Special Representative of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to the DRC, is currently in Kampala to hold talks with Ugandan authorities over the peace process as a whole, Ngongi's spokesman, Hamadoun Toure, told IRIN on Monday. "He will certainly raise, among other things, the Bunia issue, and remind the Ugandans of their international responsibilities in the town," Toure said. "As occupying forces, they have to provide security for the civilian population. This is not a demand from MONUC [the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC], but it is a rule of international law."

Jean-Baptiste Dhetchuvi, a spokesman for the Hema community, told the Associated Press on Sunday that the move on Bunia was to protect Hema civilians who were being attacked by DRC-based Rwandan and Ugandan rebels.

[A useful background document produced by Human Rights Watch on conflict in Ituri can be found at:
http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/africa/hemabckg.htm]

Ugandan Defence Minister Amama Mbabazi told the Monitor on Sunday that the UPDF had taken over policing in Bunia, but said the UPDF was not sure who was responsible for the mass grave.

However, Jean-Louis Kyaviro, the secretary-general of RCD-K-ML, was quoted as telling the Monitor that "the mass grave is totally a responsibility of the local UPDF commander". Kyaviro added that the RCD-K-ML had moved its troops 20 km away from Bunia.

Authorities tried to reassure Bunia residents on Monday morning via the local Radio Candip. "Now that we are working hard to restore calm, we are asking everyone to resume his or her normal activities. Markets and shops should reopen commencing today. All civil servants should go back to work. All students and pupils should go back to their respective schools beginning this Monday 12 August," the radio declared.

The authorities also said "a formal warning goes out to anyone found committing any kind of violence, including looting, stealing, vandalism and violent killings".

"All knives and light weapons should be handed over to the nearest authority. Anyone disobeying these orders runs the risk of being severely punished," they added. "Congolese living in Ituri [Province] should feel safe, free and at home. The departure of the [Ituri provincial and] military governor, Jean-Pierre Mulondo, should not give rise to any unnecessary worries, since his security is guaranteed..."

Meanwhile, The New Vision Ugandan-government owned newspaper reported on Monday that President Yoweri Museveni had ordered the immediate and total withdrawal of UPDF soldiers remaining in the DRC. Only two battalions - the 19th, in Beni, led by Maj Muhoozi, and the 53rd, in Bunia, led by Lt-Col Segamwenge - are still in the DRC, according to the newspaper. Two units of the 35th battalion, which control Buta and Gbadolite airport, are also present.

The paper reported that the withdrawal order followed talks in the northern Ugandan town of Gulu on 8 August involving Museveni, Mbabazi and security chiefs. Sources told The New Vision that the 53rd battalion was not returning to Uganda, but would instead move from Bunia to protect the Ugandan-DRC border to ensure that ethnic fighting in Ituri did not spill over into Uganda. Other sources told the paper that the withdrawing soldiers would be redeployed to fight the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.

In a related development, another rebel faction, the RCD-Nationale (RCD-N) accused Nyamwisi's RCD-K-ML of last week attacking its positions located about 250 km northwest of Bunia. RCD-K-ML forces had retreated 30 km, leaving behind about 40 dead, RCD-N told the BBC, and said it would hunt them down until their stronghold of Beni is captured.

On the other hand, RCD-K-ML accuses RCD-N and the UPDF of orchestrating inter-ethnic conflicts in the region.

Both RCD-K-ML and RCD-N are signatories to the Sun City accord reached in April at the end of the inter-Congolese dialogue in South Africa. Under that agreement, current DRC President Joseph Kabila would retain his position, while Jean-Pierre Bemba, leader of the Ugandan-backed rebel Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC), would serve as prime minister.

The RCD-N forces are reportedly backed by soldiers of Bemba's MLC.

According to the Associated Press, troops of RCD-K-ML hope to recapture the gold-mining town of Isiro, some 200 km west of Bunia, from RCD-N, which captured it about seven months ago.

The RCD-N leader, Roger Lumbala, told IRIN on Monday that Nyamwisi's forces were "supported by forces from Kinshasa, among whom we could identify Interahamwe". "Kinshasa is sending arms, munitions and money to support the military ambitions of Mbusa [Nyamwisi] in order to attack us... Kinshasa does not want the Sun City accord that we signed to be implemented," he said.

"RCD-N demand the immediate and unconditional application of the Sun City accord, the retreat of forces of Kinshasa, the Interahamwe, and Mbusa [Nyamwisi]... Because of his politics of exclusion, Mbusa lost Bunia, and he will lose Beni and Butembo," Lumbala said.