DRC: In Masisi, M23 rebels leave behind a territory ravaged by decades of conflict

After two and a half months of waiting, Tsegihumva found a rare reason to smile. Tomorrow, barring any unforeseen circumstances, he will grab his backpack and return to his home and his field on the hill opposite that of Busihe, a town where he has come to pile up with his wife, his seven children and four other families in a same cottage.

The rebels of the March 23 Movement (M23) who had conquered his village in February, leaving this farmer only a few kilos of red beans recovered “on the sly”, seem to have since disappeared from part of the hilly pastures of Masisi territory , east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

“We were told the war is over,” he explains. We will go home first with my wife and our oldest children. We will come back to pick up the other younger ones and our belongings in a few days. If all goes well. The past calls for caution. Tsegihumva has already left his village “at least four times, for several months” since he was an adult. Today, there is no longer any question for him of believing in peace, nor even of understanding why those who once again pushed him to exodus have deserted some of their positions in Masisi.

After several offensives launched at the end of 2021, the insurgents were indeed rather in a position of strength. The elements of the M23, supported by Rwanda according to several reports of the UN Security Council, had routed the Congolese army and removed for more than a year part of the territories of Rutshuru and Masisi from the authority of the Kinshasa government.

A millefeuille of militias

“Have the rebels really withdrawn? Or did they hide in civilian clothes among the population? asks, perplexed, Télésphore Mithombeke, the civil society secretary of Masisi, one of the groups of citizens’ associations in the area. Especially since in neighboring Rutshuru, the elements of the M23 are still visible despite their promises to withdraw.

In Masisi, their occupation also seemed ready to settle. Several local authorities had been replaced by new loyal administrators, taxes were levied. “Between 400 and 500 dollars approximately per truck and between 5 and 10 dollars per motorcycle on the axis which connects Masisi to Goma [the regional capital]”, assures Télésphore Mithombeke. According to the activist, the rebels even for a time issued each vehicle with a receipt stamped “Democratic Republic of Congo – Department of Finance” at Mushaki.

In this locality, the arrival in mid-March of Burundian red berets, deployed under the aegis of the East African Community (EAC, according to the acronym in English), has never frightened the M23. The informal tax continued to be collected after the deployment of the contingent of the East African force, which was supposed to occupy the areas liberated by the rebels until the return of the state.

Today, Mushaki’s barrier appears to have been lifted, but the “harassment”, locals explain, is far from over. Myriads of militiamen have appeared on the side of the roads, raising taxes as illegal as those of the M23. According to Emmanuel Tommy Tambwe Ushindi, the coordinator of the disarmament, demobilization, community recovery and stabilization (P-DDRCS) programme, the provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, Maniema and Tanganyika are now home to 252 local and 14 foreign armed groups. A millefeuille of militias inherited from the rebellions that have followed one another in eastern DRC since the genocide of the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994.

The earth remains a source of friction

Since then, theft, rape, racketeering and fear have always been the lot of hundreds of thousands of families, victims of abuses by armed groups. But today the situation has changed. Faced with the M23 rebels, the militiamen and the Congolese army, who have often clashed, now form a common front. “Will the government succeed in managing these militias? Won’t they reclaim areas when the M23 fully withdraws? asks Voltaire Batundi Sadiki, president of civil society in Masisi.

In several localities, the Congolese army has already given them free rein. The leader of the Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), Janvier Kairiri, has set up his headquarters in Nyabiondo, east of Masisi, in a barracks deserted by the military. The presence of the State has not completely disappeared on the spot. But the few police officers passively witnessed the ransoming of the population by APCLS fighters, accused of crimes against civilians by several human rights associations. Here, no one dares to contradict the arms bearers and the precarious security lull is even welcomed by the inhabitants.

“There have often been tensions in the area. The first deadly conflicts erupted in 1993 between the two majority ethnic groups – the Hutu and the Hunde – to which is added a minority ethnic group – the Tutsi ”, recalls Zachee Misati Muhindo, president of the civil society of Nyabiondo. Their rivalry actually dates back to Belgian colonization. The Hunde present themselves as natives, the Hutu and Tutsi are perceived as the heirs of successive waves of migration from Rwanda. The first accusing some of spoliation of land, the second replying to be in their right.

The conflict, originally land and community, has become political, regional, economic. But land remains a source of friction and a rare commodity in Masisi. Countless farmers rent out their plots to large farms, and plots have been grabbed by wealthy landlords.

More than 72,000 displaced in the territory

In addition to agro-pastoral wealth, minerals also arouse covetousness. The territory is rich in coltan, essential for the manufacture of mobile phones or computers. “Around the Rubaya mine, crime, linked to rivalries, has increased. In one week, there were more than ten gunshot wounds,” reports Télésphore Mithombeke.

The majority of them are admitted to hospital in Masisi-Centre, the capital of the territory. At the beginning of April, the surgery department is saturated. Like the others. Tents have been set up in the courtyard of the establishment to welcome new patients. “Masisi has lived in insecurity for several decades. The humanitarian needs are the same, even increasing. It can be seen in the number of consultations, cases of trauma, sexual violence, malnourished children. Added to this is a growing population and therefore more potential epidemics, ”describes Pierre Bru, field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), one of the few NGOs present in Masisi.

Several contagious diseases, such as cholera and measles, have reappeared in recent weeks. “The spread is also linked to the miserable living conditions associated with displacement and overcrowding in the camps,” adds John Mastaki, care manager at the hospital.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) identified in March more than 72,000 displaced people in the territory. New people who fled the arrival of the M23 rebels and old victims of previous crises. There are now very few urban centers where one does not see shelters covered with plastic sheeting, signaling the presence of a camp for displaced persons. A change in the landscape as the mark of the tragedy that the region has been living for almost thirty years.