Ituri Conflict (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Summary: The Ituri region of the northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo was the site of a long-running war between two rival ethnic groups fighting for access to the area's rich mineral resources, especially gold. The conflict resulted in more than 50,000 deaths, created large numbers of refugees, and generated reports of widespread use of children as fighters for ethnic militias. The Ituri conflict has often been compared to the conflict in neighboring Rwanda between ethnic Tutsi and Hutus that generated accusations of genocide, although the Ituri conflict was conducted on a smaller scale. Ituri also resulted in the first trial carried out under the International Criminal Court, where an Ituri militia leader, Thomas Lubanga, went on trial in 2009.

Territory: Ituri is a region in the northeastern corner of Democratic Republic of Congo adjacent to Uganda. Much of the Ituri region is covered by rain forest. It is also the site of extensive gold reserves and other mineral riches. Its population is about 4.5 million.

Origins of the Conflict: Ituri is mostly populated by two ethic groups, the Hema and the Lendu, who sometimes compare themselves on the basis of their economic status and standing during the colonial era respectively to the Tutsi and Hutu ethnic groups in Rwanda to the south. Rival claims by these two ethnic groups to land rights for cattle grazing (Hema) and farming (Lendu), as well as to the Ituri region's mineral resources, lay at the heart of the conflict that dates from 1999.

In the period dating from Belgium's colonial claims over the region, the Hema were the dominant group, partly because ethnic Lendu groups looked to the Hema to mediate conflicts between the Lendu. This led to domination by the Hema, both economically and politically. Hema were generally cattlemen who granted farming rights to the Lendu.

Under colonial rule by Belgium, when DRC was known as the Belgian Congo, the Hema were allies of the Belgians, who adopted policies favoring the Hema at the expense of the Lendu. After independence, the Hema increased their land holdings as a result of tracts granted by the departing Belgians. A 1973 law barring the sale of land on which others were living tended to cement these advantages, to the resentment of the Lendu. This law led to the initial outbreak of violence between the two ethnic groups. Further conflicts occurred in 1985 and 1996.

Prolonged fighting broke out in 1999 over claims by the Lendu that the Hema were using false documents-with the collaboration of fellow Hema in the government-to steal land from the Lendu. The Hema denied these charges.

The Hema asked for help in protecting their claims from the armed forces of Uganda. The government in Kampala agreed to help, attracted in part by the prospect of gaining access to mineral rights [notably gold, "coltan" (columbite-tantalite, a rare ore used to manufacture cell phones, laptop computers, and other electronics), diamonds, timber, and possibly oil, as well as coffee] at a time when the central government in Kinshasa was largely ineffective and already distracted by long-running clashes south of Ituri between the ethnic Tutsi armed forces of Rwanda and ethnic Hutu who had fled into DRC (see separate Background Information Summaries on the First and Second Congo Wars and the Eastern Congo Rebellion 2003-2009 in this database). Uganda's involvement was further justified by the presence of Ugandan rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army who took refuge across the border inside the Ituri region. Since Uganda's initial involvement in Ituri in 1998, Uganda has exported quantities of gold, operating in coordination with Hema warlords commanding militias in the region. These militias and Ugandan armed forces cooperated in driving some Lendu farmers off their land.

The Lendu organized their own militias to defend their land against incursions by Hema militias and the Ugandans.

Main Parties to the Conflict

Union of Congolese Patriots (Union des Patriotes Congolais), a Hema militia led by Thomas Lubanga who became notorious for use of child soldiers. Lubanga was arrested and became the first person to stand trial before the International Criminal Court (see separate Background Information Summary on Lubanga in this database.) Lubanga's militia was one of several militias fighting in the region; in this case, in alliance with the Ugandans.

Front of Nationalists and Integrationists, a Lendu militia also accused of driving at least 70,000 ethnic Hema off their lands. Various groups of Lendu fighters in particular became notorious for especially vicious practices, such as cutting out the hearts of their victims, as well as wearing women's wigs and dresses in the belief that this will protect them from harm in battle.

Other militias active in Ituri have included the Congolese Rally for Democracy, or RCD; the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement, or RCD-ML; the Front for the Liberation of Congo, or FLC; the Union of Congolese Patriots, and the Front for Integration and Peace in Ituri.

U.N. Mission in the Congo (Mission des Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo, MONUC), a peace-keeping force of about 17,000 soldiers, mostly from outside the region and including units from Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. MONUC, which arrived in Ituri in 2003, was tasked with enforcing a cease-fire between the ethnic militias. MONUC was preceded by the mostly-French Artemis Force dispatched by the European Union in 2003.

Army of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congolese army has exercised only limited influence over the conflict in Ituri, partly because it has been distracted by a larger conflict to the south involving local guerrillas supported by the government of Rwanda in an extension of the ethnic conflict between two other ethnic groups, the Tutsi and the Hutu, in a decade of fighting known as the First and Second Congolese wars.

Armed forces of Uganda, invited into the region by the Hema to defend their claims. The group Human Rights Watch has accused Ugandan soldiers of stealing more than $9 million in gold from Ituri in the period 1999-2003. The Ugandan forces withdrew from the region in 2003, replaced by MONUC.

Rwanda. The Ituri Union of Congolese Patriots was initially helped primarily by Uganda, but after 2002 became a close ally of the Rwandan-backed militias in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu, site of fighting between the Rwandans and Congolese Tutsi and ethnic Hutu from Rwanda.

The conflict in Ituri has generated many accounts of especially grisly practices, such as extensive use of children as young as nine as servants to fighters, cutting out the hearts of victims, cannibalism, mass rapes (with victims as young as 12 frequently murdered or taken along as sex slaves), and even cannibalism, according to Human Rights Watch and to investigators for the International Criminal Court.

The precipitous withdrawal of Ugandan armed forces in May 2003 in particular touched off a new round of killings and reprisals directed against civilians in Ituri, especially in areas occupied by ethnic Hema and particularly in the town of Bunia.

Last known status

Eventually the Union of Congolese Patriots led by Thomas Lubanga became the predominant fighting force in Ituri. Lubanga himself was accused of war crimes and was arrested in 2005 by forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He was handed over to the International Criminal Court and, after repeated delays, his trial began in January 2009.

As with other parts of eastern DRC, a shaky peace settled over Ituri without a comprehensive settlement of issues separating the main combatants. MONUC in 2009 continued to patrol the region, although many observers questioned whether it was capable of sustaining peace in the event of renewed violence.