Union of Congolese Patriots

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Union of Congolese Patriots
Union des Patriotes Congolais
Leaders Thomas Lubanga Dyilo
Dates of operation 2001-present [1]
Active regions DRC–Rwandan border
Ideology Congolese nationalism

The Union of Congolese Patriots (French : Union des Patriotes congolais, or UPC) is a political and militia group in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, formed towards the end of the Second Congo War. It was founded by Thomas Lubanga in 2001 [2] and was one of six such groups that sprung up in the mineral-rich Ituri region on the border with Uganda in the Ituri conflict. [1] [3] The UPC supported and was primarily composed of the Hema ethnic group. [4]

Contents

History

What began as a struggle for control over land and resources, broke out into ethnic warfare as atrocities increased and as arms from Uganda and Rwanda became available, and units of the Ugandan army became involved. [3] By February 2003, the UPC was said to have fielded an estimated 15,000 soldiers. [5] The UPC carried out numerous attacks upon civilians and other serious human rights abuses in pursuit of its policies. [3] [5]

In August 2002, the UPC took control of the town of Bunia with the help of Ugandan forces, [4] following which it received support from Rwanda. In late 2003, the UPC split into several factions: one led by Kisembo Bahemuka and known as the UPC-Kisembo (UPC-K), another under Thomas Lubanga and known as the UPC-Lubanga (UPC-L), [2] and the Parti pour l'unité et la sauvegarde de l'intégrité du Congo (PUSIC) - Party for Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of Congo, formed by Mandro Panga Kahwa. The UPC-L was militarily stronger as most of the militia stayed with Lubanga. [2] After the 2004 accords most of the UPC-K eventually merged into PUSIC. [6]

The UPC-L was implicated in the deaths of nine Bangladeshi MONUC peacekeepers on 25 March 2005. Lubanga was arrested along with Floribert Ndjabu, leader of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front. In March 2006, Lubanga was arrested under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the alleged war crime of using child soldiers, and was flown to the Netherlands. [3]

Bosco Ntaganda was named its leader in his absence. Human Rights Watch states that between August 2002 and March 2003, the UPC arrested and tortured over 100 opponents, was responsible for the murder of a Kenyan peacekeeper in January 2004 and the kidnapping of a Moroccan peacekeeper later that year. In January 2005, Commander Bosco Ntaganda was offered a position as a general in the national Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), but had refused the post. [7]

The UPC won three National Assembly seats in the 2006 general elections.

Military wing

The military wing of the party was called the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (Forces Patriotiques pour la libération du Congo, FPLC) and was under the command of Thomas Lubanga with Bosco Ntaganda as Deputy Chief of the General Staff. [8] Upon Lubanga's arrest, Ntaganda assumed the rank of Commander of the FPLC. On February 10, 2006, Thomas Lubanga was arrested in Kinshasa by congolese authorities, and transferred to The Hague on 16 March 2. [9] [10]

Related Research Articles

The earliest known human settlements in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dated back to the Middle Stone Age, approximately 90,000 years ago. The first real states, such as the Kongo, the Lunda, the Luba and Kuba, appeared south of the equatorial forest on the savannah from the 14th century onwards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MONUSCO</span> UN peacekeeping force in Democratic Republic of the Congo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ituri conflict</span> Subconflict of the Second Congo War

The Ituri conflict is an ongoing conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While the two groups had fought since as early as 1972, the name 'Ituri conflict' refers to the period of intense violence between 1999 and 2003. Armed conflict continues to the present day.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and was a key player in the Ituri conflict (1999–2007). Rebels under his command have been accused of massive human rights violations, including ethnic massacres, murder, torture, rape, mutilation, and forcibly conscripting child soldiers.

Congolese history in the 2000s has primarily revolved around the Second Congo War (1998–2003) and the empowerment of a transitional government.

The Revolutionary Movement of the Congo was a coalition of rebel groups involved in the Ituri Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which was active between approximately 2006 and 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patriotic Resistance Front of Ituri</span> Political party in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri is a Bunia-based armed militia and political party primarily active in the south of the Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Germain Katanga</span>

Germain Katanga, also known as Simba, is a former leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI), an armed group in the Ituri Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). On 17 October 2007, the Congolese authorities surrendered him to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to stand trial on six counts of war crimes and three counts of crimes against humanity. The charges include murder, sexual slavery, rape, destruction of property, pillaging, willful killing, and directing crimes against civilians.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kivu conflict</span> Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including neighboring Ituri province, there are more than 120 different armed groups active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, some of the most active rebel groups include the Allied Democratic Forces, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, the March 23 Movement, and many local Mai Mai militias. In addition to rebel groups and the governmental FARDC troops, a number of national and international organizations have intervened militarily in the conflict, including the United Nations force known as MONUSCO, and an East African Community regional force.

Bosco Ntaganda is a convicted war criminal and the former military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is a former member of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and allegedly a former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots.

The assault on Bogoro, which occurred on February 24, 2003, was an attack on the village of Bogoro in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by the Nationalist and Integrationist Front (FNI) and the Front for Patriotic Resistance of Ituri (FRPI). The attackers allegedly went on an "indiscriminate killing spree", killing at least 200 civilians, imprisoning survivors in a room filled with corpses, and sexually enslaving women and girls. Two rebel leaders, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, have been charged by the International Criminal Court with war crimes and crimes against humanity over their alleged role in planning the attack.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Congress for the Defence of the People</span> Congolese militia

The National Congress for the Defence of the People is a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict, an armed conflict against the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2009, the CNDP split and Nkunda was arrested by the Rwanda government. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda, was planned to be integrated into the national army.

Laurent Nkunda is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is the former warlord operating in the province of Nord-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the Tutsi-dominated government of neighbouring Rwanda. Nkunda, who is himself a Congolese Tutsi, commanded the former DRC troops of the 81st and 83rd Brigades of the DRC Army. He speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Lingala and Kinande. On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United Nations Security Council Resolution 1445</span> United Nations resolution adopted in 2002

United Nations Security Council resolution 1445 was adopted unanimously on 4 December 2002. After recalling all previous resolutions on situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the council expanded the military component of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) to a level of 8,700 military personnel–up from 4,250–in two task forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo</span>

The International Criminal Court investigation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is an ongoing investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War and its aftermath, including the Ituri and Kivu conflicts. The war started in 1998 and despite a peace agreement between combatants in 2003, conflict continued in the eastern parts of the country for several years. In April 2004 the government of the DRC formally referred the situation in the Congo to the International Criminal Court, and in June 2004, prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, formally opened an investigation. To date, arrest warrants have been issued for:

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References

  1. 1 2 "Profile: DR Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga". BBC News. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  2. 1 2 3 "DRC: Who's who in Ituri - militia organisations, leaders". IRIN humanitarian news and analysis, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 20 April 2005. Archived from the original on 16 March 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Profile: DR Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga". BBC News. 23 January 2009. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009.
  4. 1 2 "Union of Patriotic Congolese (UPC)". GlobalSecurity.org. June 2003. Archived from the original on 28 June 2003.
  5. 1 2 "DR Congo 'awash' with child soldiers". BBC News. 17 February 2003.
  6. ↑ "Witness Questions Lubanga's Control". Institute For War & Peace. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  7. ↑ "D.R. Congo: Army Should Not Appoint War Criminals". Humans Right Watch. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
  8. ↑ "Situation in Democratic Republic of the Congo". The Hague Justice Portal. 2012. Archived from the original on 2 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Another key Ituri leader arrested". The New Humanitarian. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
  10. ↑ "Thomas Lubanga Dyilo". Coalition for the International Criminal Court. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
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