End of 2000 km trail of death at MBANDAKA port
On 13 May 1997, troops of the Rwandan RPA units entered the city of Mbandaka, a town on the CONGO River in northwestern DRC and killed 1000s Rwandan and Burundian Hutu refugees who had walked 2000 km fleeing previous RPA massacres across the country. These were Hutu refugees who gradually arrived in Mbandaka, from early May 1997 after a long march on foot from TINGI-TINGI via OPALA, IKELA, BOENDE, INGENDE.
When the soldiers entered the ONATRA port zone, they opened fire on refugees, killing more Hutu refugees who were waiting for days to board a boat for Congo-Brazaville. The APR commanding officer then ordered the soldiers to fire to force more refugees to leave their hideouts and jump into the Congo River. The APR soldiers then took up position along the river and opened fire on them.
Earlier in the morning, APR soldiers had opened fire on the refugees who had just arrived in Mbandaka, and killed 350 of them near the Banque Centrale du Zaïre, on the Avenue Mobutu.
“I was coming from the market when I saw the AFDL firing on people. I fled into the woods with the others. We saw many dead bodies. The soldiers were killing men, women and children. There were mothers leaving their babies. Some babies were buried. [But for most] there was no one to take care of them.”
Mbandaka resident
The next day, the commanding officer of the APR soldiers authorised the local Red Cross to collect the bodies for burial in a mass grave five kilometres from Mbandaka, at the Bolenge Protestant Mission. However, many of the bodies at the ONATRA port were dumped in the river.
Théophile Ruhorahoza, Terminus Mbandaka : Le chemin des charniers de réfugiés rwandais au Congo (juillet 1994 – mai 1997) Témoignage d’un rescapé, 2009