Upon its creation in October 1996, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (AFDL) with the help and support of Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF), the UPDF (Uganda People’s Defence Force) and the FAB (Forces armées burundaises), launched an armed campaign from the DRC’s east.
During this lightning offensive, units of the AFDL, APR and FAB attacked and destroyed all the Rwandan and Burundian Hutu refugee camps set up around the towns of Uvira, Bukavu and Goma. Tens of thousands of refugees were killed in these camp attacks.
In South Kivu, after the capture of the town of Uvira in the night of 24 and 25 October 1996, the Burundian and Rwandan refugees fled in several directions. Some left for the territory of Fizi, then travelled on to North Katanga, Tanzania or Zambia. Others tried to escape towards the north, passing through the territories of Kabare and Walungu.
In order to capture fleeing refugees, the RPF soldiers erected numerous barriers in the territories of Fizi and Uvira, and intercepted and killed a large number of Hutu refugees. Soldiers set up a number of checkpoints on the Ruzizi Plain around the villages of Bwegera, Sange, Luberizi and Kiliba, at the entrance to Uvira town (Kalundu Port), at Makobola II (Fizi territory) and at the Rushima ravine (Uvira territory).
At these checkpoints, soldiers sorted the people they intercepted according to their nationality. Individuals identified as Rwandan or Burundian Hutus on the basis of their accent, their morphology or their dress were systematically separated from the other intercepted people and killed in the surrounding area:
- On 22 October 1996, in the Rushima ravine between Bwegera and Luberizi, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed a group of nearly 550 Rwandan Hutu refugees who had escaped the Luberizi and Rwenena camps a few days before. Soldiers intercepted the victims at the checkpoints set up in the surrounding area. Between 27 October and 1 November 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB led an unknown number of additional refugees into the Rushima ravine and executed them.
- On 25 October 1996 and in the days and weeks that followed, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed an unknown number of refugees at a place called Kahororo, in sector 7 of the Kiliba sugar mill. The victims had been apprehended in the surrounding villages.
- On 29 October 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB killed around 220 male refugees near the church of the 8th CEPZA (Pentecostal Community of Zaire), now CEPAC (Community of Pentecostal Churches in Central Africa), in the village of Luberizi. The victims were part of a group of refugees who were told by soldiers that they had to be rounded up for their repatriation to Rwanda. The soldiers separated the men from the rest of the group and shot them or killed them with bayonets. The bodies of the victims were buried in mass graves near the church.
- On 3 November 1996, units of the AFDL/APR/FAB burned 72 Rwandan refugees alive at the COTONCO headquarters, one kilometre from the village of Bwegera. The victims had been captured in neighbouring villages. The AFDL/APR/FAB units had gathered the victims in the COTONCO house under the pretext that they would then be repatriated to Rwanda.
- On 13 November 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units killed around 100 Burundian refugees in the village of Ngendo, seven kilometres from Sange in the Uvira territory.
- On 8 December 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers killed 103 male refugees in the village of Rukogero, nine kilometres from Sange in the Uvira territory. The victims belonged to a group of between 200 and 300 refugees that had fled the Kibogoye camp. After their arrest, the refugees were imprisoned in the church of the 8th CEPZA. The soldiers allowed women and girls to leave but killed the men and boys. The bodies of the victims were thrown in the latrines beside the church.
- On 12 December 1996, AFDL/APR/FAB units killed fifteen civilians in the village of Ruzia, including refugees who had fled the Luberizi/Mutarule camp and Zairian civilians. The victims were captured during a military combing exercise to flush out refugees hiding among the Zairian population. Some of the victims were burned alive in a house; others were shot. The victims’ bodies were then buried in three mass graves.
- On 22 December 1996 at Ruzia, on the banks of the Ruzizi River, AFDL/APR/FAB soldiers killed at least 600 people, most of them refugees who had survived the attack on the Runingu camp. The victims were hiding in the forest when they were spotted by the soldiers. Their bodies were burned by the soldiers two days after the incident.
A few Hutu refugees managed to reach the territory of Fizi, then travelled on to North Katanga, Tanzania or Zambia. Others tried to escape towards the north, passing through the territories of Kabare and Walungu. Many Burundian refugees fled in the direction of Burundi. Unable to cross the Ruzizi River, they were often apprehended at the Kiliba sugar mill and the villages of Ndunda, Ngendo and Mwaba and were killed.
Mapping Report > Section I. Most serious violations > CHAPTER II. First Congo War > B. Attacks against Hutu refugees > 1. South Kivu > Uvira territory: Attacks against Hutu refugees – Uvira territory (South Kivu)