ituri: “covered in blood” - Human Rights Watch

prisoners was a Rwandan Hutu girl, Kasima, aged about eighteen. Khandro was very cross. He said:
“Why are you still holding the hostages?” He whipped the guards, and then killed Kasima himself with a
double-edged knife. I saw him kill her. I ran away.
At about 6 p.m. that evening, Khandro gave the order to kill those remaining in the prison. The people in
the second and third groups were taken into the bush and killed there. I think there were about sixty
people in each group. I saw as the Ngiti combatants came back with their knives and spears covered in
blood and with the clothes of the prisoners. They killed them quickly. I was hiding and was very
scared. 163
By the second day, the APC and Ngiti combatants had set up roadblocks to ensure that no Hema, Gegere, or Bira
escaped from Nyakunde. Witnesses said:
We were stopped by the APC and Ngiti just outside Nyakunde. They asked us our ethnic group and
asked for our identity cards. They separated people into groups: those from Kivu on one side and the
Hema and Bira on the other. The Bira pretended they were from other groups. Some Bira said they didn’t
have a card. The APC told us that if we were hiding Bira or Hema, they would kill us. The APC were
manning the roadblocks while the Ngiti were looting. They said if they found any Hema, they would kill
them. 164
During these days of killing APC commander Hilaire from the 13 th battalion was sent from Komanda to assess the
situation at Nyakunde. He told Human Rights Watch researchers that he saw no civilian bodies during his visit but
only the bodies of UPC combatants. He did not stay long and escorted the medical staff out of Nyakunde, leaving
behind many other civilians who could have been saved. 165
Both commander Hilaire and commander Faustin apparently reported the events to the APC chief of staff. RCD-
ML President Nyamwisi himself admitted knowing of the Nyakunde massacre. He told Human Rights Watch
researchers, “I know about the events but we didn’t give orders for this to happen,” he said. 166 The APC troops
“were outnumbered and taken hostage by the Ngiti,” he continued and added that he had “no control over them at
the time of the events in Nyakunde.” 167 According to witnesses, some APC troops did on occasion try to stop the
killings, but were unable to restrain the Ngiti combatants.
Assuming the RCD-ML disapproved of the Nyakunde massacre, it is remarkable that it has launched no
investigation into the conduct of APC troops and their allies, far less made any arrests for participation in the
massacre. Commander Faustin is currently in jail in Beni but he is charged with letting soldiers under his
command desert the APC, not with any actions he might have committed in Nyakunde. 168 Colonel Khandro was
reportedly killed just days after the massacre by an individual in his own ranks. One of his deputies, Commander
Germain who had also participated in the massacre, took control and is currently a key commander in the newly
formed FRPI political armed group with links to the RCD-ML and the DRC government. 169 He was in charge of
significant elements of the Ngiti and Lendu fighters who fought in Bunia in May 2003; a battle that resulted in the
deaths of more than 400 civilians.
MONUC, with its severely limited resources and mandate was in no position to avert this massacre or to halt it
once it had begun. In July a high-level delegation from the CME hospital warned MONUC that the risk of
violence was high and that the hospital was threatened. The MONUC team sent a brief report back to
163 Human Rights Watch Interview, Bunia, February 2003.
164 Human Rights Watch Interview, Oicha, February 2003.
165 Human Rights Watch interview, Commander Hilaire, Beni, February 12, 2003. Witness refused to give his full name.
166 Human Rights Watch interview, President Mbusa Nyamwisi, Beni, February 11, 2003
167 Ibid.
168 Ibid.
169 Human Rights Watch interviews, Beni and Kampala, February 2003.
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July 2003, Vol. 15,No. 11 (A)