The town of Uvira in South Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has been paralysed since early September by intensifying clashes between the Congolese army (FARDC) and the Wazalendo militia.
This conflict stems from the Wazalendo’s protest against the appointment of General Olivier Gasita, a high-ranking army officer in the city whom they accuse of being a Munyamulenge (Congolese Tutsi) and a double agent.
During a press briefing in Kinshasa, Major General Sylvain Ekenge, spokesperson for the Congolese army, voiced full support for Gasita, urging the Wazalendo not to validate “Rwanda’s thesis” regarding the need to protect Congolese Tutsis.
Despite the army’s stance, the Wazalendo organised a demonstration on 8 September, demanding Gasita’s immediate recall and arrest within 24 hours. The protest was violently suppressed by the Congolese army, resulting in 10 deaths and 16 people being injured, according to civil society reports. The army, however, acknowledged only the fatalities.
The army has stated that it will not appease the militia by replacing Gasita. In response to the crisis, President Félix Tshisekedi has dispatched a government mission to Uvira.
The standoff between the army and the Wazalendo, a coalition of militia groups under United Nations sanctions and previously labelled “negative forces” by the DRC government, including the Rwandan Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) active in the DRC, began in February.
This followed the swift fall of Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu, to M23, a Rwandan-backed rebel paramilitary group, without resistance. Thousands of Congolese troops and their allies, including Burundian forces, retreated to Uvira.
Local Wazalendo in Uvira immediately sought to assert their authority on the city, clashing with, arresting and firing on Congolese army troops, accusing them of cowardice. This incident exposed the critical flaw in Kinshasa’s decision to arm civilian militias without establishing a proper, unified command structure and discipline.
The Wazalendo in Uvira maintain a parallel power structure — they have established a checkpoint next to government’s at the Kavimvira border post with Burundi, collect taxes, run their own police units and manage 13 detention sites where, according to a recent UN report, detainees are subjected to torture. As Kinshasa observes, Uvira residents are bearing the brunt of this, which has crippled the economy, worsened security and fractured the social fabric.
Fabien Bika Selemani, national president of the Union of Forces for the Reconstruction of Congo, questioned the government’s actions: “The Kinshasa government voluntarily gave weapons to Wazalendo to supposedly defend the homeland, but today, they are turning against the same government. We denounced it in the past, stating that it was very dangerous to give weapons to civilians. There are more than five dead today and injured. Who benefits from these deaths? It is Kinshasa that created this monster that it can no longer control.”
Henry Pacifique Mayala, a researcher at Ebuteli Institute in Kinshasa and coordinator of the Kivu Security Barometer, views the collaboration as an impossible alliance stating, “Today, one gets the impression that the government has built a monster that is escaping its control and which will be very difficult to disintegrate in the future.”
Opposition to Gasita’s deployment is rooted in pre-existing anti-Tutsi prejudice in the DRC. His identity as a Congolese Tutsi — specifically from the Banyamulenge — has made him a target. He is a victim of his facial features and his origins.
This situation highlights the deep-rooted indoctrination, influenced by the ideology, propagated by and inherited from the FDLR. The latter is a militia founded by perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, which has operated in eastern DRC for the last 30 years.
An alarming anti-Tutsi ideology has become embedded in local communities and is increasingly being used by socio-political actors who support, or are aligned with, Wazalendo militia.
This manipulation has strained social cohesion, as evidenced by a letter from the mayor to Kinshasa. It details how Congolese Tutsi are denied access to essential services, such as water and hospital care, and their businesses are ransacked. Benjamin Babunga Watuna, an independent analyst and researcher, said, “The Wazalendo [Patriots] have found a new legitimacy in the discourse of discrimination and hatred.”
As the Wazalendo openly defy the FARDC high military command, Kinshasa is running out of time to resolve this self-inflicted situation. The government must navigate a volatile situation, balancing the army’s primacy with the growing influence of rogue Wazalendo militia. Kinshasa must also consider the international community’s watchful eye.
If Kinshasa yields to Wazalendo’s pressure, it could signal tacit approval of discriminatory practices against Rwandophones and Congolese Tutsis, something the DRC government has denied the existence of. But, if Kinshasa refuses to concede, Uvira could plunge into further chaos and the government might be forced to confront its allies, the Wazalendo militias it armed on all fronts — in North and South Kivu — where the Congolese army is operating with them against M23.
Either way, the M23 stands to gain from this lovers’ spat.
Intore Nelson is a political analyst based in Goma, DRC.
The DRC army’s alliance with the Wazalendo militia has lead to clashes, deaths and deep ethnic divides in Uvira