National Congress for the Defence of the People
Encyclopedia
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 his ostensible-Rwanda backers. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda
, was planned to be integrated into the national army.
had been a senior officer in the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (Goma faction) after 1998. Following the end of the war
in 2003, he was offered a position in the army of the transitional government
but refused to join out of fear that he would be arrested due to the International Criminal Court
investigation against him. In 2004 his troops attacked Bukavu
before retreating, but he rebelled again in November 2006 and attacked Goma
. After sustaining heavy casualties in battle with the Pakistan
i battalion of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
, he entered negotiations with the government and agreed to put his men into mixage, which involved mixing rebel and non-rebel units together but is not brassage. Perhaps inspired by the recently concluded general elections
, when Nkunda engaged in negotiations with Maj. Gen. John Numbi
, at that time head of the Congolese air force, he declared the group he led to be the National Congress for the Defence of the People on 30 December 2006. Nkunda benefited greatly from mixage; before 2007, he had two brigades while mixage created five mixed brigades. While numbers are disputed, Nkunda's two original brigades (the 81st and the 83rd) numbered about 2,200 men but by May 2007 some 8,000 to 8,500 men considered themselves under his command. This expansion was at least partially accomplished because Nkunda began incorporating all manner of men with unclear backgrounds into the brigades under his control, including former Rwandan soldiers, members of former militias who had been demobilized and had no skills outside of war, and others simply attracted to his populist Tutsi rhetoric.
Prior to mixage, Nkunda's troops controlled a swathe of Masisi
territory
from Goma
north through Sake
, Kirolirwe and Kitchanga (Nkunda's homeland) and then further north and west. With his new mixage battalions, Nkunda was able to control large areas of Masisi and Rutshuru
and expand north and east toward the border with Uganda
. Newly formed national brigades were ordered to establish territorial control, which Nkunda took to mean fighting the Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
(referred to as FDLR, from its French acronym) descended from the groups that carried out the Rwandan Genocide
. In late March 2007, Gen. Numbi left Goma in what the International Crisis Group
sees as an attempt to distance himself from a disaster in the making, as accusations mounted that the CNDP was in effect setting up a small kingdom in Masisi. In late April, the military stopped the creation of the sixth brigade scheduled to be under Nkunda. The mixed brigades carried out offensives against the FDLR from mid-April to mid-May but, despite the claims of the CNDP, did poorly as they had little logistical support and the FDLR fought well. The military demanded that the CNDP soldiers undergo brassage, mixage having failed, and three months of standoff ensued as relations between soldiers loyal to Nkunda and loyalist troops grew increasingly tense. Matters reached a breaking point when the army chief of staff declared that the offensive against the FDLR would halted. After an international outcry, he reversed himself but stated that only units that had undergone brassage would be allowed to fight, apparently in the belief that the all-Tutsi CNDP units were more likely to be indiscriminately violent towards the mostly Hutu population of the FDLR heartland. On 28 August 2007, soldiers loyal to Nkunda ambushed pro-Kinshasa soldiers of the Bravo brigade in Rubare. Within days the CNDP-government violence had vastly escalated and the government was carrying out full-scale offensives against the CNDP by 6 September.
, a commander in the CNDP and former chief of military operations of the Union of Congolese Patriots
, declared that he was taking leadership from Nkunda. On January 16, he appeared at a joint press conference with Congolese Minister of the Interior and Security Célestin Mbuyu Kabangu, the Inspector General of the Police General John Numbi
, Rwanda's Chief of Defence Staff General James Kabarebe, and other senior Congolese military officers, where he declared that he was joining forces with the national army to fight the FDLR. Nkunda was arrested on 22 January after he had crossed in Rwanda. After unsuccessfully attempting to defeat the CNDP militarily, Congolese president Kabila made a deal with President Kagame of Rwanda to allow Rwandan soldiers into the DRC to uproot FDLR militants in exchange for Rwanda removing Nkunda. The Congolese government subsequently gave Ntaganda a senior position in the integration of CNDP forces back into the military. Later he effectively acted as deputy commander of Operation Kimia II, the 2009 anti-FDLR operation. About 6,000 CNDP combatants were integrated into the FARDC through what became known as the 'accelerated integration' process. The UN Children's Fund has stated that the CNDP has verbally committed to release all child soldiers in its ranks.
On March 23, 2009, the CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government, in which it agreed to become a political party
in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
established by Laurent Nkunda
Laurent Nkunda
Laurent Nkunda or Laurent Nkundabatware, or Laurent Nkunda Batware, or as he prefers to be called The Chairman — is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and is the former warlord operating in the province of Nord-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the...
in the Kivu
Kivu
Kivu was the name for a large "Region" in the Democratic Republic of Congo under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko that bordered Lake Kivu. It included three "Sub-Regions" : Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Maniema, corresponding to the three current provinces created in 1986...
region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict
Kivu conflict
The Kivu conflict is an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda . The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo also became involved in the 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 his ostensible-Rwanda backers. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda
Bosco Ntaganda
Bosco Ntaganda is the military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People , an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, was planned to be integrated into the national army.
History
Gen. Laurent NkundaLaurent Nkunda
Laurent Nkunda or Laurent Nkundabatware, or Laurent Nkunda Batware, or as he prefers to be called The Chairman — is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo and is the former warlord operating in the province of Nord-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the...
had been a senior officer in the rebel Congolese Rally for Democracy (Goma faction) after 1998. Following the end of the war
Second Congo War
The Second Congo War, also known as Coltan War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo , and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power; however, hostilities continue to this...
in 2003, he was offered a position in the army of the transitional government
Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo was tasked with moving from the state riven by the Second Congo War to a government based upon a constitution agreed on by consensus. In 2001 President Laurent Kabila was assassinated and his son Joseph Kabila was named head of state...
but refused to join out of fear that he would be arrested due to the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
investigation against him. In 2004 his troops attacked Bukavu
Bukavu
Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo , lying at the extreme south-eastern extent of Lake Kivu, west of Cyangugu in Rwanda, and separated from it by the outlet of the Ruzizi River. It is the capital of the Sud-Kivu province and as of 2009 it had an estimated population of...
before retreating, but he rebelled again in November 2006 and attacked Goma
Goma
Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, and Goma lies only 13 to 18 km due south of the crater of the active...
. After sustaining heavy casualties in battle with the Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
i battalion of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which was established by the United Nations Security Council in resolutions 1279...
, he entered negotiations with the government and agreed to put his men into mixage, which involved mixing rebel and non-rebel units together but is not brassage. Perhaps inspired by the recently concluded general elections
Democratic Republic of the Congo general election, 2006
General elections were held in the Democratic Republic of the Congo on July 30, 2006, the first multiparty elections in the country in 41 years. Voters went to the polls to elect both a new President of the Republic and a new National Assembly, the lower-house of the Parliament.The polls were...
, when Nkunda engaged in negotiations with Maj. Gen. John Numbi
John Numbi
Major General John Numbi is, , the Inspector General of the National Police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.- History :Numbi is of the same Lubakat group as former President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and was part of the gendarme in Katanga...
, at that time head of the Congolese air force, he declared the group he led to be the National Congress for the Defence of the People on 30 December 2006. Nkunda benefited greatly from mixage; before 2007, he had two brigades while mixage created five mixed brigades. While numbers are disputed, Nkunda's two original brigades (the 81st and the 83rd) numbered about 2,200 men but by May 2007 some 8,000 to 8,500 men considered themselves under his command. This expansion was at least partially accomplished because Nkunda began incorporating all manner of men with unclear backgrounds into the brigades under his control, including former Rwandan soldiers, members of former militias who had been demobilized and had no skills outside of war, and others simply attracted to his populist Tutsi rhetoric.
Prior to mixage, Nkunda's troops controlled a swathe of Masisi
Masisi
Masisi Territory is a territory in the Nord-Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is one of the places subject to the conflict between the Congolese army and militias, which has plagued the eastern Congo since the ending of the Second Congo War...
territory
Territories of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
The provinces and districts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo are divided into 192 territories and communes...
from Goma
Goma
Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the western branch of the Great Rift Valley, and Goma lies only 13 to 18 km due south of the crater of the active...
north through Sake
Sake, DRC
Sake is a town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the eastern province of North Kivu. It is located at the northwestern extremity of Lake Kivu, 25 km west-northwest of Goma on National Road No. 2, at the edge of the volcanic lava plains in the bottom of the Great Rift Valley, western...
, Kirolirwe and Kitchanga (Nkunda's homeland) and then further north and west. With his new mixage battalions, Nkunda was able to control large areas of Masisi and Rutshuru
Rutshuru Territory
Rutshuru Territory is a territory in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo , with headquarters is the town of Rutshuru....
and expand north and east toward the border with Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
. Newly formed national brigades were ordered to establish territorial control, which Nkunda took to mean fighting the Hutu Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda
The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda is the primary remnant Rwandan Hutu Power rebel group in the east of the of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is often referred to as simply the FDLR after its original French name: the Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda...
(referred to as FDLR, from its French acronym) descended from the groups that carried out the Rwandan Genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
. In late March 2007, Gen. Numbi left Goma in what the International Crisis Group
International Crisis Group
The International Crisis Group is an international, non-profit, non-governmental organization whose mission is to prevent and resolve deadly conflicts around the world through field-based analyses and high-level advocacy.-History:...
sees as an attempt to distance himself from a disaster in the making, as accusations mounted that the CNDP was in effect setting up a small kingdom in Masisi. In late April, the military stopped the creation of the sixth brigade scheduled to be under Nkunda. The mixed brigades carried out offensives against the FDLR from mid-April to mid-May but, despite the claims of the CNDP, did poorly as they had little logistical support and the FDLR fought well. The military demanded that the CNDP soldiers undergo brassage, mixage having failed, and three months of standoff ensued as relations between soldiers loyal to Nkunda and loyalist troops grew increasingly tense. Matters reached a breaking point when the army chief of staff declared that the offensive against the FDLR would halted. After an international outcry, he reversed himself but stated that only units that had undergone brassage would be allowed to fight, apparently in the belief that the all-Tutsi CNDP units were more likely to be indiscriminately violent towards the mostly Hutu population of the FDLR heartland. On 28 August 2007, soldiers loyal to Nkunda ambushed pro-Kinshasa soldiers of the Bravo brigade in Rubare. Within days the CNDP-government violence had vastly escalated and the government was carrying out full-scale offensives against the CNDP by 6 September.
Splintering of the CNDP
In early January 2009, Bosco NtagandaBosco Ntaganda
Bosco Ntaganda is the military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People , an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
, a commander in the CNDP and former chief of military operations of the Union of Congolese Patriots
Union of Congolese Patriots
The Union of Congolese Patriots is an armed group in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. They were in 2003 said to be 15000 soldiers . It has carried out numerous attacks upon civilians and other serious human rights abuses in pursuit of its policies...
, declared that he was taking leadership from Nkunda. On January 16, he appeared at a joint press conference with Congolese Minister of the Interior and Security Célestin Mbuyu Kabangu, the Inspector General of the Police General John Numbi
John Numbi
Major General John Numbi is, , the Inspector General of the National Police of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.- History :Numbi is of the same Lubakat group as former President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and was part of the gendarme in Katanga...
, Rwanda's Chief of Defence Staff General James Kabarebe, and other senior Congolese military officers, where he declared that he was joining forces with the national army to fight the FDLR. Nkunda was arrested on 22 January after he had crossed in Rwanda. After unsuccessfully attempting to defeat the CNDP militarily, Congolese president Kabila made a deal with President Kagame of Rwanda to allow Rwandan soldiers into the DRC to uproot FDLR militants in exchange for Rwanda removing Nkunda. The Congolese government subsequently gave Ntaganda a senior position in the integration of CNDP forces back into the military. Later he effectively acted as deputy commander of Operation Kimia II, the 2009 anti-FDLR operation. About 6,000 CNDP combatants were integrated into the FARDC through what became known as the 'accelerated integration' process. The UN Children's Fund has stated that the CNDP has verbally committed to release all child soldiers in its ranks.
On March 23, 2009, the CNDP signed a peace treaty with the government, in which it agreed to become a political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
in exchange for the release of its imprisoned members.
Further reading
- UN Panel of Experts report, December 2008, S/2008/773