The United Nations (UN) Security Council on Tuesday placed under sanctions six senior executives of armed groups operating in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where clashes have intensified in recent weeks.
According to a UN list updated Wednesday, those targeted are accused of having “planned, directed or committed” “acts that constitute violations of human rights or international humanitarian law”.
The sanctions consist of an asset freeze, including in the DRC, and a travel ban. Among those sanctioned with the most media attention is Willy Ngoma, spokesperson for the March 23 Movement (M23), known for his videos in which he appears with Congolese or Burundian soldiers captured during the fighting.
Willy Ngoma is the fifth leader of this predominantly Tutsi rebellion to be placed under Security Council sanctions. They are accused by the UN and international human rights organizations of having committed numerous massacres, rapes, looting and subjecting residents to forced labor.
After a break of several years, they took up arms again at the end of 2021 and operate alongside the Rwandan army. Together, they seized large areas of North Kivu province, causing more than a million people to flee.
Commander and military leader of the Twirwaneho armed group, also predominantly Tutsi, Michel Rukunda, known as “Makanika” and a deserter from the Congolese army, joined the sanctions list for, among other charges, “recruitment and use of children” and “ attacks on schools and hospitals” in South Kivu province. The Twirwaneho are accused of “collaboration” with the M23 by the UN expert group in the DRC.
Rwandan Apollinaire Hakizimana, executive of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a predominantly Hutu group created by former senior executives involved in the genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda, was also placed on the sanctions list.
The FDLR is responsible for numerous serious crimes, according to a group of UN experts in the DRC. Rwandan Apollinaire Hakizimana, executive of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), a predominantly Hutu group created by former senior executives involved in the genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda, was also placed on the sanctions list. The FDLR is responsible for numerous serious crimes against civilians.
Two leaders of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), from Tanzania and Uganda, were also targeted by sanctions. His group, associated with the Islamic State organization, is responsible for the deaths of several thousand civilians in eastern DRC and Uganda over the last ten years.
William Yakutumba, commander of a coalition of armed groups generically called “mai-mai”, was also added to the list due to crimes committed by his militia against civilians.
Christoph Vogel, a researcher at the University of Ghent, explains that these measures “have little impact in a context” such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, “where the majority of war criminals travel little and do not have a bank account abroad”, adding that “ arbitrations also depend on political issues within the Council”.