Roger Lumbala: France opens investigations into former warlord

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An armed group he leads is accused of crimes, including rape, summary executions, mutilation and cannibalism during a deadly civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

French prosecutors also accuse Lumbala of “participating in a group formed to prepare for war crimes.”

According to a 2003 UN Security Council report, Lumbala led an armed group called the Rassemblement Congolais pour la démocratie-National (RCD-N), created in 2000 and supported by the Ugandan army during the country’s deadly civil war.

The UN investigation “confirmed a pattern of robbery, killing and rape as a tactic of war” in 2002 for RCD-N forces in the Beni area of ​​the northeastern Ituri region.

“The summary executions targeted the Nande ethnic group and the pygmies, who were forced to flee into the forest for the first time to escape persecution,” the UN report said.

“Victims have reported several cases of mutilation followed by acts of cannibalism,” the report added.

The fighters involved in the so-called “Clean the Sheet” operation have confirmed that they were sent by Lumbala, the UN Security Council said. A separate report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights says those involved in the operation “tortured, mutilated and killed” other combatants before using their organs “as war trophies”.
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Between October 12 and 29, 2002, RCD-N soldiers allegedly killed 173 civilians and committed “acts of cannibalism,” the report said. An unknown number of civilians were mutilated while soldiers raped a “large number” of women and children.

The report links other incidents of mutilation, rape and cannibalism to Operation Clean Up.

The French court has jurisdiction to prosecute crimes against humanity committed abroad against foreign victims if the perpetrators are present on French territory or are resident in France.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo, then known as Zaire, gained independence from Belgium in June 1960. The head of the army, General Mobutu Sese Seko, came to power in a military coup in 1965 and remained largely unchallenged. in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 1996, dissident groups led by Laurent Kabila – and strongly supported by Rwanda and Uganda – rose up in revolt against endemic corruption. They entered the capital of Kinshasa in May 1997 and Kabila declared himself president.

Internal and external dissatisfaction with Kabila gradually increased until 1998, when a new rebel group was formed – again supported by Rwanda and Uganda – and a second conflict broke out.

In January 2001, Kabila was assassinated by one of his bodyguards, and his son, Joseph Kabila, took over. Under younger Kabila, foreign forces gradually left, and Congolese parties managed to reach an agreement for a transitional national government that included the three major belligerent groups, a number of smaller ex-rebel movements and civil society representatives. and the political opposition.

Lumbala became a minister in this government between 2004 and 2005.

Correction: This story has been updated to include the correct image of Roger Lumbala. ‘

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