New UN report reveals the strength of Kayumba’s P5 militia

Recent operations by Congolese forces have “significantly weakened” a paramilitary group linked to Rwanda National Congress (RNC) in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC), a new UN report suggests.

RNC is a terror organization headed by a Rwandan refugee living in South Africa, Kayumba Nyamwasa, who has been identified as the leader of a terror group known as “P5” in a previous article.

P5 operated in the South Kivu province of DR Congo in 2018 and the latest UN Group of Experts report on DR Congo described P5 as the armed branch of the National Congress of Rwanda (RNC) along with other outfits.

According to the latest UN Group pf Experts report, last year Congolese forces weakened militia operating under this armed group in an operation dubbed “Sokola II” as part of the Government’s efforts to secure the region.

“The Group found that P5, the armed branch of Rwanda National Congress (RNC), was significantly weakened by the FARDC operation “Sokola II” and had decamped from Bijabo, Uvira territory, as of April 2019, to settle in North Kivu,” UN experts said in a report.

Experts say they spoke to five ex-P5 fighters, four P5 leaders, two FARDC officers and three sources from civil society, and five ex-combatants and two P5 leaders confirmed that fighter recruitment had continued during the reporting period.

“One ex-combatant explained how, in February 2019, a man named “Vichimo”, whom he said was a Rwandan national, had lured him and 16 others into the P5 on the promise of work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the report says.

Another ex-combatant stated that between 20 and 30 new recruits from Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda were brought to the Bijabo camp at about the same time.

All ex-combatants said they had transited Bujumbura, Burundi, once recruited, where Burundian individuals had received logistical support and arranged their move to Bijabo.

This was consistent with previous studies.

In a report, the group of experts said that they wrote in this connection to the Burundian authorities and had not received a reply at the time of drafting the present report.

Ex-combatants said the late Charles Sibomana had led the P5 in Bijabo, with Habib Mudathiru, also known as “Colonel” Musa, in charge of training, Richard Hitimana in charge of supply and logistics, Richard Ntare in charge of administration and Jean-Paul Nyirinkindi as political officer.

Ex-combatants have added that the P5 had 200–250 fighters before fleeing Bijabo.

The Group spoke to Nyamwasa, often cited by ex-combatants as the overall P5 leader.

“He acknowledged his role within the Rwanda National Congress but denied being the leader of the military group in Bijabo,” the experts said.

Major (rtd) Habib Mudathiru, the top commander of the RNC, was arrested last year and handed over to Rwanda along with other rebels, and is now facing trial in court.

Three ex-combatants, one P5 leader and an FARDC officer said that, in April 2019, P5 combatants had received instructions to decamp from Bijabo to Masisi via Kalehe.

They were temporarily hosted in Kalehe by fighters from the National Council for Democratic Renewal (CNRD), a breakaway faction of the DRC-based militia group of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).

P5 combatants faced operations involving the Democratic Republic of the Congo Armed Forces (FARDC) around Kashovu in Masisi territory in June 2019, during which many were killed and some arrested.

According to two ex-combatants and two members of civil society, many fugitives fled to Binza, Rutshuru region, and met with RUD-Urunana and FDLR combatants.

Some of the former rebels and their dependents who were repatriated to Rwanda last December, including ‘Brigadier General’ David Mberabahizi

Mberabahizi, a former ex-FAR military para-commando, was in charge of the CNRD security advisory and resistance, a position he said he retained since he left FDLR in 2016.

The FDLR is made up of anti-Rwanda components, including genocides that have been occurring in eastern Congo since 1994, and have been continuously destabilizing Rwanda over the past two decades.

Professor Eric Ndushabandi, director of the Institute of Research and Dialog for Peace (IRDP), an independent think tank, says it will take collective effort to restore peace in the region.

“Collective security should be a priority for all. This is an idealistic call and countries ought to understand that threat against one is threat against all,” he commented on the report.

While the report calls the members of the armed groups that operate as “rebels” in Congo, Ndushabandi insists that certain groups have “ideological orientation that do not deserve to be called rebels.”

This is because the leaders of those groups have no known political path, he said, highlighting a case of the FDLR, made up of members who fled the country after the Tutsi Genocide of 1994.

The political analyst suggests that what countries should follow is multilateral cooperation, for example by joint forces and operations, which he believes will bring an end to instability in the region.