A leaked mid-term report by the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo confirms that the Congolese government, led by President Félix Tshisekedi, played an overwhelming role in multiplying the number of militia groups operating in eastern DRC.

The region now counts more than 260 active armed groups, responsible for human rights violations as well as mass killings. Meddlesome Western powers covet DRC's vast reserves of gold, oil and coltan, a mineral used to make cellphones and electric vehicles. Corruption is endemic. Massacres and rape committed by the armed groups and DRC’s army, whose troops are notoriously ill disciplined, are common.

The armed groups include the Wazalendo, Swahili for patriots, a coalition of once-rival militias that the government cobbled together to repel M23 rebels, and  about 1,000 Eastern European mercenaries, many formerly with the French Foreign Legion, deployed around Goma, the capital of North Kivu Province. Among others, Tshisekedi has also been busy supplying the Rwandan genocidal militia group, FDLR, with heavy weapons so that it wages war against the M23 rebels.

“In the context of the struggle to ‘liberate’ territories from the grip of ‘foreign’ armed groups such as the M23, Congolese armed groups adopted the ‘Wazalendo’ or ‘true patriots' banner to gain legitimacy and better position themselves for possible for future integration within FARDC,” reads part of the leaked report which The Great Lakes Eye has seen.

“The newly created and government-sponsored armed group, Volontaires pour la défense de la Patrie (VDP), triggered a flare-up of violence.”

According to the report, armed groups and criminal networks continued to be involved in the exploitation and trade of natural resources.

In Rubaya, the “Wazalendo” armed group controls sites within the main exploitation perimeters, thus compromising the supply chain.

The mining ban imposed by the Congolese government was not respected, and minerals whose exploitation benefit these “Wazalendo” groups contaminated the supply chain.

In Ituri province, intercommunity dialogues aimed at curbing rampant violence failed. The CODECO/URDPC armed group increased attacks on civilians at internally displaced people (IDP) camps.

The Zaire armed group, still opposed to all peace initiatives, continued to arm and train combatants.

The report stated that a humanitarian crisis in DRC continues to deteriorate particularly in North Kivu, Ituri and Mai-Ndombe provinces, where the armed groups –sponsored by Tshisekedi’s regime– are operating.

The number of IDPs reached nearly seven million across the country, the highest number ever recorded in DRC, and one of the largest internal displacement crises in the world.

The armed conflict in Mai-Ndombe province extended into the neighbouring provinces and Kinshasa, leaving hundreds of civilians dead and hundreds of villages, schools and medical facilities destroyed.

The report confirmed that both the Teke and Yaka communities remained armed and mobilized. Captured or surrendered "Mobondo” combatants were recruited into the FARDC, trained and sent to North Kivu to fight the M23 rebels.

Kinshasa has been spreading a narrative that the coalition of militia groups termed “Wazalendo” are ‘nationalists’ defending their homeland from the M23 rebels whom they call a ‘foreign’ enemy.

While “Wazalendo” was established initially by Congolese youth allegedly responding to Tshisekedi’s call to support the national army, the coalition was later used as an umbrella for collaborating with several militia groups including Rwandan genocidal militia, FDLR, to fight M23 rebels.

The report noted that the “Wazalendo” coalition of armed groups committed indiscriminate shelling, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations.

The report recommended that the Congolese government should immediately halt the use of armed groups as proxies, and their supply with weaponry, and urge armed groups to abide by the disarmament programme.