UN pins DRC on heightened criminal activities by legitimizing of Wazalendo

Author: Emmanuel Mutebi

• 2024-05-20 05:30:00

According to a new ‘leaked’ report by the United Nations Group of experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the official use of Wazalendo armed group by the DRC government resulted into armed groups operating with impunity across the eastern part of the country.

The Wazalendo emerged in November 2022 when Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi rallied young Congolese men and women to organize themselves into ‘vigilance groups’, to support the country’s forces, in a mission to defend the country from its enemies, and their alleged Rwandan aggressor.

The Wazalendo phenomenon in context of ongoing conflicts in eastern DRC implies patriots fighting against M23 rebellion that is referred to as “foreigners”.

The UN report reveals how DRC’s authorization and support of the Wazalendo armed group to fight the M23 resulted in armed groups across eastern DRC calling themselves Wazalendo to legitimize their existence and criminal activities.

Additionally, the DRC government continued to use negative armed militias grouped in “Wazalendo” and the FDLR as proxies in the fight against the M23 rebels.

The east of DRC has been a safe haven to more than 200 armed groups, legitimizing the Wazalendo’s existence only empowered activities of armed groups and strengthening the ongoing insecurity crisis in the region.

The support that Wazalendo gets from the Congolese government stimulated many more armed groups in eastern DRC.

According to the report, “Wazalendo groups thrived on a violent war economy in their areas of influence, looting, extorting, kidnapping, and murdering civilians.”

“Incidents of sexual violence reached unprecedented levels, with most cases affecting the IDP population and attributed to armed perpetrators, including Wazalendo and FARDC elements,” reads part of the report.

The Congolese government formed a coalition comprising the Wazalendo, and other armed groups. This coalition is responsible for the violation of the ceasefire, but Kinshasa only wants it to look as if it’s an angry mob of the ‘Wazalendo’, or patriots, who are defending their country.

Kinshasa is fighting M23 and they are willing to take any measures possible to put the M23 down, even if it means legitimizing an armed group such as the Wazalendo.

In February 2023, the war-weary people of eastern DRC saw a glimpse of calm and peace, and were optimistic about a long-promised peace process.

The Congolese national army, FARDC, and its allies, had agreed to a ceasefire, and the M23 rebels had withdrawn from the territories they occupied handing them over to the East African Community Regional Force (EACRF). However, eight months after the fragile ceasefire was initiated, hostilities resumed.

Instead of pushing for peaceful dialogue, DRC is defending an armed group that violated a ceasefire, claiming that the Wazalendo are only young Congolese ‘patriots’ defending their country.