1. Executive summary

1. A Human Rights-led multidisciplinary team(1) was dispatched to Bas Congo from 17-28 March 2008 to carry out an investigation into the violent incidents involving the Police nationale congolaise (PNC) and the Bundu Dia Kongo in Matadi and the territories of Luozi, Seke-Banza and Lukula. Over 150 persons were interviewed by the Team. The investigation covered over 2000 kilometres by road and conducted investigations in over 30 villages and towns in the province, mainly along the routes between the townships of Matadi-Tshela, Matadi-Luozi and Luozi-Tshela (see Map, Annex I) Visits to Muanda, Seke-Banza, Kinkenge and Kibunzi were conducted by helicopter.

2. Since October 2007, tensions had been registered in Bas Congo between BDK members and local authorities in several villages and towns, mainly in the territories of Seke-Banza and Luozi. The presence of the PNC in many areas was very weak and the BDK had effectively taken over State functions in several villages. Local police commanders were reportedly beaten up by BDK members in Kinkenge and Mbanza Muembe and BDK members obtained the release of all prisoners from Luozi prison after allegedly threatening the local authorities. On 24 and 25 February 2008, two men were burnt alive by the BDK in two different incidents in Kinkenge and Bethelemi after being accused of sorcery. A delegation sent by local authorities to investigate the case was taken hostage for a few hours in Kinkenge. On 1 March 2008 an FARDC officer was killed in Kibunzi by the BDK while he was there on private business. The BDK has also been branded a "terrorist organization" and accused, by some local authorities, of satanic rituals and other strange practices, such as collecting human skulls and decanting fluids from deceased human bodies in order to make a substance called eau de cadavre, which was allegedly used in the aforementioned rituals. The Team did not find any evidence to support these latter claims.

3. On 28 February, the Government launched operations to restore State authority throughout Bas Congo. These operations were carried out by the PNC, in particular by units of the Police d'Intervention Rapide (PIR, including the so-called Simba Battalion) and the Unité de Police Intégrée (UPI), dispatched from Kinshasa. According to the Inspecteur Général de la Police nationale congolaise, John Numbi, the operations were originally aimed at carrying out the arrests of BDK members responsible for the murders in Bethelemi and Kinkenge, but took on a broader scope in the face of what General Numbi referred to as "organized resistance". According to Interior Minister Denis Kalume, the operations were aimed at re-establishing the State's authority throughout Bas Congo. The size and composition of the PNC force deployed, the comprehensive geographical dimension of the operations, the type of weapons and ammunition used, the excessive use of force employed and the arbitrary executions that were carried out, the systematic destruction of BDK temples and houses and the large number of arbitrary arrests all suggest that the authorities may have intended to considerably reduce the operational capacity of the BDK movement.

4. A police force arrived in Luozi and clashed with BDK members gathered in front of their temple on 28 and 29 February. The authorities in Luozi acknowledged that seven BDK members lost their lives in these incidents. Local witnesses claim that the loss in human life was in fact much higher and that a number of bodies were dumped in the Congo River. However, there is insufficient evidence at hand to confirm such claims. In Luozi, the BDK temple (known as a "zikwa") and around twenty houses were destroyed by the police, who set them alight.

5. In the following week, the police force moved west from Luozi towards Tshela, passing through a number of small villages and through the towns of Mbandakani, Lufuku, Sumbi and Mbata Siala, where incidents followed a similar pattern to those in Luozi. In these principal towns, large numbers of BDK followers had gathered around their temples or around barricades set on the main road. The police force, composed of around 25-30 vehicles and roughly 150 men, stopped about 75 meters from the gathering and called for surrender. The BDK, armed with stones, nuts, sticks and pieces of wood fashioned in the shape of weapons, refused to surrender and continued to chant war cries. In some localities, BDK followers began to throw stones or manifest other signs of readiness for combat with the police, who responded with tear-gas and live ammunition, mainly 7.62mm rounds, presumably fired from AK 47 assault rifles and light machine guns. The Team collected evidence in these locations suggesting that the PNC opened fire or continued to fire in situations where the BDK had taken refuge inside buildings or could no longer be assessed as presenting any imminent threat to the PNC.

6. It is important to mention that the BDK believed that their weapons could be transformed, by spell or incantation, into instruments capable of causing much greater damage than their actual physical properties would have allowed. The overwhelming majority of weapons found by investigators were very limited in terms of their capacity for inflicting harm on a well-armed police force (e.g. relatively blunt, knife-shaped pieces of wood, stones and palm and cola nuts which the BDK believed could be magically transformed into explosive grenades).

7. The official death toll of the incidents was 27, including three policemen(2). The investigation concluded that at least 100 people, mainly members of the BDK movement, were killed during PNC operations which were launched on February 28 2008 in Bas Congo province. As stated above, the operations were mainly executed by a large force of the PIR and the UPI, sent from Kinshasa in response to a series of criminal acts perpetrated by BDK members, including murder, assault, and the usurpation of the State's authority in some parts of the province.

8. The high death toll resulted, in large part, from unwarranted or excessive use of force by the PNC(3), and in some cases from arbitrary executions. Particularly worrying are these instances of arbitrary execution of prisoners or persons who could not be classed as posing a threat to the police. Also of concern is the fact that the PNC dumped a large number of bodies in a river in an attempt to destroy evidence (see below). The PNC was responsible for the systematic destruction of over 200 buildings (BDK temples and residences belonging to BDK and non-BDK alike) in numerous villages in Bas Congo and the widespread looting of private houses throughout the province. The destruction and looting of private property was widespread and systematic and cannot be justified on any legal or operational grounds. Over 150 BDK members were arrested in connection with the events. A number of them were victims of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

9. Each of the clashes in Sumbi, Lufuku, Mbandakani and Mbata Siala left a high number of casualties, who were mainly, but not exclusively, BDK members.

10. The Team has concluded that at least 35 people were killed in Sumbi, including a seven-year-old girl from a non-BDK family. In Sumbi, the Team collected strong evidence and eyewitness testimony of the arbitrary executions, by the PIR, of two wounded BDK members who were being held in police custody. Another BDK member was executed not far from the site of the main confrontation, as he lay incapacitated by a bullet wound to the leg.

11. In Mbata Siala at least 16 persons (among which 2 minors) were killed in the clash. In Mbandakani at least 15 people were killed and in Lufuku a further 36 persons lost their lives.

12. The Team found large, freshly dug graves in Sumbi, Mbandakani, Mbata Siala and Luozi, which concordant witness testimony confirms are mass graves containing the bodies of persons killed in these locations. In Lufuku the local Red Cross collected 36 bodies that were later allegedly thrown by the PNC into the River Luwala. Two of these bodies, which had remained entangled in branches close to the river bank, were located and photographed by the Team. In Manterne, near Boma, an alleged mass-grave site was investigated by local authorities. Although no bodies were found, physical evidence and witness testimony suggest that bodies may have been buried there and later removed(4).

13. Other locations where a loss of human life was alleged to have occurred include Matadi (where a two-year-old boy was killed by a stray bullet); several small villages in Luozi territory that could not be visited by the Team due to the state of the local roads or time constraints; Lemba (where there were reports of casualties but insufficient evidence to confirm the allegations); Kibunzi and Seke-Banza.

14. In addition to these clashes which took place in the larger localities, in almost every village visited by the Team along the Tshela-Matadi and Luozi-Tshela axis, the police force had looted and then systematically destroyed (by fire) houses belonging to BDK members and non-BDK members alike. The local population was particularly affected in those towns along the main road where large groups of BDK members from distant villages had gathered for strategic reasons. As a result, many of the houses burnt and much of the property destroyed or looted belonged to persons with no affiliation whatsoever to the BDK. The Team documented the arson of over 180 houses, although the actual number of houses destroyed almost certainly exceeds 200. The PNC also systematically destroyed every BDK temple that they encountered en route during the operations. It is unclear whether or not the decision to destroy all BDK temples was an integral part of the PNC's mission order from the start, but the systematic nature and scale of the destruction would tend to confirm this hypothesis.

15. As stated above, arrests of over 150 BDK members were carried out throughout the province. The charges against them range from murder to threatening State security (attentat à la sûreté de l'Etat). Most detainees were transferred to Matadi and Mbanza Ngungu. Some prisoners were victims of torture or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including beatings and burning. A BDK local leader, who was allegedly arrested and beaten by the population of Kibunzi was brought alive to Luozi hospital by the police but subsequently died while in police custody.

16. The Team received numerous reports claiming that, while all participants in the operation were wearing police uniform, foreign or national military units were deployed during the operations. In particular, several witnesses interviewed by the Team alleged that some of the men deployed in the operations were heard communicating in Portuguese. However, the Team did not find any solid evidence tending to prove allegations of foreign or national military involvement. The reports concerning the presence of foreign troops could be explained by the fact that PIR agents trained in Angola sometimes use Portuguese as a working language. With respect to allegations of military involvement, it should be noted that all 300 elements from the PIR Battalion "Simba" are ex-military. The deployment and actions of the Simba Battalion are discussed in more detail below.

17. Some days into the operations, BDK leader and Member of the Congolese National Parliament, Ne Muanda Nsemi, addressed two letters to the Secretary General of the United Nations(5), the first demanding auto-determination for the Kongo people and the second calling for an international investigation into the operations, which he claimed amounted to genocide under international law.

Notes:

(1) Led by MONUC Human Rights Division and composed of staff from the Human Rights Division / United Nation Human Rights Office; MONUC Child Protection, JMAC and UNPOL. Hereinafter "the Team".

(2) During his address to Parliament, Interior Minister Denis Kalume affirmed that 21 BDK members, three non-BDK members, one FARDC officer and three policemen were killed. The Team was only able to confirm two PNC deaths, but does not rule out the possibility that there was a third.

(3) This report uses the term "PNC" (Police nationale congolaise) to refer to the various units of the Congolese police force that carried out the operations, except where there was confirmation of the specific involvement of one particular unit, such as the PIR. PNC already on the ground before the operations are referred to as "local police".

(4) Similar allegations, reported in connection with the mass graves discovered in Sumbi (see below) are currently being verified.

(5) Dated 1 and 3 March 2008.