[Ugnet] Conflict Continues in Northern Katanga....list of Ugandan Created Rebel forces in Ituri DRC Congo

Violence over the past six months in parts of the DR Congo's Katanga province has been displacing thousands of civilians. Aid workers in Katanga say that the conflict in the area has attracted little national or international attention.

The fighting has been between the regular army and local Mayi-Mayi militiamen. The UN Mission in the DRC (MONUC) has too few troops to place in northern or central Katanga, according to the MONUC military spokesman, Lt-Col. Thierry Provendierk.

Repatriation from Tanzania

Elsewhere in the east the situation remains unstable, but despite concerns by the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, about the security and human rights conditions there the DRC and Tanzania have agreed to repatriate 152,000 Congolese refugees to South Kivu Province in September.

The agreement was reached as more refugees continue to return home voluntarily following the start of voter registration on 20 June for the 2006 general elections. At least 10,000 Congolese refugees had returned home since October 2004.

Around 80 percent of those who had returned spontaneously entered Fizi and Uvira territories, in the east and south of South Kivu. During the first week of August, at least 700 refugees returned on their own, UNHCR said.

Returnees were going to areas where their security could not be guaranteed due to the presence of Rwandan Hutu rebels and other armed groups, the UNHCR told the UN agency IRIN.

Voter registration has been continuing in the provinces of Orientale and Bas-Congo. Registration started in these provinces on 24 July and was now due to end on 21 August.

In Orientale Province, especially in its district of Ituri, insecurity has closed off some areas to electoral commission officials. Only 475,600 voters have registered in Orientale Province, 438,777 in Bas-Congo ahead of the July 2006 general election.

Some 12,500 girls currently belong to government and non-government forces in the DRC, according to a report by the non governmental Save the Children organization.

The report said many girls did not see themselves as "child soldiers", but as "wives" or camp followers and were therefore not entitled to demobilisation and reintegration benefits.

The disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration process, it said, acted to alert communities that girls were involved with armed groups, and their communities then rejected them.

In the DRC, fewer than two percent of girls in armed groups pass through Save the Children's reintegration programme. It called on the international community to fund the release of children from armed groups outside formal DDR programmes.

Militias in Ituri

Ituri is still zone substantially out of the control of the central authorities in Kinshasa. Some of the Ituri militia leaders have been arrested and others have been integrated into the national army or are in the transitional government.

RCD-ML - Congolese Rally for Democracy - Liberation Movement. Mbusa Nyamwisi. Also know as RCD-Kisangani, the RCD-ML was launched in September 1999 in Kampala when Wamba dia Wamba split from the RCD-Goma. Backed at the start by Uganda. Mbusa Nyamwisi took power after ousting Wamba dia Wamba.

Military wing - Congolese Popular Army (APC). Part of the Sun City agreement of April 2002.

MLC - Movement for the Liberation of Congo. Jean-Pierre Bemba. Based in Gbadolite, the MLC was backed by Uganda from the start of the war in 1998 and tried twice to establish a foothold in Ituri.

RCD-National - Congolese Rally for Democracy - National. Roger Lumbala.

Based in Watcha, northern Ituri, the RCD-N initially operated as a front organization for Ugandans in exploiting the diamonds near Bafwasende. Has relied on the MLC.

UPC - Union of Congolese Patriots (predominately Hema/Gegere party. Thomas Lubanga. Predominately Gegere-led political party promoting the interests of the Hema and related Gegere. It came to power in Bunia in August 2002 with the help of the Ugandans, later turning to Rwanda.

FIPI - Front for Integration and Peace in Ituri. Coalition of three leaders of PUSIC, FNI and FPDC. Created in December 2002 with Ugandan support sharing the objective of getting rid of the UPC. Later collapsed.

PUSIC - Party for Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of Congo (Hema).

Chief Kahwa Mandro. Chief Kahwa created PUSIC in early February 2003 with most members Hema from the south. Ugandan support.

FPDC - Popular Force for Democracy in Congo (Alur and Lugbara political party). Thomas Unen Chen. FPDC was created in late 2002 mostly by Alur and Lugbara from the Aru and Mahagi area, north Ituri, to counter the UPC. Close ties with former Ugandan army Col. Peter Karim, an Alur from Uganda.

FNI - Front for National Integration (Lendu political party). Floribert Njabu Ngabu. Lendu intellectuals and traditional chiefs established FNI but the party claims broad support by the Lendu community in its effort to oppose the UPC.

FRPI - Patriotic Force of Resistance in Ituri (Ngiti political party). Dr Adirodo. Launched in November 2002 linked to the Lendu FNI.

FAPC - People's Armed Forces of Congo (mixed). Jerome Kakawave Bakonde.

Jerome, based in Aru and Mahagi, established FAPC in March 2003. Ugandan support.

[Ugnet] Conflict Continues in Northern Katanga....list of Ugandan Created Rebel forces in Ituri DRC Congo

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