Why international sanctions against Joseph Kabila’s collaborators must be maintained and expanded ?
By Jean-Jacques Wondo Omanyundu
On 29 May 2017, the Council of the European Union (EU) adopted sanctions [1] against nine persons holding positions of responsibility in the state administration and in the chain of command of the army and security forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), with immediate effect . These restrictive measures were in addition to others adopted against seven other people that the EU had already sanctioned on 12 December 2016, in response to the obstacles to the electoral process and the serious human rights violations related to it.
Several sanctioned persons had challenged the sanction procedure. Fifteen of them, except the militia leader Bakata- Katanga Gideon Kyungu Mutanda, have used the services of Master Thierry Bontinck to be heard by the Council of the EU “when sanctions are renewed”[2] .
However, these incriminated persons are probably aware that if they are punished, it is because several human rights organizations and Congolese experts in the field of security and national policy have carried out well-documented investigations proving their responsibility in the proven acts of serious violation of human rights, restrictions of the democratic free expression space and fundamental rights enshrined in the DRC Constitution.
In the application of the restrictions on the right to freedom of peaceful assembly ordered by the political and administrative authorities during the reporting period, the security services and the defense forces used unjustified force against peaceful protesters and disproportionately in cases where some protesters were violent. The unlawful use of force has been systematically encouraged by the massive deployment of security services and defense forces, in particular FARDC armed forces personnel alongside Congolese National Police (PNC) officers, to deter or repress protesters [3].
Human Rights Watch brought together news that during the December 31 protests, Congolese security forces surrounded churches and fired at parishes, killing at least eight people and injuring dozens of others, including at least 27 people with wounds from ball. Security forces resorted to similar tactics during the following demonstrations, on January 21, by deploying roadblocks and major forces throughout Kinshasa and other cities. Human Rights Watch also collected information showing that members of security forces in civilian clothes fired on peaceful protesters [4].
In July 2018, the UNJHRO documented 515 human rights violations in the DRC, up from 458 documented violations in June 2018. More than 64 per cent of the violations documented by the UNJHRO during the first half of 2018 were committed by state agents, who were responsible for the extrajudicial executions of at least 202 people, including 24 women and two children, throughout the DRC [5].
The situation of human rights and the liberalization of the Congolese political space continues to deteriorate in the DRC about 50 days of the provincial, legislative and presidential elections scheduled for December 23, 2018. In January 2018, the UNJHRO documented human rights and fundamental freedoms related to restrictions of democratic space throughout the territory. This number – which has more than doubled in one year (47 violations in January 2017), shows an ever greater persistence of the restrictions of the democratic space for three years. The main perpetrators of these violations remain the PNC agents with almost 50% of documented violations this month, followed by FARDC soldiers (30%). The most reported violations are violations of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly (34 violations) as well as freedom and security of the person (29 violations). The latest report of the UNJHRO in August 2018 reports the general increase in the number of human rights violations. The Joint Office documented 620 human rights violations throughout the country, up from July 2018, when it recorded 515 human rights violations [6]. On November 16, 2018, two Congolese students died after being shot by police during demonstrations on the campus of the University of Kinshasa (UNIKIN) [7].
If we encourage the Council of the European Union and the United States to maintain, or even eliminate, sanctions for the same group, or even extend them to new people, it is because, since these measures were taken by the European Union, no credible legal action has been brought against these incriminated persons. In addition, the Congolese authorities continue to maintain a harsh and unilateral line of policy not to accede to the political restraint measures provided for in the New Year’s Eve Agreement, as called for by the latest UN Security Council resolutions.
In an open letter dated 6 September 2018, Congolese, regional and international organizations asked the UN Security Council mission delegation to support the establishment of a national monitoring and communication mechanism for the UN Security Council of information on human rights. The ongoing human rights violations committed by Congolese security forces and armed groups throughout the country – coupled with a pattern of impunity and the potential for renewed outbreak of large-scale violence in the coming months, amidst a crackdown on human rights in the context of the uncertain electoral process – necessitate increased and dedicated human rights monitoring and public reporting to help prevent further abuses and achieve the goals of accountability [8]
1. Lieutenant General Gabriel Amisi Kuumba “Tango Four“: FARDC Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations and Intelligence
Despite the alleged sanctions, General Amisi Tango was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General on 14 July 2018 and at the same time appointed FARDC Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Intelligence. Which makes him the number two in the army in terms of command. It is the real operational leader of the army who continues to play a vague role in the massacres that continue in Beni. Shortly before his appointment, Amisi was the Commander of the First Defense Zone covering the western part of the DRC. In this capacity, his mission was to coordinate the recruitment and the conditioning of some elements of the M23 which served in particular to the bloody repressions of the demonstrations organized by the CLC in December 2017 and January 2018. During the same period and up to his recent appointment, General Amisi assured Interforce operational command of the 41, 42 and 43th battalions of the Rapid response Unit (RRU) based in Maluku in eastern peripheral area of Kinshasa and units of the main defense forces, Air and Naval of the First Defense Zone. These units actively participated in the repression of the CLC demonstrations as well as raids agains the kulunas.
With his new functions that strengthen his authority and operational skills within the FARDC, Gabriel Amisi Kumba remains the linchpin of the security and repressive Kabila regime, especially during this tense election period. Since his appointment as the head of FARDC operations, there has been a sharp increase in cases of human rights violations by the army between July and August 2018. Amisi remains the man on whom the Kabila regime is militarily based in a Praetorian view of power. As a planner and line manager of all FARDC operations, he continues to play a leading role in the serious acts of human rights violations in the DRC.
Finally, in addition to his proven negative role in human rights violations, General Amisi is also cited by several sources to be involved in illicit economic activities. UN group claims to have established that General Amisi owns a gold mining company, has gathered evidence of Lieutenant-General Gabriel Amisi Kumba’s involvement in the gold sector. Gold sector continues to suffer from lack of traceability system [9]. The Panel notes that under Article 27 of the 2002 DRC Mining Code, FARDC officers are not eligible for exploitation or marketing natural resources. [10]. These activities are also formally prohibited by Law No. 13/005 of 05 January 2013 on the status of the FARDC soldier. Finally, several credible sources inform us that General Amisi is also suspected of illegal logging of precious wood in the Salonga National Park in Equateur province in complicity with the Chinese company Maniena Union 2. This information is also confirmed by RFI [11]. Our sources also quote Retired General Liwanga Mata, the former FARDC Chief of General Staff, who works with IFCO (formerly Cotrefor), a Lebanese company that illegally exploits valuable timber not far from the same park. These two farms endanger the forest of this national park.
2. General John Numbi Banze: Inspector General of the FARDC
Remained very active in Katanga despite his suspension, Numbi returns to the military front in the DRC as Inspector General of the FARDC since July 14, 2018. This return to the capital is also accompanied by a move to the capital of the former CNDP rebel units of the Rwandophone, stationed in Lubumbashi at the place called “Carrefour” from where they were leading repression agains demonstrators in Katanga. These elements have just been reconstituted in Kinshasa by merging with some elements of the Republican Guard, becoming the “Bataillon Hibou” (Owl Battalion), Recycled and equipped by the GR in the fight against urban guerrillas. According to military sources, these units are already active in the capital and are targeting people deemed hostile to the regime. They are equipped with night vision goggles (Google), AK 200 with goggles, communication headsets, bulletproof vests and armored jeeps, RPGs and grenades. They receive a special bonus and are not in contact with the rest of the army.
Major Christian Ngoy, the assassin of Floribert Chebeya, is the officer who supervises the operations of this battalion. The recent attacks by Lambert Mende and Atundu residences, which look like settlingscores, were carried out by members of this unit, according to a military source. Before and after his recent appointment, John Numbi Banze has contributed and continues to contribute to the planning and oversight of targeted operations and acts constituting serious human rights violations in the DRC.
Indeed, the return of John Numbi to the top of the military hierarchy is a negative signal – bellicose – that Kabila wants to launch with its protesters and the international community. This comeback marks the extreme military radicalization of Joseph Kabila’s regime. “The regime is desperate to stay in power and all those who have committed crimes in the past are back on the front burner and will be giving the regime support to stay in power. [12],“ according to Clément Boursin, ACAT-France Africa Leader, Christian Action for the Abolition of Torture. According to the US Treasury Department, which has frozen his assets, John Numbi “threatened to kill opposition candidates who had not voluntarily withdrawn from the race.”
3. Delphin Kahimbi or Kayimbi: FARDC Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence
Promoted Major-General and appointed deputy chief of staff of the FARDC intelligence, Delphin Kahimbi remains the man-orchestrator of the activities of the several armed militias who roam in Ituri, South Kivu and North Kivu. This is the man who was instructed by President Kabila to recruit ex-rebels from the M23 to incorporate them into units that took an active part in the bloody CLC protests in December 2017 and January 2018. According to the testimony given by the American NGO Human Rights Watch to an M23 fighter: “Many M23 fighters have been deployed to make war on those who wanted to threaten Kabila’s stay in power (…) We have been ordered to shoot immediately at the slightest provocation of civilians“[13].
Recently again, in August 2018, Kahimbi oversaw new recruitment operations for M23 ex-combatants in collaboration with François Rocogoza and Colonel Isaiah Munyakazi Sengi. François Rocogozawas led the M23 delegation at the Kampala talks between this movement and the Congolese authorities in 2012 – 2013. Colonel Isaiah Munyakazi Sengi, former CNDP rebel who joined the M23, led the 83th FARDC battalion. Some fighters are already operating with impunity in FARDC units in North Kivu [14]. The supervision of these M23 fighters recruited by General Kahimbi is provided by Lieutenant-Colonel Douglas Kiroko Mberamiheto, based in Kinshasa. The latter depends directly on General Kahimbi without referring to other organic structures of the FARDC. It is important to mention that Douglas Kiroko Mberamiheto benefited from Joseph Kabila’s amnesty granted to the M23 rebels in 2014 [15].
Many other military sources in North Kivu inform us that Delphin Kahimbi is arming the FDLR and deploying them in Virunga Park. These Rwandan rebels are spreading terror and dislodging local people from their homes.
Moreover, Kahimbi also acts as liaison officer between the Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza and President Kabila. He was the one who armed the Mai-Mai Bafulero militia who attacked the Banyamulenge villages in Bijombo/Uvira (South Kivu) on 7 April 2017. According to our sources, the Burundian authorities suspected that these Banyamulenge were infiltrated by Rwandan soldiers and Burundian Tutsi rebels who were preparing to attack Burundi.
According to a Congolese military intelligence source, Kahimbi has set up a parallel structure of military intelligence and special units that are beyond the control of the Chief of the General Staff and which reports directly to Kabila. This structure sometimes leads to military operations without the knowledge of the official operational structures deployed in eastern DRC.
To neutralize formidable political opponents against Joseph Kabila, General Kahimbi, his equivalent to civilian intelligence, Kalev Mutondo , but also Nehemiah Mwilanyi Wilondja, the powerful cabinet director of President Kabila, do not hesitate to set up incredible cabals. This is the case of Kahimbi’s statement that opponent Moïse Katumbi Chapwe and Catholic priests were in collusion with Colonel Tshibangu, currently held in a jail of the Military Intelligence Staff (EMRM) intelligence military (ex- Demiap : Military detection of anti-homeland activities)[16].
4. Ilunga Kampete: Commander of the Republican Guard (GR)
General Gaston-Hughes Ilunga Kampete remains the armed and repressive arm of the Kabila Praetorian system, mainly in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi where his troops continue to act either directly or by camouflaging themselves under the police uniform. Several police commanders have let us know their disapproval of this unhealthy intrusion of the GR into the police. This tarnishes the image of the police and contravenes police missions focused on maintaining and restoring public order as part of the negotiated and peaceful management of public space between police and organizers of public demonstrations.
5. Kalev Mutondo: Director General of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR)
The director of the National Intelligence Agency (ANR), Kalev Mutondo is today the second strongest man of the Kabila regime. He is the one who conceives and plans all the repressive strategies of the power against the opponents and the people who denounce the Kabila regime, notably the activists of the citizen movements La LUCHA and Filimbi. We are one of the targets in Belgium and the DRC where the ANR has instructed several telephone operators to block or restrict access to our DESC site in several parts of the DRC. Acts that violate the freedom of expression guaranteed by the Congolese Constitution. Kalev Mutondo, directly depended on President Kabila, is the man who blocks all the measures of political relaxation provided for by the New Year’s Eve Agreement, which the recent United Nations Security Council resolutions on the DRC have called for. The expert and Belgian researcher, Kris Berwouts, was expelled and illegally detained in the DRC, including in the ANR cells, in early October 2018 for reasons that are not justified to date [17].
6. Brigadier General Eric Ruhorimbere: Commander of the North Ecuador Operational Sector
General Eric Ruhorimbere has taken an active part in the rebellions that have rocked eastern DRC since 1998. He played a leading role as chief of operations in the massacres committed in Kasai for ordering his troops to make excessive use of force and ordered summary executions committed by his military in the Grand Kasai [18]. Ruhorimbere is by no means worried by the Congolese military justice. On the contrary, he was rewarded by President Kabila who appointed him Commander of the North-Ecuador Operational Sector on May 29, 2017 and promoted to the rank of Brigadier General on July 14, 2018. An area deemed to be the stronghold of the opponent Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, recently invalidated by the Constitutional Court. These appointments are perceived by Congolese opinion as a premium for impunity and incitement to violence. Since his arrival in the area, there has been an upsurge in the increase in the repression of local populations, particularly in Gemena
7. General Ferdinand Ilunga Luyoyo: Commander of the LENI PNC
General Ilunga Luyoyo commanded the Congolese National Police Intervention Legion (LENI), the former Rapid Reaction Police, which became the special anti-riot unit in which several elements of the Republican Guard were incorporated. His troops were directly involved in the illegal, unjustified, excessive and disproportionate use of force during the public demonstrations in the DRC from January 2017 to January 2018, including the death of young activist Rossy Mukendi Tshimanga and Thérèse Deshade Kapangala, a young religious aspirant riddled with bullets as she tried to save the life of a girl who was a victim of tear gas launched by the police. No legal action has been brought against the superiors responsible for these acts of repression.
Indeed, during the various demonstrations organized by the opposition or civil society organizations between January 2017 and January 2018. Although some dedicated units of the PNC, such as Mobile Intervention Groups (GMI) or the National Legion (LENI), sometimes had appropriate and less lethal equipment for the maintenance and restoration of law and order (protective gear, helmets, shields, sticks, tear gas and water cannons), the UNJHRO observed that many security and defense personnel were visibly always armed only with firearms, and even only assault rifles, during demonstrations. For example, on November 30, 2017, in Uvira (South Kivu), trying to disperse a rally by fire, PNC officers shot and injured a protester. This type of equipment is incompatible with police missions or the maintenance and restoration of public order because it prevents in fact a graduated response to potential violence. The UNJHRO also noted that in some cases, the PNC was also located on the axes of the various cities equipped with heavy weapons (rocket launchers, grenades, etc.)[19].
8. General Sylvano Kasongo: Provincial Commissioner of Police in Kinshasa
The Katanga general Sylvano Kasongo Kitenge, close to General John Numbi is one of the extremists who say to themselves “ready to die for Kabila”[20]. Fearful of a tough repressive response to intimidate the protesters of the regime, General Sylvano is the current head of the provincial police in Kinshasa since July 2017. He symbolizes the current repressive face of the Kabila regime which translates into a “Militarization of the police in which elements of the Republican Guard were injected to carry out law enforcement missions [21] by using lethal means and a disproportionate use of violence against civilian populations. General Kasongo has a gruesome past in East Kasai in 2011 where he arrested and tortured many illegal diamond diggers in Miabi and Tshilenge territory. It is under his direct orders that two Congolese students died on November 16, 2018 at the campus of the University of Kinshasa.
9. General Céléstin Kanyama Cishiku: Director General Training Schools of the National Police since 2017
Former Provincial Police Commissioner of Kinshasa, Céléstin Kanyama, responsible for much of the repression of peaceful protests in Kinshasa between January 2015 and July 2017, is currently director of the Directorate General of Schools and Training. His direct role in Operation Likofi in 2014 remains unpunished by Congolese justice. During this operation, Kanyama personally carried out actions and gave orders on the conduct of the operation, which led to many serious abuses. Participating police officers summarily executed at least 51 young men and teenagers and disappeared 33 others.
According to an attached police source, his appointment as head of the police academy has a strategic function in that he is tasked with designing training modules focused on the brutal and violent suppression of demonstrations, using anti-guerrilla techniques in order to terrorize the population. In September 2018, six dead bodies of young people, bearing traces of bullets, were found in the Congo River [22]. Several concurring sources accuse the special police units of being responsible.
10. Brigadier Djadjidja: Commander of the 14th military region in Kinshasa
Former commander of the PM battalion (Military Police), General Djadjidja is appointed since 14 July 2018 commander of the 14th military region corresponding to the territorial entity of the city of Kinshasa. In his role, his mission is to put Kinshasa the rebellious in step and to extend actions of repression of the populations by the army which severely repressed the popular demonstrations of January 2015, September and December 2016, as well as the last ones CLC events in December 2017 and January 2018 in Kinshasa. It is under his command that the repressive military operations in Kinshasa are carried out. This officer deserves to be included in the next list of sanctions.
11. Lambert Mende Omalanga: Minister of Telecommunications and Media
The Congolese Minister of Telecommunications and Media, Lambert Mende Omalanga, renowned for his untimely statements and incitement to hatred and his restriction of public and state media space to opponents and human rights activists, continues to embody the hard line and repressive of Joseph Kabila’s regime. His statements are likely to hinder the full implementation of the New Year’s Eve Agreement and the measures of political relaxation, which is essential to creating a peaceful atmosphere in the current electoral process.
In addition to his ministerial duties, Lambert Mende is known to be the financier of a militia of his party the CCU (United Congolese Convention). A group that sows troubles and desolation in the inter-communal conflicts in Sankuru [23]. In Lodja as in Katako Kombe, these young CCU militants attack and vandalize everything in their path as they torch the homes of their targets at night with impunity. This militia was and is entirely financed by Mende via his younger brother Justin Omokala, according to Mr. Timothée Tshaombo, former Kabila’s chargé de mission, currently in exile[24].Other internal sources of the CCU also report that it was the youth of the CCU who tried to molest the former special representative of Obama in the DRC, Tom Perriello, or who twice took to the Belgian consular authorities in organizing demonstrations hostile to Belgium, supervised by the police, at the time when any public demonstration was strictly forbidden.
12. Evariste Boshab Mabudj -ma- Bilenge: Former Minister of the Interior
Former Congolese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior and Security from December 7, 2014 to November 14, 2016, Boshab remains a hawk of Joseph Kabila’s regime. It is under his responsibility that the conflicts in Kasai have degenerated. He is accused by several sources of being the sponsor of the heinous assassination of Chief Kamwina Nsapu.
A report released July 17, 2018 by the Study Group on Congo (GEC) of New University invites the Congolese government to “ investigate on the involvement of provincial and national authorities in supporting militias “in the conflict that has claimed more than 3 000 dead between September 2016 and July 2017 in Kasaï“, in the center of the DRC. While the insurrection “was extremely brutal, the government’s narrow and disproportionate military response exacerbated the crisis“, notes this report.
According to the GEC, “the conflict in Kasai saw many politicians – including Evariste Boshab, Hubert Mbingho, Maker Mwangu and Alex Kande – maneuvering for intermediation positions between “local ” conflicts and “national” political power.” Mr. Boshab was minister of the interior when the conflict broke out. Several sources indicate that he continues to maintain local militias, especially among former Congolese refugee youths repatriated to DRC. These militiamen compete with other local militias close to power in a kind of internal leadership war within the ruling coalition. They stand out in acts of intimidation and human rights violations.
13. Emmanuel Shadary: FCC Candidate for the Presidential Election of December 23, 2018
Emmanuel Shadari was Minister of the Interior during the massacres of Kasaï. He was sanctioned by the European Union and Switzerland. He is reputed to make threats to the people and the protesters of the regime against whom he advocates tough methods of repression. State agents and affiliates participated in the organization of the mission that killed two UN experts, Zaida Catalan and Michael Sharp, on March 12, 2017, according to a thorough RFI and Reuters Survey on the basis of elements from the Congolese military justice investigation file, fruit of cooperation with the UN. To date, these documents have never been mentioned either during the trial opened in the DRC, or in the report of a committee of inquiry set up by the United Nations [25].
The choice of Shadari by Kabila to succeed him is a challenge of the current regime to the Congolese people and the international community, especially in terms of respect for human rights. It is also a strong signal of the continuity of the repressive governance style that has characterized the Kabila regime for the past three years. Ramazani Shadary is a hawk and a fighter of the regime, ready to kill and die for Kabila to whom he devotes full loyalty.
Conclusion
To lift the sanctions measures against Shadari and the above-mentioned people would be a negative signal for the EU to encourage impunity in the DRC. There is no new exculpatory evidence from candidate Shadari in his favor today. In addition, the lifting of the sanctions against Shadari could be perceived as its election dubiousness and as an anticipated recognition of an electoral victory that the regime tries to impose on the Congolese people. In addition, Congolese opinion would perceive this as a leap forward in the quest for mining contracts with a regime that uses Congo’s natural resources as part of a blackmail diplomacy.
The Kinshasa regime which he co -assume political and security management in a project of continuity of security governance marked by serious violations of human rights, makes no effort or shows any sign of openness to defuse the political space by releasing political and opinion prisoners as well as activists of citizen movements like Firmin Yangambi , Eugène Diomi Ndongala, Jean-Claude Muyambo , Franck Diongo [26], Gerard Mulumba Gecoco , Carbone Beni and his comrades from Filimbi, etc.
As a reminder, in June 2018, the United States took new sanctions against officials in the DRC. They hit several Congolese officials implicated in corruption in connection with the electoral process, according to the US State Department. These officials, close to the entourage of President Kabila, are now prohibited from entering the United States. On October 25, US President Donald Trump declared that he maintained the sanctions against the DRC by considering that “the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or in relation to it continues to represent an unusual and extraordinary threat to the foreign policy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared in Instruction 13413 of October 27, 2006, as amended by Instruction 13671 of July 8, 2014, and the measures adopted to deal with this emergency must remain in effect at Beyond October 27, 2018. Therefore, I continue for a year the national emergency with regard to the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo “.
DESC encourages the European Union and the United States to maintain their pressure on the DRC, by maintaining , or even extending to new people, the current sanctions regime with regard to the persons mentioned above for their harmful role in the serious violations of human rights and to impede the smooth conduct of an electoral process to ensure peaceful, free and credible elections in a period of intense political tension that could plunge the DRC into a deep chaos that will destroy all stabilization efforts undertaken by the international community for almost 20 years.
Jean-Jacques Wondo Omanyundu / Exclusivity DESC.
References
[1] These sanctions are : freezing of assets and prohibition of entry and stay on the territory of the EU.
[2] https://www.jeuneafrique.com/535542/politique/rdc-15-proches-de-kabila-sanctionnes-demandent-a-re-entendus-devant-le-conseil-de-lue/.
[3] https://monusco.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/bcnudh_-_rapport_sur_le_recours_a_la_force_et_annexes_-_mars_2018_0.pdf
[4] https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2018/06/29/rd-congo-the-repressure-performance-while-the-limited-limited-date-for-elections .
[5] UNJHRO note on the main trends in human rights violations between January and June 2018, 18 July 2018.
[6] https://afridesk.org/en/joseph-kabila-and-its-possible-maintenance-to-power-a-piege-by-the-electoral-process-joel-kandolo/ .
[7] http://www.lalibre.be/actu/international/rdc-mort-of-two-students-by-the-balls-of-police-5bef0cf3cd70e3d2f6bc61ab .
[8] https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/afr62/9052/2018/en/ .
[9] Letter dated 8 August 2017 from the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of the Congo addressed to the President of the Security Council, whose mandate has been extended by resolution 2293 (2016). https://afrique.lalibre.be/7342/rdc-the-group-of-experts-of-pin-the-general-amisi-for-exploitation-of-lor/ .
[10] https://www.reseau-rafal.org/sites/reseau-rafal.org/files/document/externes/Rapport%20RDC%20ONU%20aout%202017.pdf .
[11] http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20180811-rdc-general-accuse-exploitation-illegale-bois .
[12] https://www.dw.com/fr/rdc-le-come-back-du-g%C3%A9n%C3%A9ral-john-numbi/a-42211704
[13] https://www.hrw.org/en/report/2017/12/04/special-mission/recruitment-of-my-backgrounds-to-repress-the-manifestations .
[14] https://afridesk.org/fr/elections-ou-le-chaos-ce-sera-plutot-la-war-for-kabila-jean-jacques-wondo/ .
[15] http://www.nyota.net/2014/04/21/m23-arp-galcd-amnistie-premiere-liste/ .
[16] https://www.jeuneafrique.com/553394/politique/rdc-affaires-tshibangu-le-general-delphin-kahimbi-explains-and-accuse/ .
[17] http://afrikarabia.com/wordpress/rdc-kris-berwouts-round-the-four-days-of-the-hands-of-security-services/ .
[18] https://afridesk.org/en/the-massacres-to-kasai-central-desc-interpelle-the-security-collaborators-of-kabila/ .
[19] https://monusco.unmissions.org/sites/default/files/bcnudh_-_report_on_the_recours_a_la_force_et_annexes_-_mars_2018_0.pdf
[20] In Kasongo, DRC: who is Sylvano Kasongo Kitenge , the new police chief of Kinshasa ?, Jeune Afrique, 21 July 2017, www.jeuneafrique.com/459423/politique/rdc-sylvano-kasongo-kitenge-new head of kinshasa police /.
[21] https://www.radiookapi.net/2017/07/19/emissions/linvite-du-jour/rdc-is-in-a-conjuncture-of-militarization-of-police .
[22] https://www.rtbf.be/info/monde/detail_enquetes-au-congo-apres-la-mort-mysterieuse-de-plusieurs-jeunes?id=10024210 .
[23] http://afridesk.org/fr/le-sankuru-au-bord-dun-conflict-intra-communautaire-devastateur-t-tshaombo/ .
[24] http://afridesk.org/fr/le-gouverneur-berthold-ulungu-pourra-t-il-desamorcer-les-velleites-dune-guerre-civile-que-la-milice-de-lambert-mende- seme-au-sankuru-timothee-tshaombo / .
[25] http://www.rfi.fr/afrique/20171220-meurtre-experts-onu-rdc-role-agents-etat-zaida-catalan-michael-sharp .
[26] In December 2016, GR soldiers were disguised as civilian agents to break into the home of MK Franck Diongo, an opponent of the Kabila regime. Their attempt to violate their homes without a judicial warrant was rejected by supporters of Diongo. In retaliation, Franck Diongo was practically beaten to death by heavily armed members of the GR who came to the rescue of their colleagues, on the direct orders of General Gaston-Hughes Ilunga Kampete, Commander of the GR. He was imprisoned in violation of the right of parliamentary immunity and sentenced by the Supreme Court of Justice to 5 years of principal penal servitude for the arbitrary arrest and detention of three Republican Guard soldiers at his home. But these soldiers on illegal mission and without requisition of the judicial authorities were never unduly worried.
