Wazalendo militiamen, sponsored by imposter president Felix Tshisekedi and his government, have been accused of several human rights violations since their recruitment to participate in military operations to support the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) in the ongoing war with the M23 rebel group in North Kivu province in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
In Nyiragongo territory of North Kivu, the Wazalendo militiamen have committed numerous cases of murder perpetrated against innocent and defenseless civilians.
Last week, at least three cases of murder by beheading were performed by the Wazal in the chiefdom of Kibati in Nyiragongo with two of the victims being among a group of impoverished people displaced by the war, as well as a basic cadre.
“Assassinations have become normal in this entity. On Thursday, one of my basic executives was cut up with a machete by wazalendo. We don’t even know what he was accused of. The other two were displaced: one was in the field when he saw the armed men in uniform who ended his life, the other was resting in his small hut when the wazalendo came to shoot him. My father had also been cut with a machete in October 2023. So we continue to count the dead as a result of the insecurity in this village,” said Sikitu Kamundu Sylvestre, the chief of Buhama village.
In Buhuma village, a new camp for displaced people from Rutshuru has been erected with the populations denouncing the insecurity due to the presence of the Wazalendo.
“We are here but it is as if we have never left the front. The bullets crackle every day. Since we arrived, we have already lost more than 10 people killed by gunmen from gunmen. Sometimes, they argue and we are the victims. You can be in your little house and they come to end your life just like that,” said one displaced person after the death of another displaced person on Sunday.
He added: “Our brother who was killed had no problem with them. They came and they said, “We know you’re putting your head here, we’re going to shoot.” They killed him like that. We ask the government to take us home, those who have returned are better than us.”
Tshisekedi approved the recruitment of the Wazalendo, a criminal group that had been terrorizing the eastern region, to team up with the FARDC to fight against the M23 and recently re-equipped the militia group with arms and other war necessities.
