Bibokoboko
Bibokoboko is a village located in the middle plateaus of the Mutambala Sector, within Fizi Territory in South Kivu Province, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Positioned approximately 23 kilometers northwest of the city of Baraka, Bibokoboko lies along the Baraka–Mongemonge–Tujenge–Bibokoboko road axis, a route that is infrequently used due to poor infrastructure. Baraka serves as the primary supply center for essential goods and services for the Bibokoboko population.
The village shares boundaries with Uvira Territory to the north, Mwenga and Shabunda Territories to the west, Kalemie Territory to the south, and Lake Tanganyika to the east. Bibokoboko benefits from the mineral wealth of the Mutambala region, including deposits of gold, iron, coltan, tantalum, tin, tungsten, and petroleum. The village also plays a humanitarian role, having hosted refugees from Tanzania at the Mshimbakye border post and accommodating various international humanitarian organizations. Despite its natural and strategic assets, the area is affected by ongoing violence involving local armed groups.
History
The area surrounding Bibokoboko has historically been inhabited by the Babembe, Basanze, Babuyu, Balega, Bazoba, Babwari, Bantu ethnic groups native to the shores of Lake Tanganyika and the broader Fizi Territory. Closely related groups such as the Nyindu, Bagoma, and Fuliiru also reside in the region. During the colonial period in the mid-20th century, the village began receiving Banyarwanda migrants from Rwanda, who settled in the area in search of greener pastures. Bibokoboko later became a refuge for Burundian Hutu immigrants fleeing political violence, notably during the 1972 massacres known as the Ikiza and the subsequent displacements of 1976–1977.First Congo War
In the 1990s, Bibokoboko and the wider Fizi region were deeply affected by the First Congo War, a conflict that was ignited in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Following the genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front, under Paul Kagame, overthrew the Hutu-dominated regime of Juvénal Habyarimana. However, RPF military operations extended beyond neutralizing Hutu militias and included the widespread killing of Hutu civilians, as documented by UNHCR consultant Robert Gersony. As many as 5,000 to 10,000 people were reported killed monthly in mid-1994 during these operations. The mass exodus of over two million Rwandan Hutus into eastern Zaire, including the provinces of North and South Kivu, exacerbated regional tensions. The already fragile Zairean state under Mobutu Sese Seko struggled to assert control. By 1996, the Rwandan Patriotic Army, Ugandan forces, and the Burundian Forces Armées Burundaises began supporting Banyamulenge and other Tutsi militias operating in eastern Zaire. On 12 September 1996, Banyamulenge armed elements killed nine civilians, including local leaders and their families, in Kanyura and Makutano in the Itombwe Sector of the Mwenga Territory. Among the victims were a head of management post of the Rega ethnic group, the chief of the Basymuniaka II groupement, a Bembe from Fizi Territory, and two members of his family. These killings were seen by many locals as the onset of a broader campaign of violence against their communities.As the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo, alongside RPA and FAB troops, pushed deeper into South Kivu, several massacres occurred. In late October 1996, AFDL and RPA forces killed 27 civilians, predominantly women and children, in the village of Mboko, approximately 52 kilometers south of Uvira in Fizi Territory. The victims, attempting to flee across Lake Tanganyika to Tanzania, were either shot or drowned. On 28 October 1996, another massacre occurred in the village of Abala-Ngulube, situated at the junction of the Moyen Plateau and Haut Plateau near Minembwe. A total of 101 civilians belonging to the Bembe ethnic group and members of the Third Malikia wa Ubembe Church were killed by AFDL and RPA forces. Many victims were burned alive inside the church after refusing to evacuate the village. The attack followed an ambush in which Bembe fighters had reportedly killed two AFDL and RPA soldiers in the surrounding area. Since the massacre, members of the Third Malikia wa Ubembe Church have commemorated the victims annually on 28 October. Beginning in October 1996, AFDL and RPA forces initiated the recruitment of child soldiers in the territories of Uvira and Fizi, as well as in the city of Bukavu. In Bukavu, recruitment was conducted from the AFDL headquarters located in the Lolango Building on Avenue Maniema. Recruited children received basic military training in the village of Kidoti before being deployed to the front lines.
The violence and upheaval culminated in the capture of Kinshasa by May 1997, leading to the overthrow of Mobutu. Laurent-Désiré Kabila assumed control of the country, which was subsequently renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Second Congo War
The Second Congo War, which began in 1998, significantly destabilized the region. The conflict originated from escalating tensions between President Laurent-Désiré Kabila and his former Rwandan and Ugandan allies. Kabila, who had seized power from Mobutu Sese Seko in 1997, was accused of marginalizing Tutsi factions within his government and favoring his Katangan allies. During this period, allegations emerged suggesting that the United States had provided military assistance to Rwanda, ostensibly to facilitate access to the DRC's extensive natural resources. In July 1998, a U.S. Army Rwanda Interagency Assessment Team was deployed to train Rwandan military units. Reports from war correspondent Keith Harmon Snow further implicated U.S. figures, such as Roger Winter of the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, in supporting insurgent activities.Tensions escalated in July 1998 when Kabila, concerned about a potential coup d'état, dismissed Rwandan General James Kabarebe from his position as Chief of Staff of the Congolese army and ordered all RPA soldiers to withdraw from Congolese territory. This move provoked strong reactions from Rwanda and Uganda, which subsequently supported the formation of a new rebel coalition known as the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie. On 2 August 1998, mutinous Congolese soldiers, allied with the RPA, the Ugandan People's Defence Force, the Forces Armées Burundaises, and remnants of the former Armed Forces of Zaire, announced their rebellion via the state broadcaster Radio Télévision nationale congolaise in Goma. Within weeks, this coalition, under the banner of the RCD, captured major towns across North and South Kivu, Orientale Province, and North Katanga, and advanced into Équateur Province. However, their offensive in Bas-Congo Province and the capital, Kinshasa, was repelled by military interventions from Angola and Zimbabwe in support of Kabila. Consequently, the country was effectively divided into two zones: one controlled by Kabila's government, supported by Zimbabwean, Angolan, Namibian, Chadian, and Sudanese forces, and the other controlled by the armed wing of the RCD, the Armée Nationale Congolaise, alongside Rwandan and Ugandan forces, including the RPA, UPDF, and FAB. The conflict rapidly grew more complex, as Kabila formed alliances with Mayi-Mayi militias, Burundian Hutu rebels such as the Forces pour la Défense de la Démocratie, and ex-FAR/Interahamwe forces reorganized under the Armée de Libération du Rwanda. These groups aimed to counter the influence of the ANC and RPA in the eastern regions of the country. Meanwhile, Uganda, which controlled substantial parts of Orientale Province, established and backed the Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo, led by Jean-Pierre Bemba, to govern territories captured in Équateur Province. By March 1999, strategic disagreements between Rwanda and Uganda led to a split within the RCD, resulting in the formation of two factions: the pro-Rwandan RCD-Goma and the pro-Ugandan RCD-Mouvement de Libération.
Although RCD-Goma's military wing, the ANC, along with RPA and FAB forces, quickly occupied urban centers in South Kivu, they encountered difficulties consolidating control over rural areas. The RCD's alliances with Banyamulenge communities, coupled with reliance on Rwandan support and widespread violence committed by its forces, led to alienation among local populations. Many civilians joined Mayi-Mayi militias or formed new groups, such as Mudundu 40 in Walungu Territory. Some of these militias allied with reorganized Hutu factions, including ex-FAR/Interahamwe and the ALiR, as well as the Burundian Hutu CNDD-FDD. Certain Mayi-Mayi factions, like General Padiri's division in Bunyakiri and Colonel Dunia's Forces d'Autodéfense Populaires in Shabunda Territory, received arms and logistical support from Kinshasa to coordinate their operations, although most militias operated independently. In response to attacks by Mayi-Mayi forces, the ANC, RPA, and FAB troops intensified search operations, which included widespread sexual violence and systematic targeting of civilians.
In October and November 1998, soldiers from the ANC and FAB killed 22 civilians in the villages of Swima and Lusambo, located in Tanganyika Sector of Fizi Territory. The killings occurred during a market day, with the soldiers opening fire indiscriminately after alleging that the local population supported Mayi-Mayi and CNDD-FDD fighters. The violence escalated following an incident in which an FDD combatant wounded a member of the ANC-FAB forces. On 21 December 1998, another massacre occurred in the village of Mboko, in Tanganyika Sector, where ANC, RPA, and FAB soldiers killed nine civilians. After driving out Mayi-Mayi forces, the soldiers conducted house-to-house searches and executed civilians, some by shooting, others by edged weapons. Between 30 December 1998 and 2 January 1999, one of the most brutal episodes, known as the Makobola massacre, took place across several villages in Fizi Territory, including Makobola II, Bangwe, Katuta, Mikunga, and Kashekezi. Over 800 civilians were killed by ANC, RPA, and FAB forces. These attacks followed the deaths of RPA and ANC commanders in Makobola on 29 December 1998. Although Mayi-Mayi forces had already retreated to the surrounding mountains, the soldiers retaliated against the civilian population, many of whom were women, children, Red Cross workers, and religious leaders. The massacres included the burning alive of civilians in their homes, widespread looting, and the destruction of property.
Further atrocities were reported in March 1999, when six fishermen were burned alive by FAB soldiers in the village of Kazimia in Ngandja Sector of Fizi Territory. The incident occurred shortly after clashes between the ANC-FAB forces and Mayi-Mayi/CNDD-FDD militias over control of the village. In May 1999, following the recapture of Baraka from Mayi-Mayi forces, ANC soldiers burned 28 civilians alive in the nearby village of Mwandiga. The victims, which included entire families with children, had been attempting to flee to Ubwari and had stopped in the village in search of transport. After gathering for what was announced as a meeting, they were instead executed and set alight. On 30 June 2000, another attack occurred in Lulinda and nearby areas such as Mwachata and Icwa in the Tanganyika Sector. At least 29 civilians were killed by ANC and RPA soldiers, who also committed acts of rape and arson.