Davignon, who was a junior diplomatic intern at the time of the assassination, is the first person to be prosecuted in the case. He is the last living suspect among 10 Belgian diplomats who allegedly assisted in the unlawful abduction and transfer of Lumumba that ultimately led to his death. The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office charged Davignon with “participation in war crimes,” and has also investigated him for involvement in the murders of two of Lumumba’s political allies, Maurice Mpolo and Joseph Okito. A cabinet minister and senator, respectively, Mpolo and Okito were killed alongside Lumumba.

Before becoming the first prime minister of what was initially known as the Republic of Congo, Lumumba led the struggle for independence from Belgium and was hailed by the public as an anti-colonial icon. He served for three months in 1960 before he was forced out and killed early the following year.

While Lumumba’s killers were Congolese rebels, a Belgian Parliamentary Committee concluded in 2002 that “certain members of the Belgian government and other Belgian participants were morally responsible for the circumstances leading to the death of Lumumba.” It also noted that the United States acted behind the scenes to organize active opposition to Lumumba, creating “the first plans of physical elimination.”

The push for a criminal case began in 2011, when Lumumba’s children demanded justice for their father in light of mounting evidence of Belgium’s involvement in the assassination. This January, 10 grandchildren of Lumumba brought both civil proceedings and criminal charges, marking one of the first instances of prosecution for crimes committed in colonial-era Africa.

The Belgian system is one of a few criminal justice systems that combine criminal and civil procedures. It allows parties to join criminal proceedings as civil parties and allows judges to rule on both the criminal and civil aspects of a proceeding in a single decision. The trial is expected to begin in 2027.

From JURIST, March 19. Used with permission.

Photo: Harry Pot/ANEFO via Wikimedia Commons

The RDF have reportedly provided direct operational support to the M23 and its affiliates by introducing advanced military equipment to eastern DRC, including GPS jamming systems, air defense equipment, and drones. According to US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the US seeks the immediate withdrawal of RDF troops, weapons and equipment.

Rwanda government officials expressly rejected the sanctions as “unjust and one-sided,” stating:

The sanctions issued today by the United States unjustly targeting only one party to the peace process misrepresent the reality and distort the facts of the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Consistent and indiscriminate drone attacks and ground offensives constitute clear violations of ceasefire agreements by the DRC, and continue to cost many lives. Protecting our country is a badge of honour which the Rwanda Defense Force carries very proudly.

The sanctions come two months after the International Contact Group for the Great Lakes (ICG) issued a joint statement on the escalation of violence in eastern DRC and the new M23 offensive, which Rwanda is charged with having supported. The ICG urged all parties to honor their obligations to protect civilians, uphold commitments under last year’s Washington Accords, and immediately de-escalate the situation.

Armed group M23 has operated in the DRC for well over a decade and has allegedly committed numerous war crimes, including mass rape, during its occupation of Goma in eastern DRC in late 2012. The group is also documented to have forcibly recruited at least 146 young men and boys in the Rutshuru territory of the eastern DRC alone since July 2012, some as young as 15 years old. The actual number of forcibly recruited youth is believed to be far higher.

The UN Security Council has condemned M23 actions and imposed sanctions on parties violating arms, transport and finance rules, as well as political and military leaders of Congolese militias receiving support from outside the DRC.

The RDF actions come despite a joint declaration between the DRC and Rwanda signed late last year as part of a US-backed Regional Economic Integration Framework, to chart a future of mutually beneficial partnerships, greater connectivity with international development initiatives, and investment opportunities across sectors, including in mining, infrastructure, industrial development, and national park management.

From JURIST, March 3. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Photo: US Air Force via Wikimedia Commons

The massacre in Nkana village—located in Kwamouth territory, Mai-Ndombe province, just some 75 kilometers northeast of the capital Kinshasa—was reportedly carried out by fighters from the Mobondo militia, which is aligned with the Yaka ethnic group. Human Rights Watch, which documented the attack in a report released Dec. 16, said fighters armed with firearms and machetes killed “mostly ethnic Teke villagers in their homes as they attempted to flee.”

The Teke are indigenous to western Congo and have long-established customary land rights in the area. However, in recent years Yaka people from neighboring provinces have started to migrate to the area, either to work as farmhands or to farm on newly settled lands in exchange for payment of a tax to the local Teke customary chief.

The attack was apparently triggered by the refusal of Teke residents to appoint a customary chief from the Yaka people. In the days leading up to the assault, threatening messages were sent to some Teke villagers.

HRW described the killings as “an apparent retaliatory attack linked to rising intercommunal tensions.” The organization urged Congolese authorities to take immediate action to address the root causes of the violence. The organization warned that failure to act decisively risks entrenching cycles of revenge that could destabilize areas close to the capital.

Kwamouth territory has experienced repeated clashes between Yaka and Teke communities since June 2022, driven by disputes over land, customary authority, and political representation. The violence has drawn condemnation from civil society activists, human rights groups, and traditional authorities.

Following the attack, Congolese authorities deployed military personnel to the area and announced an investigation. Some lawmakers have called on the provincial assembly to adopt urgent measures to address the crisis.

“The violence in Kwamouth is just one of many deadly ethnic conflicts in Congo,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The global focus on the peace accords in eastern Congo shouldn’t distract from the unchecked violence and injustice and the cycles of impunity in other areas.”

From JURIST, Dec. 17. Used with permission.

Note: Mai-Ndombe and the provinces from which Taka settlers are arriving were all carved out of Bandundu province in a 2015 repartitioning of the DRC’s internal borders.

Map: PCL

According to information gathered by the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the DRC (MONUSCO), a series of deadly attacks took place between November 13 and 19 across several localities in Lubero Territory, in North Kivu province of the eastern DRC, resulting in the deaths of 89 civilians, including 20 women and an unknown number of children. These attacks included a raid on a healthcare center where 17 patients were killed. The raid also saw abductions of civilians, looting of medical supplies, and destruction of property. Assaults on healthcare facilities are strictly forbidden under international humanitarian law, which mandates that medical units be respected and protected in all circumstances. This protection extends to the wounded and sick, medical staff, and means of transport.

The UN expressed solidarity with the families of the victims and reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Congolese authorities in protecting civilians, preventing further abuses, and addressing impunity. MONUSCO also urged national authorities to conduct independent investigations to hold the perpetrators accountable, and called on armed groups in the region to disarm.

Fom JURIST, Nov. 22. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Note: Despite its unassuming name, the ADF is integrated into the Islamic State Central Africa Province (ISCAP).

Map: PCL

Photo: Twitter via Peoples Dispatch

Kabila, who governed the country from 2001 to 2019, is being tried in absentia on charges of treason and war crimes for his alleged ties to the M23 rebel group, which has waged a long-running insurgency in the country. He has consistently denied the allegations.

Kabila’s political party, the People’s Party for Reconstruction & Democracy (PPRD), dismissed the proceedings as politically motivated and accused President Félix Tshisekedi of weaponizing the judiciary to silence opponents. In April, the Congolese government suspended the PPRD, citing its alleged complicity with the M23. Tshisekedi, a longtime rival of Kabila, assumed office in January 2019 in what marked the DRC’s first peaceful transfer of power in nearly six decades as an independent country. However, political enmities have continued to strain the democratic process.

Rights groups have criticized the proceedings against Kabila, noting the troubled record of the DRC on due process and the national retention of the death penalty, despite a de facto moratorium on executions since 2003. Moreover, the treason case marks an unprecedented moment in Congolese politics: No former head of state has previously faced a demand for capital punishment in a domestic court.

Kabila has been outside the country for the past two years, although he is believed to have returned to the eastern DRC city of Goma after it was occupied by the M23 earlier this year.

The trial has unfolded amid escalating atrocities in eastern Congo. In a briefing released last week, Amnesty International reported that armed groups allied with Rwanda, including M23, and rival militias known as Wazalendo, have carried out serious abuses against civilians. Documented violations include summary executions, enforced disappearances, attacks on hospitals, and widespread sexual violence that amount to grave breaches of international humanitarian law, deepening the humanitarian crisis in the region.

From JURIST, Aug. 25. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Note: Kabila has been linked to the M23 before.

Map: PCL

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Macron stated that the historians of the Franco-Cameroonian Commission studied the war that began in 1956, finding that colonial authorities and the French army deliberately used repressive violence against the Cameroonian population. He added that the war continued after Cameroonian independence in 1960, with France supporting state repression in a post-independence power struggle that lasted through 1971.

Macron pledged to open France’s archives and declassify documents pertaining to French actions in Cameroon; however, he did not apologize, nor did he mention any further steps toward reconciliation.

The letter follows release of the report by the Franco-Cameroonian Commission, which traced the history of violence in Cameroon from 1945 to 1971. The commission was initiated by Macron following a trip to Cameroon in 2022. The report found France responsible for numerous atrocities, including sending hundreds of thousands to internment camps and funding paramilitary death squads. Much of the repression was directed towards the Union of the Peoples of Cameroon (UPC), a left-wing political party which was the main force in the independence movement. France denounced the UPC as communist and banned the party, which forced the movement underground, thus beginning a protracted guerrilla war that ended with pro-France Ahmadou Ahidjo as the head of the newly independent state in 1960.

However, French political violence and repression against opposition groups, particularly the UPC, continued after independence. The report details France’s assassination of UPC leaders Paul Momo, Isaac Nyobè Pandjock, Jérémie Ndélélé and Félix Moumié, as well as UPC founder Ruben Um Nyobè. Nyobè preached a doctrine of non-violence, and any mention of him was banned in Cameroon until the 1990s.

The head of the Association of Cameroonian Veterans and former UPC fighter, Mathieu Njassep, said the acknowledgement is a welcome step, but urged France to go further and consider reparations.

This acknowledgment comes in sharp contrast to France’s previous denial of its atrocities during the Cameroon war, despite established historical consensus. Macron has also acknowledged French responsibility in the Rwandan Genocide, crimes committed during the Algerian War, and the 1944 Thiaroye massacre in Senegal, making the most recent acknowledgment the latest chapter in Macron’s careful and calculated moves toward admission of France’s violent colonial and neo-colonial history in Africa.

From JURIST, Aug. 14. Used with permission. Internal links added.

Image: Wikipedia

Türk stressed the importance of adherence to the peace process and the need to hold accountable the perpetrators of ongoing acts of violence. He urged all parties to cease attacks on civilians and fulfill their obligations under international law. Noting the declaration of principles that the DRC government signed with the M23 and its affiliated Congo River Alliance in Doha, Qatar on July 19, he stated:

I urge the signatories and facilitators of both the Doha and Washington agreements to ensure that they quickly translate into safety, security, and real progress for civilians in the DRC, who continue to endure the devastating consequences of these conflicts.

The UN Human Rights Office reported that July recorded the highest number of civilian deaths since the resurgence of the M23 armed group in 2022. Just between July 9 and 21, the M23 conducted attacks that resulted in the death of 319 civilians, predominantly local farmers, including women and children. Other armed groups, such as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and the Coopérative pour le développement du Congo (CODECO), also committed atrocities against civilians, including killings and destruction of homes and local shops, as well as sexual violence.

The declaration of principles signed in Doha last month commits the DRC and M23 to reach a final peace deal by Aug. 18. This peace agreement must align with the June peace agreement signed by the DRC and Rwanda in Washington, aiming to end the conflict and resume bilateral relations between the two countries to achieve lasting peace in the region.

The UN has repeatedly condemned the relentless abuses against civilians carried out by armed actors in the eastern DRC, which have included raiding hospitals, kidnappings, sexual violence, and the military recruitment of children. In May, Amnesty International released a report indicating that the M23 committed human rights violations at detention sites under their control, which may have amounted to war crimes.

From JURIST, Aug. 7. Used with permission Internal links added.

Photo: Sylvain Liechti/MONUSCO via Wikimedia Commons

The ICC found that Yekatom and Ngaissona led a campaign of violence targeting Muslim civilians in retaliation for months of looting and violence carried out by the Muslim-led Séléka rebel coalition, which had seized power in 2013. The convictions include charges of murder, intentionally attacking civilian populations, forcible transfer, torture and other inhumane acts, and persecution.

The judgement reaffirmed the importance of the principle of distinction between civilians and combatants in armed conflict. Deputy Prosecutor Mame Mandiaye Niang stated:

The crimes attributed to the two are serious in all aspects, causing horrific and indelible consequences for the civilian population. This conviction is a strong message from the ICC that those responsible for atrocity crimes under the Rome Statute will be brought to justice and held to account. From the battlefield to the inner circles of power, there can be no impunity for crimes violating the most fundamental tenet of international humanitarian law—the protection of civilians.

Human Rights Watch welcomed the verdict, calling it “an important step toward justice in the country.” The rights group emphasized, however, that similar cases await a resolution before the ICC and the Special Criminal Court established within the CAR. Lewis Mudge, the Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, stated:

The verdict against Yekatom and Ngaissona is an important step, but thousands of victims of atrocity crimes in Central African Republic still await justice… ICC member countries and international partners should double down on their support for the ICC and the Special Criminal Court to ensure these institutions have the political backing and resources they need to carry out their critical mandates.

From JURIST, July 26. Used with permission.

Note: This now makes 12 convictions at the ICC.

See our last report on the Central African Republic war crimes cases.

Map via Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection