Laurent Nkunda Mihigo (born Laurent Nkundabatware; February 2, 1967) is a Congolese former military officer and warlord who operated in the

North Kivu North Kivu () is a Provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital city is Goma. Spanning approximately 59,483 square kilometers with a population esti ...

Province during the

Kivu conflict The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including ...

. Nkunda, who is a

Congolese Tutsi The Banyamulenge are a community that lives mainly in South Kivu Provinces of DRC, Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with roots from mainly Rwanda. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially related to the Banyarwanda Tutsi found in ...

, initially fought as a rebel fighter in the

Rwandan Civil War The Rwandan Civil War was a large-scale civil war in Rwanda which was fought between the Rwandan Armed Forces, representing the country's government, and the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) from 1October 1990 to 18 July 1994. The war arose ...

alongside the forces of the

Rwandan Patriotic Front The Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF–Inkotanyi; , FPR) is the ruling political party in Rwanda. The RPF was founded in December 1987 by Rwandan Tutsi in exile in Uganda because of the ethnic violence that had occurred during the Rwandan Hutu Revo ...

(RPF) against the genocidal Hutu-led government in Rwanda. In 1996, he returned to the Congo and joined Laurent Kabila's

AFDL The Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (), also known by the French acronym AFDL, was a coalition of Rwandan, Ugandan, Burundian, and Democratic Republic of the Congo, Congolese dissidents, disgruntled minority group ...

forces during the

First Congo War The First Congo War, also known as Africa's First World War, was a Civil war, civil and international military conflict that lasted from 24 October 1996 to 16 May 1997, primarily taking place in Zaire (which was renamed the Democratic Republi ...

. However, he later rebelled against Kabila's government and joined the rebellion led by Rwandan-aligned rebels during the

Second Congo War The Second Congo War, also known as Africa's World War or the Great War of Africa, was a major conflict that began on 2 August 1998, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, just over a year after the First Congo War. The war initially erupted ...

. Following the end of the Second Congo War, he was integrated into the

Congolese Army Congolese or Kongolese may refer to: African peoples * Congolese people (disambiguation) * Kongo people, a Bantu ethnic group who live along the Atlantic coast of Africa from Pointe-Noire (Republic of Congo) to Luanda, Angola, primarily defined by ...

in 2003 but would again later rebel against the government, marking the beginning of the

. On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.BBC News
Rwanda arrests Congo rebel leader
23 January 2009

Early life

Laurent Nkunda was born on February 2, 1967, at the village of Mutanda, located in eastern Congo. Prior to his rebel career, Nkunda studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

at the Kisangani University, and then became a school teacher in Kichanga.

Rebel and military career

Rwandan Civil War

During the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide, also known as the genocide against the Tutsi, occurred from 7 April to 19 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. Over a span of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Gre ...

, which broke out amid the

, Nkunda traveled to

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

, joining the

Tutsi The Tutsi ( ), also called Watusi, Watutsi or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu languages, Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi ( ...

-led

(RPF) who were fighting against the

Rwandan Armed Forces The Rwandan Defence Force (RDF, , , ) is the military of Rwanda. Prior to 1994, Rwanda's military was officially known as the Rwandan Armed Forces (FAR), but following the Rwandan Civil War and the Rwandan genocide, the Rwandan Patriotic Front ( ...

(FAR), the military of the genocidal

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic group native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda where they form one of the principal ethnic groups alongside the Tutsi and the Great L ...

-led government."We are ready for war, rebels warn Kabila"
, ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', August 3, 2006

First Congo War

After the RPF defeated and overthrew the Hutu-led regime in Rwanda to become the new

government of Rwanda A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a mea ...

, Nkunda returned to the Congo (then named

Zaire Zaire, officially the Republic of Zaire, was the name of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1971 to 18 May 1997. Located in Central Africa, it was, by area, the third-largest country in Africa after Sudan and Algeria, and the 11th-la ...

). During the

, he fought alongside

rebels led by

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila (; 27 November 1939 – 16 January 2001) usually known as Laurent Kabila or Kabila the Father (American English, US: ), was a Congolese rebel and politician who served as the third president of the Democratic Republic of t ...

, who overthrew

Mobutu Sese Seko Mobutu Sese Seko Kuku Ngbendu wa za Banga ( ; born Joseph-Désiré Mobutu; 14 October 1930 – 7 September 1997), often shortened to Mobutu Sese Seko or Mobutu and also known by his initials MSS, was a Congolese politician and military officer ...

Second Congo War

At the outset of the

, Nkunda joined and became a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) rebel group, fighting on the side of Rwandan,

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

an, and other rebel forces.

Army career and Kivu conflict

In 2003, with the official end to war, Nkunda was integrated into the national army of the

Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo was tasked with moving from the state riven by the Second Congo War (1998–2003) to a government based upon a constitution agreed on by consensus. In 2001, President Laurent Kabil ...

as a

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

and by 2004, he was promoted to general and commanded the 81st and 83rd brigades of the

. However, he soon rejected the authority of the government and defected with some former RCD-Goma rebel fighters to the Masisi forests in North Kivu,"Arrest Laurent Nkunda For War Crimes"
''

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

'', February 1, 2006 where he raised the flag of rebellion against the government of

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician and former military officer who served as the fourth President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 2001 to 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination o ...

(who had succeeded his father in 2001). Nkunda claimed to be defending the interests of the Tutsi minority in eastern Congo who were subjected to attacks by Hutus, who had fled after their involvement with the

Formation of a rebel government

In August 2007, the area under Nkunda's control lay north of Lake Kivu in Nord-Kivu in the territories of Masisi and Rutshuru. In this area, Nkunda established his headquarters by building necessary infrastructure and developing institutions of order. He established a political organisation known as the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).

2008 Nord-Kivu campaign

In fighting that began on 27 October 2008, known as the 2008 Nord-Kivu campaign, Nkunda led CNDP rebels who fought against both the Congolese government forces, FDLR militias, and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

forces of the 17,000 UN contingent in the country. It was reported that he was advancing on the city of

Goma Goma is a city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the North Kivu, North Kivu Province; it is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu and shares borders with the Bukumu Chiefdo ...

with the aim of capturing it, with the Congolese army claiming he was receiving aid from

. The fighting uprooted 200,000 civilians, bringing the total number of people displaced by the

to 2 million, causing civil unrest large food shortages and what the United Nations calls "a humanitarian crisis of catastrophic dimensions." In an interview with the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

on November 10, 2008, Nkunda threatened to topple the government of the

Democratic Republic of Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

if the president,

, continued to avoid direct negotiations.

Human rights

Throughout the years, Nkunda has come under scrutiny and been accused by a number of organizations of committing human rights abuses. Nkunda was indicted by the Congolese government for

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

s in September 2005. According to human rights monitors such as Refugees International, Nkunda's troops have been alleged to have committed acts of murder, rape, and pillaging of civilian villages; a charge which Nkunda denies.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

says his troops have abducted children as young as 12 and forced them to serve as

child soldiers Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

. In May 2002, he was accused of massacring 160 people in

Kisangani Kisangani (), formerly Stanleyville (), is the capital of Tshopo, Tshopo Province, located on the Congo River in the eastern part of the central Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is the country's fifth-most populous urban a ...

during the Second Congo War, prompting UN Human Rights Commissioner

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...

to call for his arrest following the abduction and beating of two UN investigators by his troops. He has claimed that the UN have ignored the widespread attacks on Tutsis in the region as they did during the

in 1994.

Child soldiers

The

has identified Nkunda's CNDP as being one of the main groups responsible for the recruitment of

child soldier Children in the military, including state armed forces, non-state armed groups, and other military organizations, may be trained for combat, assigned to support roles, such as cooks, porters/couriers, or messengers, or used for tactical adv ...

s in the Congo. Nkunda denies these allegations, stating that as of 2005 he has demobilised 2,500 "young soldiers". His total army was estimated at 7,000–8,000 men.

Possible ouster

Nkunda may have been usurped in leadership by fellow general

Bosco Ntaganda Bosco Ntaganda (born 5 November 1973) is a Congolese former rebel leader and convicted war criminal. He was the former military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a rebel that group operated in the No ...

, who became the new representative of the group. The two might have had a falling out over a massacre of civilians perpetrated by Ntaganda's forces.

Capture and arrest

Nkunda was arrested on 22 January 2009 after he had crossed into Rwanda. After unsuccessfully attempting to defeat the CNDP militarily, Congolese president Kabila made a deal with President

Paul Kagame Paul Kagame ( ; born 23 October 1957) is a Rwandan politician and former military officer who has been the President of Rwanda since 2000. He was previously a commander of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), a rebel armed force which invaded ...

of Rwanda to allow Rwandan soldiers into the DRC to uproot FDLR militants in exchange for Rwanda removing Nkunda. Rwandan officials have yet to say if he will be handed over to DR Congo, which has issued an international warrant for his arrest. A military spokesperson said he had been seized after sending three battalions to repel an advance by a joint Congolese-Rwandan force. The force was part of a joint Congolese-Rwandan operation which was launched to hunt Rwandan Hutu militiamen operating in DR Congo. Nkunda is currently being held at an undisclosed location in Rwanda. A Rwandan military spokesman has claimed, however, that Nkunda is being held at Gisenyi, a city in Rubavu district in the Western Province of Rwanda. On 26 March 2010, the Rwandan Supreme Court ruled that his case could only be heard by a military court since the military had been responsible for his apprehension. Nkunda's defense had sought in vain to have his detention declared illegal, and he has yet to be charged with a crime.

Personal life

Nkunda has six children. He is a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

who speaks English, French, Swahili,

Kinyarwanda Kinyarwanda, Rwandan or Rwanda, officially known as Ikinyarwanda, is a Bantu language and the national language of Rwanda. It is a dialect of the Rwanda-Rundi language that is also spoken in adjacent parts of the Democratic Republic of the ...

Lingala Lingala (or Ngala, Lingala: ) is a Bantu languages, Bantu language spoken in the northwest of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the northern half of the Republic of the Congo, in their capitals, Kinshasa and Brazzaville, and to a lesser de ...

and Kinande, and has claimed to admire leaders including

Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (2October 186930January 1948) was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist, and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British ...

and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

."For Tutsis of Eastern Congo, Protector, Exploiter or Both?"
by Stephanie McCrummen, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', August 6, 2007 Nkunda claims to be a Seventh-day Adventist minister, and is a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a movement within the broader Evangelical wing of Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes direct personal experience of God in Christianity, God through Baptism with the Holy Spirit#Cl ...

Christian. He says that most of his rebel troops have converted. In the 2008 documentary ''Blood

Coltan Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original A ...

'', Nkunda proudly shows a button he wears that reads "Rebels for Christ." He also claims to receive help and guidance from American "Rebels for Christ" who visit the Congo spreading

Christianity. The Seventh-day Adventist Church has denied Nkunda's claims of being a pastor and member of the church.33CN: Adventists Deny Rebel Leader's Claim Affiliation
Adventist Review Retrieved October 25, 2018

References

External links

Encounter with A Rebel Leader
by David McDougall, ''CBC News'', November 17, 2008
Interview with Radio France Internationale, October 2008 (in English)Interview with Sunday Monitor, November 2008Map of the region controlled by L. Nkunda

Days after General Nkunda's arrest, doubts and disbelief reign in Rwanda
by Josh Kron, ''Nation'', February 4, 2009 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nkunda, Laurent 1967 births Living people People from North Kivu Democratic Republic of the Congo Pentecostals Democratic Republic of the Congo rebels Presidents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Democratic Republic of the Congo people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Rwanda Tutsi people African warlords 21st-century Democratic Republic of the Congo people War crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo