Congo (DRC) Country Profile – Military / Security

Military expenditures:

• 0.7% of GDP (2019)
• 0.7% of GDP (2018)
• 0.7% of GDP (2017)
• 1.3% of GDP (2016)
• 1.4% of GDP (2015)

Military and security service personnel strengths: size estimates for the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) vary widely because of inconsistent and unreliable data, as well as the ongoing integration of various non-state armed groups/militias; approximately 100,000 active troops (80,000 Army; 7,000 Navy; 2,000 Air Force; 10,000 Republican Guard) (2019 est.).

Military – note: the modern FARDC was created out of the armed factions of the two Congo wars of 1996-1997 and 1998-2003; as part of the peace accords that ended the last war, the largest rebel groups were incorporated into the FARDC; many armed groups (at least 70 and by some recent estimates more than 100), however, continue to fight; as of September 2020, the FARDC is actively engaged in combat operations against numerous armed groups inside the country, particularly in the eastern provinces of Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu, although violence also continues in Maniema, Kasai, Kasai Central, and Tanganyika provinces; the military is widely assessed as being unable to provide adequate security throughout the country due to insufficient training, poor morale and leadership, ill-discipline and corruption, low equipment readiness, a fractious ethnic makeup, and the sheer size of the country and diversity of armed rebel groups.

​​​​​​​State Armed Groups

• The Army (Forces d’Armees de la Republique Democratique du Congo, or FARDC), Navy (La Marine Nationale) and Congolese Air Force (Force Aerienne Congolaise). 

• Garde Républicaine. The Republican Guard was previously known as the Special Presidential Security Group. It is estimated to be a division-strength unit that is much “better trained, equipped, and paid than the FARDC.”
• Agence Nationale de Renseignements (ANR). The 12,000-strong ANR is the DRC’s national intelligence agency. Despite constitutional limitations, the ANR “routinely carries out surveillance of political opponents and is deployed in anti-riot roles alongside the police and military. It has also been accused of widespread human rights violations, including beatings, torture, disappearances, and extra-judicial killings.”
• The Congolese National Police. The European Union (EU) supported a decade-long comprehensive multiyear police training program that ended in 2016. “Despite these initiatives, the PNC largely remains in the mold of a partisan force that…has been…part of an array of security institutions over which the presidency has direct control.” In June 2016, the U.S. imposed sanctions on the Kinshasa police chief, known as “esprit de morts” or “spirit of death”.
• Youth Recruits. According to Human Rights Watch:

• Allied Democratic Forces (ADF): The ADF is a Ugandan-led Islamist rebel group and is one of the oldest in the DRC, operating in the mountains of eastern DR Congo. Members want to establish Shari’a law in Uganda. The ADF was formed around 1998 from discontented sectors of Ugandan society after the overthrow of Idi Amin. In June 2010, the FARDC launched an attack called “Operation Ruwenzori” against the ADF. The ADF currently number approximately 500 combatants but the high level of secrecy in the organization and its compartmentalized structure make it difficult to ascertain its overall strength. Despite two years of operations against it, the ADF remains able to coordinate simultaneous attacks on the FARDC and MONUSCO, with several hundred civilians killed since 2014, and tens of thousands of others displaced. They are suspected in the December 2017 attack that killed fifteen Tanzanian peacekeepers as well as the earlier September and October 2017 attacks that killed another three peacekeepers. 

• Bakata Katanga: The Bakata Katanga  (“Cut off Katanga” in Swahili) is based on Katangan identity issues and claims to defend the region against exploitation by Kinshasa and reportedly has ties with secessionist organizations. The Bakata Katanga are allegedly connected to politicians with national prominence.

• The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR):  The FDLR is the largest illegal foreign armed group operating in DR Congo and often considered the most abusive. While there is currently a growing number of Congolese among their ranks, the group is primarily formed from Hutu members of the Rwandan government and army ousted in 1994 as well as Rwandan refugees. Its public purpose is to use military pressure to open “inter-Rwandan dialogue” with the current Rwandan government, but its covert purpose appears to be to overthrow the Rwandan government. The FDLR currently operates in eastern DR Congo and Katanga province. Its current strength is estimated to be 2000 combatants.
• Enyelle and Independent Movement of Liberation and Allies (MILIA):  MILIA conducted targeted killings against the Boba before moving south.
• Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI): FRPI is an active armed militia and cattle thieves, attempting to evolve into a political party in DRC’s north-eastern region of Ituri. Meanwhile, some estimate the FRPI account for almost 25% of human rights violations in DRC. 
• Kamwina (Kamuina) Nsapu Militia. DRC soldiers allegedly killed over 100 civilians of the regionally dominant Luba ethnic group, to include almost 40 women in February 2017, and thousands were displaced. The militia group—many of whom were children–apparently sought “to avenge the death of their leader, Jean-Pierre Mpandi, whom the tribe had named their “Kamwina Nsapu”. The DRC called it an inter-tribal conflict that they forcefully resolved. However, in March 2017 the militia group claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of two UN workers (including one American) and the beheading of 42 police officers. 

• The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA): The LRA is a Ugandan rebel group currently operating along with the northern border areas of Congo as well as in the eastern Central African Republic. In 1988, Joseph Kony created the LRA with the claim of restoring the honor of his ethnic Acholi people. It was based in a spiritual rebel movement “Holy Spirit Movement.” In September 2005, the LRA moved to the DRC and began a violent expansion campaign. The LRA includes “recruits” forcefully abducted from the DRC, South Sudan and the Central African Republic to use as sex slaves and child soldiers. LRA soldiers quickly gained a reputation for murder, torture, rape, and mutilations. In May 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the “Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act,” which follows the U.S. State Department inclusion of the LRA on the Terrorist Exclusion List in 2001 and designation of Joseph Kony as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13324 in 2008. In October 2011, 100 U.S. soldiers assumed advisory roles in support of regional militaries. In 2013, the U.S. military launched Operation Observant Compass, increasing the number of soldiers and military aircraft. By March 2017, the U.S. announced it is removing its military and high-technological equipment from the operations. While the LRA appears significantly reduced in size and number of attacks on civilians per year, it is not eliminated yet. 
• Maï Sheka: A group formed in 2009 by mineral resource businessmen, it believes that the land should belong to the original, indigenous inhabitants. Sometimes referred to as a “self-defense militia” it is primarily “composed of members of DRC’s Nande, Hunde and Kobo communities…in opposition to rivals from the Nyaturu group, which also represents ethnic Hutus.”  They gained attention due to their aggressive sexual violence campaign in 2010. In conjunction with the FDLR, they mass-raped more than 240 civilians and, afterward, looted their homes and shops. A MONUSCO base was within miles of the sexual attack but was not notified until days later, and therefore was unable to protect the citizens. Mai-Mai groups are the most prolific recruiters of child soldiers and perpetrators of human rights abuses, including a recent attack on 25 Hutus, who were hacked to death and beheaded.
• March 23 Movement (M23):  M23 was made up primarily of ethnic Tutsis allegedly supported by the Rwandan government, rebelling against the GoDRC for supposedly reneging on the 2009 peace deal which included issues of land and mineral resource control. By 2013, it was defeated by the FARDC and MONUSCO’s FIB. The DRC conducted an amnesty program with some measure of success and the M23 allegedly converted to a strictly political movement. However, there are continuing reports of M23 (or ex-M23) members still operating as armed members, although the political movement leadership denies these claims. In particular, in February 2017, Uganda announced its authorities detained tens of M23 members trying to return into the DRC from Ugandan camps “into the general public.” It is not clear if those members intended to continue opposition activities, or if the current M23 leader, Sultani Makenga, remained in the custody of Ugandan authorities. (Makenga is the subject of U.S. and EU sanctions.)

• National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP): CNDP became a political party in 2009 and a few thousand of its fighters joined the Congolese army.
• The National Liberation Forces (FNL): The FNL is a Burundian rebel group originally formed in 1985 as the military wing of a Hutu-led rebel group called the PALIPEHUTU. Both the PALIPEHUTU and the FNL signed a peace agreement in September 2006 and became simply FNL. Many FNL integrated into the national Burundian army in 2010, and the remnants restarted rebel activities to fight the Burundian armed forces. The FNL currently appears to be in an alliance with Mai Yakutumba and FDLR.
• Nyatura Rebels: Nyatura Rebels, a Congolese Hutu militia, collaborated with FDLR rebels and the Congolese army to defeat M23.
• Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC): FPLC is involved in human rights violations including ethnic killings, torture, rape, and mutilation.
• Raia Mutomboki: Raia Mutomboki started operating in 2011 for self-defense against attacks perpetrated by the FDLR.
• Organized Criminal Elements (Domestic and Transnational): Organized crime in the DRC exists at all levels of society. Local collaborators include a complex and dynamic mix of legitimate business people; Islamist extremists, terrorists, and kidnappers; police and army officers; militia groups; and local politicians. Crime exists in many forms, the most prevalent being corruption, looting of mineral resources, drug and human trafficking, kidnapping, and poaching.

• China. China’s ongoing interest in Congo’s minerals, which includes the purchase of mines and mining rights, has geopolitical ramifications despite the global economic slowdown.China is a TCC for MINUSCO and other African peace missions. It also pledged the African Union with USD$100 million in military assistance for its peacekeeping operations. China certainly has significant—and increasing—business interests in Africa. Some observe that: in essence, China deploys peacekeeping troops because it needs to protect its multi-billion investments and numerous assets, enterprises, and citizens abroad. Through its peacekeepers, Beijing can also elevate its status as a responsible stakeholder and security provider in the international community and improve the operational capabilities of the Chinese military and police forces.
• Russia. It is unclear what bilateral formal relationships—other than diplomatic—may exist between Russia and the DRC. However, in September 2017 a Russian plane carrying military cargo crashed in the DRC, killing all aboard. Allegedly, the plane was chartered from Russia in support of the FADRC. 

• The African Union (AU) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (IGCLR). The AU is engaged in many activities to reduce or mitigate instability in the DRC. On 6 April 2016, the AU formally named former Togolese Prime Minister Edem Kodjo to facilitate a dialogue to address the electoral processes for the planned—but not conducted—November presidential elections. However, most major opposition parties refused to participate and doubted the AU’s impartiality. Regardless, the AU and IGCLR endorsed the October agreement, which contributed to Kabila motivation to remain in power. The AU may be losing patience with Kabila, however, as indicated in the March 2018 meeting of its Peace and Security Council (PSC) where it “…reaffirmed its commitment to the independence and sovereignty of the DRC, in conformity with the relevant instruments of the AU…[and]…the need for the full implementation of the Political Agreement of 31 December 2016…” 
• The European Union (EU). The EU deployed a short term mission to DRC in 2007, to assist the UN mission then known as MONUC. By 2010, the EU spent $14 billion to support rebuilding efforts, including security sector reform, and in 2014 committed to another $1 billion to fund these initiatives through 2020. The EU also designated DRC officials for the first time in 2016.​​​​​​​
• The Southern African Development Community (SADC). The SADC has “decades of security engagement and regional diplomacy” in the DRC, intervening twice by force: 1) 1998, with intervention by Angola, Namibia, and Zimbabwe to beat back a Rwandan and Ugandan invasion; and 2) 2003, leaving a force to assist the DRC’s security sector after the war. MONUSCO’s FIB, deployed in 2013, is essentially a SADC force. However, the SADC involvement in the DRC’s failed 2016 peace negotiations may have weakened its reputation as an impartial and highly influential actor.