Goma: Army Cracks Down on Crime

In the middle of the afternoon on March 13, Albert Ngezayo, one of Goma’s best known citizens, was on his way home.



He lived in the city’s most secure neighbourhoods, locally known as the “triangle of safety”, because it included the provincial governor’s house, the army’s intelligence offices and was not far from the Goma prosecutor’s office.



Besides being the owner of one of Goma’s better known hotels, Ngezayo was a celebrated guide at the Congo’s National Virunga Park – famous for its endangered mountain gorillas – where he had worked for 30 years.



Just as Ngezayo was approaching his house, he was shot and killed in broad daylight by unknown assailants. No one was arrested in connection with the crime and police say they have no suspects.



The brutal killing sent a shock wave through the community, the latest in a series of violent crimes sweeping Goma, striking fear into the hearts of many residents.



Ironically, the rise in crime, most of which take place during the day and early evening hours, comes in the wake of a peace accord signed in July by about 20 warring militias who have turned eastern Congo into one of the most deadly regions in Africa.



Ngezayo’s family is convinced his death was a targeted killing, but they are struggling to find a motive. His eldest daughter, Isabelle Ngezayo, suspects that her father may have had troubles with some of the power brokers in the city.



“We didn’t know of any problems he could have had, except for some land disputes involving [local businessmen] and the province’s government,” Isabelle told IWPR.



The family is convinced that Ngezayo’s death was premeditated. “Our father was alone in his car. It’s him and only him who was targeted that day. He was shot seven times,” she said.



Despite the presence of many law enforcement officials in the area, Isabelle claimed that no one attempted to apprehend the assailants.



“Not a single soldier or policeman guarding the official residence of the provincial governor, based less than 50 metres from the place where the drama took place, intervened during the shooting,” she said.



The family despaired when just four days after the killing, the regional governor, Julien Paluku, told them he was powerless to do anything about the crime, telling the family, “The provincial authority is not able to achieve anything here.”



The family made a public appeal for witnesses to come forward, and have also asked for an independent enquiry and requested protection.



At this point, three weeks after the murder, the only concrete evidence the family has is the alleged perpetrators’ jeep - they still have no trace of its occupants.



Since Ngezayo’s murder, more than ten people have been killed in Goma. Rather than turning to police for help, many locals said the police were part of the problem.



The focus of criticism was the Rapid Intervention Police, RIP, a new police unit which arrived earlier this year from the capital, Kinshasa, to beef up security in the city around the time of the January peace conference.



In doing so, however, the RIP dismantled the highly successful citizen night patrols – set up to help local police – that had been established in many neighbourhoods.



When the citizen patrols disappeared, crime rose quickly, and victims started to blame the police.



Jean, a Keshero resident, who preferred, like most in Goma, to use only her first name, said that she had been robbed by local police who then walked away from the scene of the crime with members of the RIP.



“Calling the police becomes very dangerous when a neighbour is being robbed,” said Louise, a woman who lives in Ndosho, a neighbourhood in the city’s north-west.



Louise explained that if someone contacted the police to help a neighbour, that person would be the target of the next robbery.



Angry local residents demanded the removal of the RIP, and the authorities agreed to do so, replacing them with the 8th army’s military police.



Colonel Delphin Kayimbi, commander of the 8th army in North Kivu, said the unit was happy to fill the void. “The inability of the RIP to protect the population [meant] the army [had] to do it,” he said.



Beginning on March 30, a curfew was imposed in three of the most crime-ridden neighbourhoods.



While the military has provided some security, many residents are still fearful, said Jason, a Goma resident.



“The danger for our population is that someone who goes to bed doesn’t know whether he’ll wake up alive the next morning,” he said.



Nonetheless, there are signs of progress.



Since Ngezayo’s murder, twelve people have been arrested on suspicion of killing an immigration service agent and his wife. And five others have been detained in connection with the murder of the chief of the civil aeronautics bureau in Goma.



According to police sources, there has been a breakthrough in unraveling the connections between groups suspected of being behind what appears to be a loosely-organised crime ring.



“The evidence is there. We found that several groups worked together. The first group led us to the others,” said a police source who asked not to be identified.



Taylor Toeka Kakala is a Goma-based reporter.