Reporter Escapes Rebel Kidnappers

It was 11 in the morning of November 4 when we arrived in the town of Rutshuru, about 70 kilometres from the North Kivu provincial capital, Goma. I had traveled to territory controlled by the rebel National Congress for the Defence of the People, CNDP, with my Belgian colleague Thomas Scheen, a journalist with the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.



We interviewed the new CNDP administrator in Rutshuru then continued towards Kiwanja, 5 km away, to speak to other rebels. Thomas was finishing an interview with the CNDP’s Theophile Mpabuka at a Kiwanja hotel when a group of young Mai Mai burst in. Some were wearing grass on their heads and others had palm leaves covering their chests, symbols of their magical strength.



Suddenly, they started firing into the air. We ran from the hotel and took refuge in a nearby building under construction. An hour later, the crackle of bullets became sporadic so we decided to go back to our car. But we didn’t make it, and a dozen young Mai Mai who seemed to be under the influence of drugs arrested us.



Everything happened quickly.



They forced us to get out of the car – me, Thomas, the driver Roger and Theophile – and took everything including my 800 US dollars, our phones and documents. They handcuffed us and drove away, but after no more than two minutes on the road, a rain of bullets awaited us at a crossing.



One of the bullets hit Theophile on the head, but fortunately, it was only a scratch. I prayed out loud.



The Mai Mai took us to a village on the outskirts of the city, and we stopped in front of a new school, still handcuffed. They removed them but took the 1,500 dollars Thomas still had in his pockets, his satellite phone and our suitcases containing clothes and other personal items. Theophile was losing a lot of blood. But how could we get him medical assistance?



A few minutes later, they brought us to a skinny Mai Mai chief called Colonel Pascal Kasereka. He was short and looked to be around 50 years old. He interrogated us and eventually said he would let me go free along with Thomas and the driver, but not Theophile who the Mai Mai accused of being a VIP in the CNDP.



The hope for life came back, and we kept silent. But Colonel Pascal was not satisfied. In exchange for our freedom he asked for 400 dollars from me, 200 dollars from the driver and 5,000 dollars from Thomas. Of course we couldn’t pay, because the Mai Mai had already stolen all our money.



Death threats followed along with questions about what we were doing with the CNDP in Kiwanja and if we were their accomplices. By this time it was 10 pm. One of the Mai Mai demanded that I prove I am a journalist by calling a colleague at the United Nations station Radio Okapi. He gave me his phone, and I contacted Okapi’s Sifa Maguru in Goma and alerted her to our predicament. I also spoke briefly to my wife.



A few minutes later, Mai Mai child soldiers appeared in the cramped room where we were sitting on the floor. They had with them three men, almost naked and bleeding from the head. They were soldiers from the CNDP.



At 5 am the following morning, we were woken up by the Mai Mai and told that if we had no money then we would be executed. All this as bullets whistled through the air, and we could hear heavy weapons fire all around. Obviously, the CNDP wanted to free their men.



That was the beginning of a very long day.



We were taken to the forest and marched until 7 pm through dense bush, fields, swamps and woods. We eventually ended up some 50 km from Kiwanja, starving and thirsty. I asked one of the kidnappers what they were going to do with us and he replied, “You’re just at the beginning of your ordeal.”



We were packed into a tiny hut surrounded by Mai Mai. Our kidnappers, meanwhile, began negotiations with the CNDP and arranged a ransom for the release of the CNDP hostages. They claimed it was 30,000 dollars and early the next morning Theophile departed, accompanied by two armed Mai Mai.



Later that morning, another Mai Mai group arrived and said they had come to take Thomas and Roger to a council of Mai Mai elders. I asked the leader what would happen to me, and he told me I would be with them for a very long time. A macabre plan was clearly being organised against me, but for what reason, I was not sure.



Thomas refused to leave without me, and the Mai Mai ordered us to march to the village of Kinyadonyi. Halfway there, we were forced to camp in the middle of Virunga National Park though no reason was given.



As the hours passed, I became increasingly anxious as the kidnappers threatened my life and seemed unconvinced that I was a journalist. Roger was taken away from us several times and asked if he knew me. “I know him well. He’s a well-known journalist. They came [to Kiwanja] for reporting,” he told them.



Later that night, our kidnappers decided to continue on to Kinyadonyi to meet with Mai Mai elders there, and our hope for life made a timid comeback.



We stood up quickly and started to walk through the dense bush. After 10 minutes walking, another Mai Mai group showed up. They were drunk and apparently disappointed that the ransom promised for Theophile had not been received. They seemed determined to kill us and pointed guns at our heads and chests, wanting to take us away from the warriors who were leading us.



As they argued about our fate, two young Mai Mai told us to escape death by fleeing. We decided to give it a try. With bullets whistling through the air, we followed the two Mai Mai for some four hours through the bush. It was 1 am when we finally get to the village of the Mai Mai leaders, Kinyadonyi.



On the morning of our third day in captivity – our third day without sleep, food or water – the two young men and six of their colleagues took us to a Congolese army camp. Major Kanku of the second battalion of the sixth brigade welcomed us and offered us his mobile phone to communicate with our families and the various authorities who had been tracking us since our kidnapping. We also talked to MONUC, the United Nations Mission in the DRC.



By 6 am the nightmare was slowly fading away. The hope that I would see my family again got stronger, despite the arrival at the army base of yet another Mai Mai group which tried to convince Major Kanku not to let us go.



The commander of the Congolese army in North Kivu, General Mayala Vainqueur, called to ask if we had already been freed. He ordered our departure and some 30 minutes later we boarded two MONUC armoured vehicles heading for their base in Kiwanja. I called my wife who was fighting on my side during the kidnapping, contacting important people to help set me free. Next, we took a MONUC helicopter to Goma, and later that day I was reunited with my family. Everybody was happy.



Though I was released, the effects of the kidnapping lingered on. I had nightmares in the week following my liberation, and my wife suffered too as she had to reassure me every night.



One week later, I heard that two hostages, allegedly members of the CNDP, were killed in Virunga by the same Mai Mai group who captured us in Kiwanja.



Charles Ntiricya is an IWPR contributor in Goma.