Mayi-Mayi
Origins
Although the Mayi-Mayi were originally formed in the 1960s during the so-called “Mulelist Rebellion," they reappeared in force in 1993 in the east of what is today the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”) acting as a community defence group against the action of the central government’s army and the influx of combatants of the Forces armées Rwandaise, known as the former-FAR, and “Interahamwe” gunmen from Rwanda in 1994. Later, in the 1996-97 war that ousted Mobutu and brought Laurent Kabila to power, 10,000-25,000 Mayi-Mayi youths fought alongside the Banyamulenge for the Kabila-led ADFL against former FAR and Interahamwe militias. At the war’s end in May 1997, the Mayi-Mayi deserted the ADFL and returned to North Kivu. Since then, this group has been violently engaging Kabila government. In 1998, Mayi-Mayi groups were also formed in the Katanga province with similar objectives.
Some traditional beliefs and rituals in these regions also contributed to the formation and growing of this armed grouped. In particular, traditional chiefs who doubled as medicine men encouraged youths to join the Mayi-Mayi by perpetuating the belief that they would make the youth impregnable to bullets. Bullets fired at these youths were said to turn to water – ‘Mayi-Mayi’ is Congolese Swahili for ‘Water Water.' The Mayi-Mayi’s brand of magic (‘dawa’) rings true for many Congolese, and inspires patriotism and solidarity.
Location / Main area of operation
The Mayi-Mayi operations are generally confined to the province of Katanga and the eastern of the Democratic Republic of Congo (“DRC”), especially throughout the region of Kivus on the Ugandan border. The fact that this group operates largely near the Ugandan border has meant that Western Uganda bears the brunt of much of its actions, regularly receiving large groups of refugees, and often provides a haven for retreating Mayi-Mayi fighters who, in turn, terrorize communities on the Ugandan side of the border.
Objectives
Although its splintered structure makes the definition of a single umbrella goal difficult, the Mayi-Mayi’s main current objective is to fight the Tutsi Banyarwanda who are relatively recent settlers of North Kivu. Initially, the Mayi-Mayi also intended to provide protection to local communities with respect to Rwandan troops and Rwandan-backed rebels in DRC territory.
Number of Members
Estimates of current numbers of this armed group range from 1,700 to 40,000. As of 2006, UN reports estimated that there were 5,000 to 8,000 Mayi-Mayi fighters just in the DRC-province of Katanga. The vast difference between these estimations may be due to the inclusion or exclusion of different bands of Mayi-Mayi in the counting process.
Generally, the Mayi-Mayi are made up of youths drawn from eastern DRC. According to an authoritative source, 40 to 50 percent of some of Mayi-Mayi groups in Kivus are children, who join the group due to a lack of social and economic opportunity.
Type : National
Although this armed group sporadically carries out armed operations in Ugandan territory, it mainly operates in the eastern part of the DRC as well as the province of Katanga.
Conflict Status : Active
While the participation of the Mayi-Mayi from eastern DRC in the Congolese peace negotiations in 2003 was successful - gaining positions in the parliament, provincial administration, and army, the negotiations undertaken with Mayi-Mayi groups in the DRC province of Katanga failed. However, the agreement reached with the Mayi-Mayi from eastern DRC was short lived since most of them withdrew from the current DRC government soon after. A factor that has been noted as contributing to this failure has been the group’s lack of cohesive structure.
Regarding the status of those Mayi-Mayi groups still engaged in armed confrontation, it must be mentioned that the Congolese army declared them to be in its death throes in mid-2006 after the surrender of two Mayi-Mayi’s prominent commanders – Gedeon in May and Fidele Ntumbi in August 2006 –together with more than 1,800 fighters. However, authoritative sources report that these groups are still active.
Structure of the organization
No central command of the Mayi-Mayi exists; rather different Mayi-Mayi warlords control their own bands of youths. Currently, there are about twenty of these bands, in which discipline is often very low. For instance, in the province of Katanga, armed confrontations often arise among the about twenty Mayi-Mayi groups located there; they fight for controlling taxes and poaching the revenues of the exploitation of natural resources.
Leadership
As mentioned above, no unified command of the Mayi-Mayi exists, rather each of the Mayi-Mayi bands has its own leader. Among indentified Mayi-Mayi commanders are Colonel Nakabaka Baudouin and Commander Kayamba in South Kivu, as well as Commanders Akilimali and Jackson in North Kivu.
External aid/Third party involvement
Several cases of collaboration between Mayi-Mayi and the FDLR (Forces démocratiques de liberation du Rwanda, a Hutu rebel group) have been reported; particularly, reports exist of joint operations, as well as the delivery of weapons and ammunition to the FDLR through Mayi- Mayi.
External effects of the NSAG's armed activities
Fighting involving this armed group in the eastern DRC has produced large refugee flow into Western Uganda. For instance, during the first two months of 2005, about 10,000 refugees arrived in the Ugandan city of Ishasha as a result of fighting between Mayi-Mayi and FARDC troops. However, about 8,000 of these refugees returned to the DRC after a few days.
In addition, 80,000 persons were internally displaced as of 2005 as a result of fighting between Mayi-Mayi and FARDC. In February 2007 alone, continued fighting between Mayi-Mayi and FARCD displaced 20,000 people.
Funding
In the past, the Mayi-Mayi has wielded control over gold and diamonds in DRC. Currently some Mayi-Mayi engage in gun-running, gold trading, and smuggling. According to authoritative sources, certain members of the DRC transitional government formed in June 2003, such as General John Numbi, head of the air force, and former Katangan Governor Aimé Ngoy Mukena, helped create and supply this armed group.
Relationship with the international community
No information exists regarding the relationship of this armed group with the international community. Additionally, this armed group is currently not included in the list of terrorist organizations of either the U.S. Secretary of State or the European Union.
Books
Articles and Chapters
• Steve Smith (2005), “Ceasefire Negotiations in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,” Conciliation Resources website, available at link
Reports and resolutions of intergovernmental organizations
• EU Council, Common Position of 27 December 2001 on the application of specific measures to combat terrorism, Doc. No. 2001/931/CFSP, Official Journal of the European Communities L 344/93, 28.12.2001.
• EU Council, Common Position 2006/380/CFSP of 29 May 2006, Official Journal of the European Communities L 144/25, 31.5.2006.
• UNHCR Briefing (2005), “Uganda: Refugees Continue to Arrive from DRC,” 1 March, available at link
• IRIN (United Nations Regional Integration Networks), “DRC: From Protection to Insurgency – History of the Mayi Mayi,” 16 March 2006, available at link.
• IRIN (United Nations Regional Integration Networks), “DRC-Uganda: Fleeing Congolese Return Home,” 9 August 2005, available at link
Governmental reports
• U.S. Department of State, Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), Fact Sheet
Office of Counterterrorism, Washington DC, 11 October 2005, available at link.
Reports of think tanks and non-governmental organizations
• International Crisis Group (1998), “North Kivu, Into the Quagmire? An Overview of the Current Crisis in North Kivu,” Kivu Report No. 1, 13 August (Brussels: ICG), available at link
• International Crisis Group (2005), “The Congo’s Transition is Failing: Crisis in the Kivus,” Africa Report No. 91, 30 March (Brussels: ICG), available at link
• International Crisis Group (2005), “The Congo: Solving the FDLR Problem Once and For All: Policy Briefing,” Africa Briefing No. 25, 12 May (Nairobi and Brussels: ICG), available at link
• International Crisis Group (2006), “Katanga: The Congo’s Forgotten Crisis,” Africa Report No. 109, 9 January (Nairobi/Brussels: ICG), available at link
Press Information (in chronological order)
Interviews
Internet resources
• IISS Armed Conflict Database, Non-State Armed Groups, Mai Mai Fighters, available at link.
• IISS Armed Conflict Database, DRC: Military Developments 2005, available at link.
• IISS Armed Conflict Database, DRC: Military Developments 2006, available at link.
• IISS Armed Conflict Database, DRC: Timeline Year 2007, available at link
Statements of the armed group
Agreements involving armed groups