The commander of RUD-Urunana, the militia blamed for the October 2019 Kinigi attack which claimed the lives of 14 civilians, has been killed in eastern DR Congo, according to reports.

‘Col’ Cyprien Leo Mpiranya was reportedly killed on Saturday, August 29, in an operation by Congolese forces in Rutchuru, close to the border with Uganda – a country which has previously been linked to the militia group.

Mpiranya, alias Kagoma, left Rwanda at the rank of Sergeant when the army that committed the Genocide against the Tutsi was defeated and fled across the border to DR Congo in 1994.

He would later join the FDLR, created by politicians, soldiers and militia behind the Genocide against the Tutsi, before joining RUD-Urunana, a breakaway FDLR faction.

RUD-Urunana is believed to be the armed wing of FDU-Inkingi, an unrecognised political party formed by Victoire Ingabire.

Reports indicate that Mpiranya, who inherited the reigns of RUD-Urunana after his predecessor ‘Gen’ Juvenal Musabyimana, alias Jean-Michel Africa, died in another stinging operation by Congolese security forces in November 2019, was killed when his group came under fire in Makoka in Rutshuru territory.

Many top leaders, commanders and members of anti-Kigali militia groups have been killed or arrested and transferred to Rwanda in sustained operations that have lasted for over a year with view to pacifying eastern Congo.

Mpiranya is reportedly survived by four children and a wife who, according to sources, live in Uganda’s central district of Mubende.