‘Maj Gen’ Pacifique Ntawunguka, the overall commander of FDLR’s military wing Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FOCA), has had several aliases, including Omega and Israel. He has been elusive ever since his former boss, Sylvestre Mudacumura, an equally uncompromising genocidaire with an agenda of exterminating the Tutsi, was killed in September 2019. ALSO READ: Former FDLR deputy president on how genocidal militia was formed Reports now indicate that Ntawunguka who was born in 1964, in the former Gisenyi region now in Rubavu District, is missing in action during the ongoing war in eastern DR Congo. The genocidal militia he leads is helping the Congolese army to battle M23 rebels. The latter, now part of a larger AFC/M23 coalition, is a Congolese rebel group established to protect its persecuted community against extermination by elements including the genocidal militia. Ntawunguka was part of the former Rwandan genocidal regime’s army, ex-FAR, which drove millions of Rwandans into DR Congo, then Zaïre, and held them hostage there after masterminding the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. A lieutenant during the 1994 genocide, he grew in the genocidal militia’s ranks in DR Congo where he worked under Mudacumura for years. Ntawunguka was mostly known for his extremist anti-Tutsi views. Despite his militia activities, and genocide ideology, his family members continued to live peacefully in Rwanda. The DR Congo-based Rwandan genocidal militia group has always been helped by the host government to regroup, in its quest to advance their extremist agenda, including attacking Rwanda. A mid-2024 report by the UN Group of Experts showed that the Congolese government has offered significant support – financially and logistically – to the militia group to regain its footing. ALSO READ DR Congo crisis: Understanding FDLR’s source of funding Kinshasa, through the national army, FARDC, has been using FDLR’s military wing in operations against AFC/M23 rebels. It is not yet clear who took over from Ntawunguka as overall FOCA military commander. The genocidal militia’s other top commanders include ‘Gen’ Victor Byiringiro, alias Rumuri or Rumuli. He also goes by the names Augustin Iyamuremye. Another is ‘Maj Gen’ Cyprien Uzabakiriko, alias Ave Maria, or Mugisha Kolomboka, the head of FDLR-FOCA’s intelligence.
