Union of Congolese Patriots

The Union of Congolese Patriots (French: Union des Patriotes Congolais, UPC) is an armed group in Ituri, northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has carried out numerous attacks upon civilians and other serious human rights abuses in pursuit of its policies. The UPC supports the Hema ethnic group in the Ituri conflict, a spin-off conflict of the Second Congo War that officially ended in 2002.

In August 2002, it took control of the town of Bunia with the help of Ugandan forces, following which it received support from Rwanda. In late 2003, the UPC split into two factions: one led by Kisembo Bahemuka and known as the UPC-K, and the other under Thomas Lubanga and known as the UPC-L. The UPC-L was militarily stronger.

The UPC-L was implicated in the deaths of nine Bangladeshi MONUC peacekeepers on 25 March 2005. Lubanga was arrested along with Floribert Ndjabu, leader of the Nationalist and Integrationist Front. In March 2006, Lubanga was arrested under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for the alleged war crime of using child soldiers, and was flown to the Netherlands.

Bosco Taganda was named its leader in his absence. Human Rights Watch states that between August 2002 and March 2003, the UPC arrested and tortured over 100 opponents, was responsible for the murder of a Kenyan peacekeeper in January 2004 and the kidnapping of a Moroccan peacekeeper later that year. In January 2005, Commander Bosco Taganda was offered a position as a general in the national Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), but had refused the post.

The UPC won three National Assembly seats in the 2006 general elections.

External links

* [http://hrw.org/reports/2005/drc0505/6.htm The Curse of Gold: Ch III. Methodology] , Human Rights Watch, June 2005
* [http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/01/14/congo10014.htm D.R. Congo: Army Should Not Appoint War Criminals] , 14 January 2005