Retired Colonel Augustin Nshimiyimana, better known by his nom de guerre “Bora”, has offered a rare insider account of how the FDLR allegedly finances its operations, describing a sprawling network that stretches from gold mines and timber forests to cannabis farms, charcoal production and wildlife trafficking.
Testifying yesterday, the former FDLR intelligence chief said the armed group did not rely on a single source of income.
Instead, he described what he called a well-organised economic system that generated money from nearly every resource found in areas under the group’s control.
He began with mining, which he described as one of the FDLR’s biggest cash generators.
According to Nshimiyimana, more than 30,000 miners worked in Oninga, an area controlled by the militia. Every miner, he said, paid the equivalent of US$0.50 every month to the FDLR. But the payments did not stop there.
“The miners were also required to get their food from FDLR positions,” he testified. “Instead of paying cash, they paid with minerals. If they found gold, they could only sell it to us. They were not allowed to sell it to anyone else.”
The former commander said the forests provided another lucrative business.
He explained that the FDLR cut valuable hardwoods, including African mahogany and red hardwood, before transporting the timber to markets in Uganda, Goma and Bukavu.
Charcoal, he added, was equally profitable.
“Goma is a huge city,” he said. “Much of the charcoal used there came from areas we controlled, and every truck transporting it had to pay taxes to the FDLR before leaving.”
Perhaps the most surprising part of his testimony centred on cannabis.
Nshimiyimana claimed that entire communities under FDLR control had shifted almost entirely to growing the crop.
“In Ikobo, almost nothing else was grown besides cannabis,” he said. “Some of it went to Goma, some to Kisangani.”
He then made one of his most serious allegations, claiming that MONUSCO personnel bought cannabis and minerals from the FDLR.
According to his testimony, the products were packed into drums, loaded onto aircraft and flown out, while the relationship also enabled the militia to receive supplies including food, medicine, money and ammunition.
He also claimed that whenever teams arrived to recover colonial-era boundary markers, locally known as “borne”, from territories controlled by the FDLR, they first delivered supplies before spending several days carrying out the excavations.
The retired colonel went on to allege that the FDLR also received direct backing from the Congolese government.
According to Nshimiyimana, President Félix Tshisekedi’s administration paid salaries, provided food and supplied medicine to the militia, just as it did for the FARDC.
He further alleged that the group also received financial assistance from European sources, although he did not identify specific countries or organisations.
Wildlife trafficking, he said, was another profitable business.
Nshimiyimana claimed the FDLR killed elephants for their ivory tusks and sold them to MONUSCO.
He also alleged that lion fat, which he described as a valuable commodity sought by buyers from Chad and some Muslim communities outside Rwanda, fetched high prices.
“I am not referring to Muslims from Rwanda,” he clarified during his testimony.
He added that hippos were hunted, their meat dried and transported to markets in Bukavu, Goma and Kanyabayonga.
Looking back on the group’s operations, Nshimiyimana said many people underestimate the FDLR’s financial strength because they focus only on military activities.
“FDLR has multiple and varied sources of funding,” he said. “Some people may underestimate them, but together they amount to a substantial sum.”
Nshimiyimana made the remarks during public testimony yesterday.
His allegations, particularly those involving MONUSCO, the Congolese government and foreign actors, have not been independently verified. MONUSCO has previously denied accusations of collaborating with armed groups.
