WHY armed “taxes” on traders in Mambasa raises concern

Reports of illegal “taxes” demanded from traders in western Ituri are feeding a wider debate over who is operating under the Wazalendo label and how fragmented armed activity has become in parts of the province.

In Mambasa territory, a human-rights activist said people disguised as Wazalendo, identified in the report as linked to the UPLC faction, are pressuring economic operators in the Bakaeku group (Babila-Babombi chiefdom) to pay a monthly fee. The amount is said to vary between 10,000 and 25,000 Congolese francs depending on the trader’s activity, with the same source blaming the situation on the absence of state authority in the area.

The report also says the pressure extends beyond traders: residents described as largely farmers are said to face weekly and monthly “token” payments imposed by the same armed men. The activist appealed to authorities to re-establish state presence so civilians can move and work without coercion.

While extortion along rural routes and in farming zones has been repeatedly raised in Mambasa in recent months by local civil-society voices, the identity of those behind it is often contested with various armed actors operating, splintering, and rebranding.

That contestation is explicit in this case: security sources , say they do not recognize “Wazalendo” operating in Irumu and Mambasa, arguing that the groups widely described as Wazalendo are those fighting alongside the national army against the AFC/M23 in North Kivu.