Young gang prisoners from the DRC being shipped to a recovery camp; screenshot of ARTE YouTube channel
In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the proliferation of juvenile criminal gangs is reaching an unprecedented level. The government bases its strategy on the death penalty in its fight against this urban violence.
In the country, the phenomenon of juvenile banditry has a name: the Kulunas. It refers to young people between 15 and 30 years old who organize themselves into armed gangs, threaten, extort, mutilate and sometimes kill citizens.
Who are the Kulunas?
Juvenile banditry spread in the DRC in the 1990s during the third decade of the reign of Mobuto Sese Seko, the country’s former president (1965-1997). Originally, these were idle young people looking for a future but who found themselves unemployed, and therefore without any income in urban areas.
In Kinshasa, the capital of the country which today has 16 million inhabitants, they are present in most districts of this city from the 2000s, following the civil war which began after the death of Mobuto Sese Seko. A study report “Criminals or vigilantes? The Kuluna, gangs of the Democratic Republic of Congo” dating from 2021 by Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC) demonstrates their influence and impact in Congolese society:
From the suburbs of Kinshasa where the police did not dare to venture, the gangs gradually took over the central neighborhoods as well as the military and police camps, even recruiting their members among the children of officers… the children of the Congolese National Police are all Kuluna.
(…)with the exception of Gombe in the city center where the ministries and embassies are located, Kuluna gangs are present everywhere in the capital – in greater numbers however in the poor areas/slums (Lingwala, Barumbu) and in disadvantaged central neighborhoods.
The majority of these young people have a common background: they are often abandoned by their families, experiencing unemployment, and drug use. Accustomed to a violent lifestyle linked to crime, they are also used by certain political parties. The authors of the GI-TOC report indicate that the Kulunas are particularly exploited during electoral periods.
For some remuneration, they are involved in violence on several occasions:
During the 2006 elections, when forces supporting political adversaries Joseph Kabila and Jean-Pierre Bemba clashed, the Bemba factions hired Kuluna as fighters, giving them access to firearms. (…)
During the 2011 elections, the Kuluna were recruited by the political party of outgoing president Joseph Kabila to sow terror among Kinshasa and attack opposition political rallies. (…)
Similarly, between 2016 and 2018, during an opposition political campaign aimed at forcing President Kabila to hold elections, gangs were mobilized by the ruling party and riot police, who used them as auxiliaries.
Faced with the public danger they represent, several operations have been carried out by politicians to reduce them or put them out of harm’s way. But all have failed, because it is clear that the national police are often complicit with these groups.
Is the death penalty a solution?
Since colonial times, the death penalty has been adopted and applied in the DRC. Articles 5 and 6 of the penal code mention it:
Art 5: The penalties applicable to offenses are: death; forced labor; penal servitude; (…)
Art 6: The person sentenced to death is executed according to the method determined by the President of the Republic.
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But in 2003, this sentence was subject to a moratorium in the country: the sentence was pronounced but no longer carried out. In March 2024, Rose Mutombo, Minister of Justice at the time, announced in a note the lifting of the moratorium in order to:
(…) rid the Congolese army of traitors on the one hand and stem the resurgence of acts of terrorism and urban banditry leading to the death of men on the other hand.
Constant Mutamba, appointed head of the ministerial department in charge of justice since May 2024, remains intransigent regarding the fate reserved for gangs. In a message dated December 3, 2024 published on the Radio Okapi website, he declared:
We will execute [appliquer] the death penalty against Kulunas (urban gangsters). The commission will launch the organization of flagrant trials against all Kulunas. All those who will be caught, tried and sentenced. They will all be convicted of terrorism, because the acts they commit are quite simply terrorism, and will be punished with the death penalty.
Since January 2025, nearly 300 Kulunas have been tried and 127 of them have reportedly been sentenced to death. In front of the press, the minister defends himself. In his remarks quoted in a BBC Africa article, he said:
Most of these young people are repeat offenders who have already been in prison several times. But as soon as they leave, they begin acts of organized crime again by attacking honest citizens. It was when overwhelmed by the situation that the Congolese authorities launched operation “Ndobo” (the hook). It is an operation intended to curb major urban banditry in Kinshasa and other major cities in the country.
If according to the minister, the decision confirming the conviction of these young people was taken, an exit by Félix Tshisekedi, president of the DRC, on January 18 completely contradicts this. The President’s message, relayed on X by an account called Intelligency, states:
Strong reactions on the web
Reactions going in both directions flood the Congolese web. Close relatives of some victims of the Kuluna atrocities say the execution of these young gangs is justified. This is the example of this young woman named Highness Mulamba. who writes on his X account:
But some question the purpose of this decision, like this account on behalf of Africa Fact Viral:
The comments under this post demonstrate the strong black anger that part of the population has towards the Kulunas.
Speaking to BBC Africa, Me Peter Ngomo Milambo, lawyer at the Kinshasa Court of Appeal, declared:
(…) these young people will be executed. Otherwise it will be a serious violation of human rights. (…) it is a way for the country’s authorities to scare them, given the crimes and other atrocities that these young people commit in the country’s big cities.
Human rights NGOs are stepping up to the plate. Amnesty International calls on the authorities to stop the transfer of detainees to execution zones. Sarah Jackson, Deputy Regional Director for East and Southern Africa, told BBC Africa:
The announcement of these transfers is absolutely dismaying. We fear imminent executions, in a context of lack of reliable information on the status of the condemned.
In October 2024, the organization called for a repeal of the death penalty in the country.
