Career
Ngudjolo began his career as a corporal in the Congolese army (then called the Forces Armées Zaïroises) under the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko. He deserted when the First Congo War broke out in 1996 and, during the years that followed, he trained as a nurse and worked for the Red Cross in Bunia.
The Second Congo War began in 1998, but Ngudjolo did not become involved until 2002, when the Union of Congolese Patriots took control of Bunia. Between August 2002 and August 2006, Ngudjolo held senior positions in a number of rebel groups involved in the conflict in Ituri, including the National Integrationist Front (FNI), the Patriotic Resistance Force in Ituri (FRPI) and the Congolese Revolutionary Movement (MRC). On 24 February 2003, he allegedly led an attack on the village of Bogoro in which rebels under his command went on an "indiscriminate killing spree", killing at least 200 civilians, imprisoning survivors in a room filled with corpses, and sexually enslaving women and girls. Ngudjolo allegedly ordered his fighters to "wipe out" the village.
On 23 October 2003, he was apprehended by the United Nations and surrendered to the Congolese authorities, who charged him in connection with the killing of another rebel. He was subsequently acquitted and released. On 1 November 2005, a United Nations Security Council committee imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on him for violating an arms embargo.
In August 2008, Ngudjolo signed a peace deal with the Congolese government on behalf of the MRC. In December 2008, he was appointed a colonel in the DRC army as part of the peace process.
Read more about this topic: Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui
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