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A clandestine network within the military fleet

During a series of investigations into the FARDC air fleet between Goma, Beni and Walikale, FACTUALITÉ Afrique has managed to establish a link between several FARDC Air Force officers and a transport network recruiting civilian travellers. These passengers are then transported in exchange for a flat-rate payment of between 100 and 200 US dollars — or for free — in aircraft piloted by white Eastern European nationals, with no compliance with navigation rules: no identity checks, no check-in of luggage carried, and no seats in the aircraft.

Mineral trafficking and biodiversity

Mineral packages consigned by officers leave the forests of Beni, Lubero, Walikale and Ituri. At the departure airport of Mavivi, in Beni, any handling or searching of them is strictly forbidden, as they are flanked by officers’ names on their rudimentary packaging. They are loaded in the same place as the thousands of ammunition crates serving as seats for the passengers.

At the private tarmac — the Air Force stopover at Goma airport — intermediaries come to collect these packages, which are then sold on various local and regional mineral smuggling markets. Biodiversity species, such as bushmeat, are also reportedly part of the cargo, according to our research.

Read more: FULA FULA DEAL, au cœur de la mafia de la force aérienne des FARDC au Kivu

The « plan B » of the military flight

It is in this climate of uncertainty that he receives a phone call from his contact working at the airport, with whom he had spoken just a few minutes earlier. The latter has just found an option to get him onto a military plane due to deliver ammunition crates to Mavivi airport, located about ten kilometres from Beni, which serves the Congolese army, the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and civil aviation in this region of North Kivu.

 

« Take a motorbike to the airport quickly. The plane leaves at 7:30 am and boarding will close at 7:00 am. Don’t forget your ID and bring plenty of dollars. »

Contact at the airport, 6:45 am

 

His contact tells him that the military plane makes several stops between the two cities, but that this schedule is not strictly respected, hence the importance of seizing the opportunity. It should also be noted that, to reach Goma airport from the residential areas — Les Volcans, Himbi, Kyeshero, Office, Katindo — residents must cross the Birere district, a commercial hub located in the Mapendo district, renowned for its massive traffic jams during rush hour. This explains the suggestion to reach the airport by motorbike in order to get ahead of this obstacle.

The clandestine boarding

Very quickly, Wasso grabs a small, hastily packed bag and jumps onto a motorbike. Arriving at the airport gate, he is forbidden to enter because he does not have a plane ticket allowing him access to this area reserved for travellers or airport staff. He then calls his contact inside, who meets him at the entrance in a Congolese army 4×4 jeep to help him enter the airport grounds. The soldiers in charge of securing the gate — a unit of the Republican Guard, a special force responsible for the security of the President of the Republic — manage to extort a few Congolese franc notes from Wasso before letting him through, while wishing him a good flight in Lingala, the language most widely spoken by Congolese soldiers.

Wasso and his contact pass the entrance to the tarmac intended for civilian flights, the MONUSCO terminal, and then move further ahead to the area dedicated to Congolese army flights. Once there, his contact whispers the name of a Congolese army officer to the ground crew, indicating that he is the one authorising Wasso’s boarding. The latter remembers the name mentioned by his contact: « Captain Fabrice ». Wasso is immediately told to hurry and board. He waves goodbye and makes another gesture promising to call his contact once he lands, as he had not yet handed over the money for this air transport or his commission.

 

No check-in or passenger screening

From the airport gate, a military jeep from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo picks up Wasso and his suitcase. He passes the car park and the terminal of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) to reach a barrier. Soldiers on site communicate via their walkie-talkies and open the barrier.

The driver in Congolese army fatigues (trousers and T-shirt) seems to be used to the system. He assures Wasso that he will travel as he is among the last ones the captain was waiting for. Arriving in front of the plane, positioned on a tarmac reserved for the FARDC airbase stopover, located near the Goma airport control tower, a man (a white man) tells him that he is the pilot and that he must board quickly because the aircraft has to head for Beni. Wasso shows no identity document and no one opens his suitcase.

 

 

Inside the plane, he is surprised to see it packed with about ten civilians and fewer than five Congolese army soldiers. No seats are available in this fuselage, where ammunition crates are stacked on wooden pallets. A Congolese man speaking local languages (Lingala and Swahili) and Russian serves as the loadmaster for this flight. He is the one who tells Wasso that he should sit on these crates, which serve as seats. Wasso recognises the crew’s language from the sign « АВАРИЙНЫЙ Выход » superimposed over the English words « EMERGENCY EXIT » next to a plane window, which he captures in a photo.

 

 

The two pilots smoke and tell the passengers directly that the flight will be less than an hour. There are neither seatbelts for everyone nor any emergency instructions provided by the crew, who were translated by the loadmaster, who draws a curtain separating the passenger cabin.

Once settled, Wasso calls his contact and thanks him for the service. He promises to send him the agreed 180 US dollars for the ticket via mobile money once he lands in Beni. The latter wishes him a good flight while reassuring him that the aircraft is safe. The giant of the skies begins its take-off, leaving this tarmac filled with several combat aircraft and helicopters (Sukhoi-25, Mi-8…). The flight is calm and quiet, without much turbulence. A trickle of water from the fuselage roof seems to alert the passengers, but the loadmaster comes to reassure them, indicating that this is part of the aircraft’s normal operation.

Some of the passengers share stories of their first time using this mode of transport, with some highlighting how smooth it is, without much hassle or payment of taxes, as is the case at civil aviation terminals where every passenger flying within Congo must pay between 10 and 20 dollars for the Go-Pass boarding tax. This amount is increased to 50 US dollars if it is an international flight, not to mention other extortions of travellers by various services (border health controlling yellow fever vaccination cards, the migration department checking identity documents…). But none of this was paid because no state service is deployed on this tarmac, which is 100% controlled by the Congolese army.

Once landed at Mavivi airport, 15 kilometres from the city of Beni, it is the soldiers on site who act as air traffic controllers. They help passengers disembark from the aircraft and handle protocol for the crew, officers, and their dependants. Civilian passengers must go through the various immigration and intelligence offices to explain the reason for their arrival in this operational zone, where the Congolese army is hunting down the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) rebels, affiliated with the Islamic State, which considers it its Central Africa Province (ISCAP). Among these security service members, some are already marketing their aviation system by distributing their contact details to civilian passengers so they can call them back if they have another trip or recommend their relatives to them to facilitate booking seats on this type of aircraft.

The route sheet and labelling of passengers as part of military families is the modus operandi here

This is how a document is handed to Wasso by the agent who was handling his « plane ticket ». He hands him two documents printed on a white A4 sheet. The letterhead of these documents bears inscriptions related to the Congolese army and they are stamped with at least 3 seals from specialised services of the FARDC air force military aviation.

The following mentions give details on the entities involved: « Armed Forces, Air Force, Thirty-Third Air Group, Thirty-Second Air Terminal, Command » on the document’s letterhead. In addition to the seals, the documents bear the names and signatures of military officers in charge of these services.

 

 

Yet on these documents (route sheet and boarding authorisation), Wasso’s name does not appear as the main passenger. He is listed alongside five other names, presented as the children of an aviation lieutenant whose identity, service number, and other details are listed at the beginning of the document. Yet Wasso knows neither this soldier, who has become his circumstantial father, nor these five other civilians, presented as his brothers and sisters on these two documents. Moreover, delving into the cultural richness of the region, he notes that the names of the 6 passengers on these two documents belong to different tribes of the Kivu region [natives of the east of the country], while the main traveller, designated by these documents as their biological father, bears a name from the cultural heritage of Kasaï (in central DRC).

 

NO WEIGHING OR SORTING OF LUGGAGE: A BOON FOR FRAUD AND VARIOUS TRAFFICKING

In the waiting room, Wasso observes that boarding time arrives without any service having checked the weight or nature of the items carried in the various pieces of luggage. Unlike the traditional flights he regularly takes, he also notes that no specific format is required for packing luggage. Suitcases, which are usually recommended on flights, are rare in these piles of backpacks, plastic bags, and even containers. When boarding is announced, it is the soldiers who improvise as baggage handlers. For a few Congolese francs, they indicate that they will help passengers load their luggage, as the boarding of passengers and luggage will take place from the rear ramp of the aircraft.

At the foot of the plane, Wasso witnesses indescribable chaos. Bags of flour, charcoal, animals, piles of cassava leaves, bunches of bananas… are all loaded, and no weighing is carried out.

The officers board first and head towards the cockpit. Then follow the soldiers, who at the same time help the women climb the ramp. This return flight is not carrying ammunition, and the benches have been set up to serve as seats. Some have brought plastic chairs, bought on the local market, for their comfort on board. A soldier explains to Wasso that they manage to transport live animal species that other flights do not accept, citing parrots or dogs, as well as bushmeat, which is prohibited in conventional transport.

As with the outbound flight, it’s up to the pilot to decide on stopping boarding, the verification of all entry locks and the departure announcement is interpreted by the loadmaster. Back to Goma, where another team of soldiers and members of military families have come to wait for the passengers right at the foot of the plane.

A 3-TIER SYSTEM, LESS STRESSFUL BUT POORLY REGULATED

Rested after his journey in this adventure within the FARDC Air Force aviation, Wasso decides to meet his contact who had enabled him to experience this means of transport and, above all, not to miss his two trips at a time when the Beni-Goma road was blocked and all seats with civil airlines were unavailable. It is in a lively corner where cheese and sausages (often bought by travellers) are sold that the two choose to meet. Wasso’s objective is to understand how this transport system works and, above all, to find out a bit more about how the money paid by civilian passengers is distributed.

Here are the explanations received by Wasso, which fall into three scenarios:

1. Search for travellers by intermediaries

Normally, travelling between Beni and Goma by plane cost the passenger more than $200, with ticket prices varying between 170 and 200 US dollars, to which must be added 10 dollars for the Go-Pass boarding tax and 5 dollars for other taxes from the North Kivu Provincial Revenue Directorate (DGRNK). In addition to these payments, for which receipts are given to travellers, there are illegal fees to be paid to border health service and migration directorate agents, who are located in the booths before the waiting room. Refusing to pay these illegal fees often exposes the traveller to stress because the check of their travel documents (ID and vaccination card) is rejected, with these agents prioritising passengers who have served them what they call “water” (a few Congolese franc notes, the amounts of which they sometimes manage to set: 5 or 10 dollars).

It is this series of hassles, the exorbitant price of plane tickets and, above all, the lack of immediate availability that intermediaries exploit. They offer another, less stressful travel alternative. Some passengers testified to Wasso that they paid just 75 US dollars to board these flights, while relatives of soldiers (friends, girlfriends…) have the same privilege as their family members to board these planes for free, provided they are put on the manifests by these soldiers (mainly officers).

The intermediary Wasso spoke to indicated that for each client obtained, the soldiers whose quota allows this passenger to board pay 10 dollars to this passenger’s recruiter and pocket the rest, which they will share with those who allow them to bring passengers onto the plane.

2. Going through the RVA, the air traffic controller

The heads of navigation and aviation safety services have links with the technical teams and the aircraft crew. This professional proximity creates several opportunities for collaboration. This is how they manage to find ways to convince pilots to carry the passengers they recommend on their flights.

3. Direct contact with the crew, the “business class” model

The intermediary explains to Wasso that several people who avoid being seen by other passengers on these military flights prefer to contact the crew directly. “It’s the loadmaster who ensures contact between the two parties. Here, the price is flat and non-negotiable: $200 per trip and a guarantee of travelling in the cockpit,” he says.

 

NO WEIGHT LIMIT, A FREIGHT PARADISE

To transport one’s own luggage on civil airline flights, a limit varying between 15, 20 and 46 kilograms is imposed depending on the destinations and the airlines operating in the Kivu region. The categories of goods are also clearly determined by strict protocols. And rigorous screening is applied before each flight. Excess baggage is taxed heavily, with amounts varying between 3 and 10 US dollars per kilogram. This same principle is applied by cargo planes for freight transport, sometimes with a reduction of up to $2.5 when shortages are noted in shipments. Yet to board military flights, no checks or luggage weight verifications are carried out. Moreover, the tools to carry out these operations are not available on the tarmac used by these planes. Hence the popularity of this means of transport for both passengers and cargo.

“Some packages are sent free of charge and others are paid for at a flat rate depending on the mood of the pilot, the loadmaster or the RVA agent. It all depends on where the recommendation to load the package comes from.”