- Programme
- Congo
- Designated
- Not published by this authority
- Legal basis
- Ordinance of 22 June 2005 on measures against the Democratic Republic of Congo (SR 946.231.12), article 2 (Financial sanctions) and 4 (Travel ban), annex 2
- Stated grounds
- Colonel Simon Tokolonga holds a leading position in the Congolese Armed Forces (FARDC) as head of its 3411th regiment. Colonel Tokolonga attended a meeting in Pinga on 8 and 9 May 2022 where local armed groups, such as the Nduma défense du Congo-Rénové (NDC-R) and the Alliance des patriotes pour un Congo libre et souverain (APCLS), gathered and forged a coalition to resist the March 23 Movement/Congolese Revolutionary Army (Mouvement du 23 mars/Armée révolutionnaire congolaise – M23/ARC) (coalition “Alliance des résistants de la patrie” – ARP). The presence of Colonel Tokolonga has revealed the cooperation of some FARDC members with this coalition. In addition, members of the 3411th regiment of the FARDC have supplied weapons and ammunitions to armed groups operating in the DRC, including the provision of more than a dozen boxes of ammunition to FDLR (“Forces démocratiques de libération du Rwanda”) fighters in Kazaroho in July 2022. Colonel Tokolonga has reportedly coordinated several weapons supplies to armed groups operating against M23/ARC. The non-governmental armed groups part of the ARP coalition, including the NDC-R, APCLS and FDLR, sustain the armed conflict, instability and insecurity in the DRC, and are responsible for serious human rights abuses in that country, in particular through recruitment and training of combatants, participation in operations against M23/ARC, attacks against civilians, killings, and grave violations committed against children such as rapes and other forms of sexual violence and abduction. Owing to his leading position in the 3411th regiment of the FARDC and his coordinating role in weapons supplies, Simon Tokolonga is therefore responsible for providing support to armed groups sustaining the armed conflict, instability and insecurity in the DRC, including by providing them with arms and ammunitions.
- Source
- Switzerland SECO Sanctions List
- Last confirmed
- 19 Oct 2026