Competition between CNDD-FDD and the FNL is a key dynamic in which violence and abuse have been used. Much of the violence has directly pitted local government officials and supporters of the CNDD-FDD against FNL combatants and supporters. State agents affiliated with CNDD-FDD, including local administrative officials and police officers, have in some cases been directly implicated in human rights abuses against FNL members. In other cases they have tacitly taken the ruling party’s side by failing to investigate abuses against FNL members. For their part, FNL members have engaged in criminal acts including killings and abductions—some sanctioned by FNL leadership—against state agents, CNDD-FDD members, and dissidents within the FNL.