The question of citizenship for those not considered authentically Congolese goes back centuries, write Felipe Honorato and Guilherme Freitas.

Since November 2021, the rebel militia March 23 Movement (M23) has been surging in the East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). After being considered a minor threat for almost a decade it has now claimed large amounts of territory including the city of Goma. For some, the group is the latest in a long line of rebel movements that represent a proxy for the economic or security ambitions of the Rwandan state. For others, the M23 is an expression of popular anger about abuses directed at Congolese of Rwandan origin, known as Banyarwandas in the province of North Kivu, and Banyamulenges in the province of South Kivu.

Congolese Tutsis and their struggle for citizenship  

According to Herbert Weiss, former emeritus professor of political science at the City University of New York, interethnic relations in the Kivus (North and South) are more problematic than in most other parts of the DRC. This is due to three underlying factors: the coexistence of pastoralists and sedentary farmers; a higher-than-usual population density; and a cultural divide between the “original sons” of the land and the Kinyarwanda-speaking immigrants – both Hutu and Tutsi – who have migrated westwards from Rwanda and Burundi. Some of these migrations occurred hundreds of years ago, while others are contemporary.

Members of groups, such as the Babembe, Bafuliiru and Banyindu, consider the Banyamulenges to be “foreigners”. They are not regarded as “authentically Congolese” and therefore should have no right to land, citizenship or local authority roles. More moderate voices acknowledge that the Banyamulenges have lived on Congolese soil for a long time, but do not see them as qualified to occupy roles related to traditional authorities and to be owners of ancestral lands. According to Congolese law, only people belonging to ancestral land-owning groups are “authentically Congolese” and holders of Congolese citizenship “by origin” (nationalité d’origine).

Contrary to this narrative of being newcomers, the Banyamulenge have been present in what is now the DRC since before the colonial invasion, and are therefore entitled to Congolese citizenship “by origin”.

However, when the Belgian colonial authorities established a system of local administration through the creation of large chiefdoms in the 1920s, they did not grant one to the Banyamulenges. This was probably because they considered this group difficult to govern, given that they were relatively mobile and avoided paying taxes and taking censuses. There was also a fear that the Banyamulenges’ actions would incite other people to similarly avoid European influence. Having not been granted a chiefdom, the Banyamulenges were excluded from local administration and prevented from owning their own land. This decision would have long-term repercussions.

During the Second Congolese Republic (1965-1997), the Banyamulenge were not only prevented from obtaining a customary local government unit but attempts were also made to have their citizenship withdrawn and their candidates were routinely barred from running in elections.

During the Rwandan genocide, most of the Rwandans who fled sought refuge in the Republic of Zaire, the former name of the DRC. Joseph Mobutu, the dictator who ruled the country throughout the Second Republic, used the Rwandan refugees and the so-called “Banyamulenge question” to increase his influence and break his international isolation: accepting refugee camps and exerting pressure on them at certain times, represented a source of income and political capital for his regime. The initial reaction of his dictatorship to the influx of refugees was to adopt a resolution that took the citizenship of Banyarwandas and Banyamulenges out.

As a result, the first armed clashes between the Zairean army and the Banyamulenges began in early September 1996 in the region of Uvira, ​​South Kivu province. After the start of the resistance, there were numerous reports of abuses committed by Mobutu’s army against this ethnic minority. In alleged searches for weapons, soldiers entered Banyamulenge villages and kidnapped men, looted shops and houses, and killed livestock. On 6 October 1996, the governor of South Kivu ordered the expulsion of the Banyamulenges. He gave them six days to vacate the Mulenge area and return to Rwanda. The Banyamulenge refused to comply with the order and asked the Tutsi government of Rwanda for help. Rwandan soldiers and the Banyamulenges then began to attack the Zairean army together.

By early December 1996, the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo (AFDL), an amalgam of political parties and other groups dissatisfied with Mobutu’s dictatorship (including the Congolese Tutsis), had already seized 500 km of Congolese territory along the eastern border, including the cities of Bukavu and Goma. The rebels took the city of Kisangani on 15 March 1997, and on 9 April the second largest Congolese city, Lubumbashi fell to them. Within six months of fighting, the AFDL captured the capital Kinshasa, forcing Mobutu into exile and ending the Second Congolese Republic. The AFDL leader Laurent Kabila assumed the presidency.

The outbreak of the Second Congo War

In July 1998, Kabila decided to end his military relations with Rwanda and Uganda, and ordered the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Congolese territory. Banyamulenge in Kinshasa saw this as a political move against them and began to leave the capital.

The Second Congo War began on 2 August 1998, as an initiative of the Congolese Tutsis, former Mobutu officials, and disaffected former supporters of Kabila – they formed the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD), supported by the Rwandan army.

On 4 August, a plane carrying Rwandan and Ugandan soldiers managed to enter the DRC and land at the Kitona military base in Lower Congo. There, they mobilised former soldiers of the Zairian Armed Forces and, a few days later, captured the Inga hydroelectric plant, cutting off the electricity supply to Kinshasa and Katanga; the capital was also left without water. Kabila then called on the population of Kinshasa to arm themselves and defend the city. Days later, on 23 August 1998, Angola began supporting Laurent Kabila and attacked Rwandan, Ugandan and RCD positions in Lower Congo from Cabinda; the anti-government forces, for the most part, ended up surrendering and a few soldiers fled to the outskirts of the capital, where they were massacred by the population. Three days after these incidents, Zimbabwe sent troops to the DRC to help Kabila; later, Namibia and Chad did the same.

In the months that followed, fighting continued in the eastern and northern parts of the Democratic Congo. Internal disagreements eventually split the RCD into several new rebel groups. By the end of 1998, twenty separate armed groups, including six from foreign countries, were operating in the DRC. For this reason, former US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Susan Rice dubbed the conflict unfolding in Congo-Kinshasa the “First African World War.”

As this brief historical review has shown, the “Banyamulenge question” has been in the center of the instability in Eastern DRC since the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Granting full citizenship to the Congolese Tutsis and recognising them as true members of the Congolese society seems to be one of the most important measures for taking the North and South Kivus into a path of long lasting peace and stability.

Photo credit: UN. Used with permission CC BY-NC-ND 2.0