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77-744: As of December 2009, Major General Sylvestre Mudacumura was the FDLR's overall military commander. He was the former deputy commander of the FAR Presidential Guard in Rwanda in 1994. Mudacumura was killed by DRC security in 2019. The FDLR made a partial separation between its military and civilian wings in September 2003 when a formal armed branch, the Forces Combattantes Abacunguzi (FOCA), was created. According to

154-702: A fair living selling meat and milk from their herds to the gold diggers, though the group lacked the political connections to Kinshasa and the large educated class which was possessed by the North Kivu Banyarwanda. The pastoralists were located within three territoires : Mwenga , inhabited by the Lega people ; Fizi of the Bembe people, the Babwari people and the Banyindu people; and Uvira, inhabited by

231-736: A key source of cross-border tensions would be removed. On October 4, 2005, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement demanding the FDLR disarm and leave the Democratic Republic of the Congo immediately. Under an agreement reached in August, the rebels had pledged to leave Congo by September 30. In August 2007, the Congolese military announced that it was ending a seven-month offensive against

308-655: A movement protesting against violence towards Banyamulenge was created using social media. International broadcasting channels reported on several demonstrations in the United States and Canada. Despite all this violence, Banyamulenge have resorted to peaceful strategies to resolve these problems. On 6 January, the Banyamulenge community endorsed a judicial inquiry/mission to investigate and bring to justice those responsible for crimes committed in Minembwe. In 2020,

385-522: A new cycle of regional political and military disagreements which have led to new ethnic clashes, and involved foreign armed groups. In late 2019, due to rising ethnic tensions in South Kivu, several high-ranking national political and military leaders journeyed to Minembwe as an attempt to appease ethnic tensions in the region. In the diaspora, especially in North America and European Union,

462-507: A party thrown by the FOCA head. Kanyandekwe is said to have led a faction advocating for the end of hostilities and the return of the rebels to Rwanda. Human Rights Watch said in December 2009, According to former FDLR combatants interviewed by Human Rights Watch and others, General Mudacumura has clear and immediate command responsibility over FDLR forces. "It is Mudacumura who gives all

539-609: A political force." After the war, the group took advantage of a favourable political environment to expand their territory. Some moved south towards Moba port and Kalemi , while others moved onto the Ruzizi plain, where a few became chiefs among the Barundi through gifts of cattle. Still others went to work in the Bukavu , the provincial capital, or Uvira , a town experiencing a gold rush economic boom. These urban dwellers could make

616-568: A reserve brigade in North Kivu and four battalions in South Kivu . It named the political and military headquarters as Kibua and Kalonge respectively, both in the jungle covered Walikale region of North Kivu . It also said that 'about the same number' of Rwandan citizens, family members of combatants, and unrelated refugees remained behind FDLR lines in separate communities. In December 2008 DR Congo and Rwanda agreed to attempt to disband

693-660: A resolution stating that all Banyamulenge were recent refugees (regardless of how long they had lived in the Congo) and providing a list of Banyamulenge who would be expelled from the country. Between March and May 1996, the remaining Tutsi in Masisi and Rutshuru were identified and expelled into refugee camps in Gisenyi . The Bahunde, forced out by the Hutu, also took refuge there. The situation in South Kivu took longer to develop. Once

770-618: A significant number of people from their homes in Busurungi to Hombo , 20 kilometres (12 mi) north. The Congolese Army and MONUC have conducted Operation Kimia II in North and South Kivu to try to eliminate the FDLR, which has not been very successful. The FDLR website was hosted in Germany, but after the request of the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung , it was taken offline. The website

847-521: Is largely held by other tribes in South Kivu who have always maintained that they are more Rwandan than they are Congolese. It remains a question of interest as to how they will be treated by the Félix Tshisekedi regime, as they have, in one way or the other, been fairly treated and protected under the leadership of Joseph Kabila. Congolese identify themselves based on their territories. For example, Bembe or Lega tribe identify themselves based on

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924-544: Is now hosted by the Italian provider Register.it. The UN peacekeeping mission MONUC has been accused of sharing intelligence with the FDLR. However, these accusations are unreliable at best as they were made by the New Times, a media outlet under Rwanda state control. The government of Rwanda has been hostile towards MONUC and during its proxy war with the Congo, its military forces even attacked peacekeepers while part of

1001-593: Is unclear if Mudacumura or Murwanashyaka had more power in the FDLR, with at least one FOCA colonel stating that Murwanashyaka reported to Mudacumura during a visit. Mudacumura's younger brother, known as "Big Patrick", has a relationship with the Indian Battalion of MONUC . Big Patrick was also rumored to have used his contacts with MONUC to provide expatriate medical care to Mudacumura in November 2009. Mudacumura's brother-in-law, Lt. Col. Edmond Ngarambe,

1078-533: The Banya- tulambo and Banya- minembwe , after the places they were located. After 1971, such practices became increasingly controversial. The 1971 Citizenship Decree by President Mobutu Sese Seko granted citizenship to the Banyarwanda who had arrived as refugees from 1959 to 1963. However, some leaders, such as Chief of Staff Barthélémy Bisengimana , were concerned that this change was an alarming sign of

1155-644: The Burundi Civil War began streaming into primarily South Kivu. They were followed the next year by almost one million mostly Hutu refugees from the Rwandan genocide , creating the Great Lakes refugee crisis . The Hutu government responsible for the genocide came with the refugees; they turned the camps into armed bases from which they could launch attacks against the newly victorious RPF government in Rwanda. The influx of refugees dramatically changed

1232-743: The DRC Mapping Exercise Report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights , the success of the invasion led to revenge killings by the Tutsi Banyarwanda against their opponents. Perhaps six thousand Hutu were purged in the week following the AFDL capture of the town. It was worse in South Kivu, as Banyamulenge settled local scores and RPF soldiers appeared to conflate

1309-470: The Itombwe plateau . The name was chosen in the early 1970s to avoid being called "Banyarwanda" and seen as foreigners in what was then Zaire . In 1976, the word "Banyamulenge" first came into wide usage after Gisaro Muhazo , a South Kivutian minister of parliament, began an initiative to reclassify the Banyamulenge of Mwenga, Fizi, and Uvira into a single administrative entity. Muhazo's attempt failed, but

1386-595: The M23 rebel group. Sylvestre Mudacumura Sylvestre Mudacumura (1954 – 17/18 September 2019 ) was a Rwandan rebel leader who was the leader of the military wing of the rebel Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), known as the Forces Combattants Abacunguzi (FOCA). He was described as being age 55 in 2009. Prior to the genocide, he attended "the leadership academy of

1463-541: The M23 Rebel Movement . The majority of Banyamulenge opposed Rwanda support of the rebellious M23 led by Tutsi from the North Kivu province. Although many Banyamulenge residing in Rwanda as refugees or Rwandan citizens benefitted from the government of Rwanda. Some of them even occupy government posts and others can be found in lucrative private sectors while others seek residence as refugees and benefit from

1540-612: The Vira people , Bafuliro and Barundi. Ethnic tensions against the Tutsi rose following the end of the colonial period, as well as during the 1972 mass killing of Hutu in Burundi . In response, the Tutsi appear to have attempted to distance themselves from their ethnicity as Rwandans and lay claim to a territorial identity as residents of Mulenge. As they moved, they continued this practice. Some Tutsi Banyarwanda in South Kivu call themselves

1617-506: The génocidaires with the Hutu with the "indigenous" Congolese. One intellectual in Bukavu who was otherwise sympathetic to the Banyamulenge claim to citizenship stated: The Banyamulenge conquered their rights by arms but the rift between them and the local population has grown. The attitude of the Tutsi soldiers—during and after the war has made them more detested by the population due to the killings, torture. For example, they will go into

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1694-745: The 'old' ALiR I in North Kivu , made up of ex-FAR and Interahamwe , about 4,000 strong, and the 'new' ALiR II operating in South Kivu out of DR Congo government supported bases in Kasai and northern Katanga . Prunier says of ALiR II that '..it had over 10,000 men, and although many of the officers were old genocidaires most of the combatants were recruited after 1997. They were the ones that fought around Pepa , Moba , and Pweto in late 2000.' 'The even newer FDLR had around 3,000 men, based in Kamina in Katanga . Still untried in combat, they had been trained by

1771-479: The 1994 refugees arrived, local authorities began appropriating Banyamulenge-owned property in the valley with the support of Mbembe. Threatened by both the armed Hutus to the north and a Congolese army appropriating property and land, the Banyamulenge of South Kivu sought cross-border training and supply of arms from the RPF. As threats proliferated, each Native Authority formed its own militia. Finally, in November 1996,

1848-455: The Bahunde and ordinary Hutu. The DSP appeared to be protecting the rights of the "non-indigenous" (primarily Hutu) against the "indigenous" (primarily Bahunde), sparking outrage and increasing the scope of the conflict. One estimate is that between 10,000 and 20,000 people were killed; another 200,000 people were forced to flee their homes. In late 1993, about 50,000 Burundian refugees from

1925-863: The Burundian Forces for the Defense of Democracy , and the Rwandan Hutu Armée de Libération du Rwanda (ALiR). They were unable to carry out basic economic activities without the security provided through the RCD-Goma. Numerous families fled to the relative safety of the Burundian capital of Bujumbura . Nevertheless, Banyamulenge made up much of the RCD military wing, the Armée Nationale Congolaise (ANC), and controlled

2002-583: The CNDP. On August 24, 2010, the United Nations confirmed that rebels from the FDLR and from the Mai Mai militia raped and assaulted at least 154 civilians from July 30 to August 3, in the town of Luvungi in North Kivu province. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon , who had made protecting civilians and combating sexual violence central themes of his presidency, was reported to be outraged by

2079-523: The DRC have affected more than 10 million lives most of which are congolese who are not bayamulenge , with casualties continuing in Ituri, North Kivu, South Kivu, and Tanganyika provinces. In the late 1990s, political scientist René Lemarchand stated that the main ethnic groups claimed the Banyamulenge numbered around 50,000 to 70,000. Gérard Prunier quotes around 60,000–80,000, a figure of about 3–4 percent of

2156-769: The Defence of the People , and more importantly for the fact that two of the most influential presidents of their country declared them as enemy of the State both in 1996 ( Mobutu Sese Seko ) and 1998 ( Laurent-Désiré Kabila ). The contentious political and social position of the Banyamulenge has been a point of controversy in the country, having played a key role in tensions against the Simba Rebellion of 1963–1965, First Congo War of 1996–1997, Second Congo War of 1998–2003, and Joseph Kabila 's regime of 2001–2019. The wars in

2233-502: The FDLR announced on 31 March 2005 that they were abandoning their armed struggle and returning to Rwanda as a political party . The talks held in Rome , Italy were mediated by Sant'Egidio . The Rwandan government stated that any returning genocidaires would face justice, most probably through the gacaca court system. It was stated that if all of the FDLR commanders, who are believed to control about 10,000 militants, disarmed and returned,

2310-660: The FDLR, again, along with his 48-year-old deputy, Straton Musoni , in Karlsruhe . This was considered a severe blow to the FDLR organization. The trial for Murwanashyaka and Musoni began on May 4, 2011, before the Oberlandesgericht in Stuttgart . They are accused of several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity according to the German Völkerstrafgesetzbuch . Their trial is

2387-619: The FDLR, prompting a sharp rebuke by the government of Rwanda. Prior to this, Gen. Laurent Nkunda had split from the government, taking Banyamulenge (ethnic Tutsis in the DRC) soldiers from the former Rally for Congolese Democracy and assaulting FDLR positions, displacing a further 160,000 people. In October 2007 the International Crisis Group said that the group's military forces had dropped from an estimated 15,000 in 2001 to 6–7,000 then, organised into four battalions and

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2464-762: The FDLR, though they will have to destroy the organisation by force or otherwise shut it down. On January 20, 2009, the Rwandan Army, in concert with the Congolese government, entered the DR Congo to hunt down lingering FDLR fighters. On 9 and 10 May 2009, FDLR rebels were blamed for attacks on the villages of Ekingi ( South Kivu ) and Busurungi ( Walikale territory, southern boundary of North Kivu ). More than 90 people were killed at Ekingi, including 60 civilians and 30 government troops, and "dozens more" were said to be killed at Busurungi. The FDLR were blamed by

2541-643: The FLDR was accused of attacking a civilian convoy in the Virunga National Park , killing a dozen park rangers, while in February 2021, it was accused of killing the Italian ambassador to DRC, Luca Attanasio , his bodyguard and his driver. In October 2022, findings from reports by Human Rights Watch revealed that the Congolese military provided support to the FDRL rebel group in their engagement against

2618-655: The Génocidaires (those who carried out mass killings during and after the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, in which close to a million Rwandans, primarily Tutsis, were murdered by their Hutu neighbors.) in response to the RPF's supplying arms to the Banyamulenge. The two Mai-Mai groups most active against the Banyamulenge were the Babembe and Balega militias. The various Banyamulenge militias and the Rwandan government forces became separate because of disagreements over motives of

2695-659: The Hutu-dominated Rwandan government. In response, the Mobutu government implemented Mission d'Identification de Zaïrois au Kivu to identify non-Zairean Banyarwanda, using the end of the Berlin Conference as the division point. Many Banyarwanda whose families had come as colonial labourers were classified as aliens, resulting in yet more youth joining the RPF. The overall effect of the CNS was to strengthen

2772-399: The Hutu. The one thousand returned to Masisi, where the Hutu landlords, and Banyarwanda in general, supported the claim of Banyarwanda to "indigenous" rights. The government sent in the Division Spéciale Présidentielle (DSP) and Guard Civile to restore order. Ill-supplied, the security forces were forced to live off the local population: the DSP off the rich Hutu and the Guard Civile off

2849-429: The Kivus. The warrant was issued on 13 July 2012. The warrant was for war crimes, but not crimes against humanity, since the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber concluded that the Prosecutor had not fulfilled its burden of showing reasonable grounds that the FDLR's criminal activities were systematically directed at civilians. Mudacumura was killed by Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) security forces in Rutshuru Territory on

2926-403: The RPF-backed Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), which the Banyamulenge militias joined, crossed the border and dismantled the camps, before continuing on to Kinshasa and overthrowing Mobutu. The ranks of the AFDL were composed in large part by Banyamulenge, who filled most of the administrative positions in South Kivu after the fall of Bukavu. As documented in

3003-442: The Ruzizi Plain on the Itombwe Plateau . The plateau, which reached an altitude of 3000 meters, could not support large-scale agriculture, but allowed cattle grazing. This version is grossly disputed because various tribes had been in conflict over where the newcomers would stay to herd their sheeps. Thus they were given the mulenge mountain to herd. Banyarwanda migrants continued to arrive, particularly as labour migrants during

3080-454: The U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, the FDLR is believed to be responsible for about a dozen terrorist attacks committed in 2009. These acts of terrorism have killed hundreds of civilians in Eastern Congo. Before ALiR merged with the FDLR in September 2000, the military configuration was as follows: Gérard Prunier presents a different picture to the ICG's assessment. As of approximately August 2001, he describes two separate ALiR groups,

3157-472: The US government resettlement program to relocate to the United States (which has a flourishing Banyamulenge diaspora). In DRC, the Banyamulenge have been part of the elite community in politics and the military while benefiting from Kabila himself, even though hated by some members of his inner circle. This has led to increased tensions with local communities all over the country who argue they receive government preferential treatment they do not deserve. This view

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3234-433: The United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs . The UN Group of Experts' report, S/2009/603, issued 9 November 2009, said "Consistent statements collected by the Group from FDLR elements who participated in this attack confirmed that it was conducted in retaliation against the FARDC for the killings in late April 2009 at Shalio." The Group further commented that "The attack at Busurungi on 10 May 2009

3311-446: The World Youth Alliance warned that the Banyamulenge (Tutsis) people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo "are facing another wave of inhumane emotional and psychological terror and being subjected to genocidal acts of violence. A coalition of local militias has been carrying out killings of Banyamulenge people who have been in a dire humanitarian situation in the central African region for years. In addition, popular politicians, both in

3388-426: The Zimbabweans and were a small, fully equipped conventional army.' It is not clear which if either of these two accounts is correct. The ALiR is currently listed on the U.S. Department of State's Terrorist Exclusion List as a terrorist organization. The FDLR counts among its number the original members of the Interahamwe that led the 1994 Rwandan genocide . It received extensive backing from, and cooperation from,

3465-436: The armed forces in Hamburg " on a two year scholarship. (This institution appears almost certainly to have been the Führungsakademie der Bundeswehr .) Mudacumura was the deputy commander of the Presidential Guard of the Rwandan Armed Forces during the 1994 genocide . Following the genocide, Mudacumura's wife and children were moved to Germany with the help of FDLR political leader Ignace Murwanashyaka . Mudacumura

3542-469: The attack. Atul Khare, deputy head of the U.N.'s peacekeeping department, was dispatched to the region, and Margot Wallström , the organisation's special representative for sexual violence in conflict, was instructed to take charge of the U.N. response and follow up. The United Nations had withdrawn 1,700 peace keepers in recent months, responding to the Congolese government's demand to end the UN peacekeeping mission (recently renamed MONUSCO). Earlier Wallstrom

3619-491: The colonial period. The Union Minière du Haut Katanga recruited more than 7000 workers from 1925 to 1929. From the 1930s, Congolese Banyarwanda immigrants continued coming in search of work, with a major influx of Tutsi refugees in 1959–1960 following the "Social Revolution" led by Hutu Grégoire Kayibanda . While the early migrants lived primarily as pastoralists in the high plains, colonial labour migrants moved to urban areas. Refugees were placed in refugee camps . In 1924,

3696-501: The command of Col Kalume. Reportedly, the attacks were also perpetrated by the Special Company under the command of Capt Mugisha Vainquer. Some information received by the Group indicated that the operation was supported by an FDLR commando unit." The FDLR had attacked several other villages in the preceding weeks and clashes occurred between FDLR forces and the Congolese Army, during which government forces are reported to have lost men killed and wounded. The most recent attacks have forced

3773-430: The fact that Hutus held power in Rwanda. The 1991 Sovereign National Conference (CNS) was a sign of the increasing coherence of the anti-Mobutu forces, and came as the Congolese Banyarwanda were in a state of heightened tension. Following the beginning of the Rwandan Civil War in 1990, many young Tutsi men in Kivu crossed the border to join the Tutsi-dominated rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) in its fight against

3850-449: The fact that they had been brought predominantly by colonials and forced on their lands. The government rewarded the Banyamulenge efforts on its behalf by appointing individuals to high positions in the capital Bukavu, while their children were increasingly sent to missionary schools. Starting at this time, Lemarchand asserts, "From a rural, isolated, backward community, the Banyamulenge would soon become increasingly aware of themselves as

3927-702: The first to be held in Germany for crimes against this law. In October 2010, the Executive Secretary, Callixte Mbarushimana , was arrested in France under a sealed warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in the Kivus ( Democratic Republic of the Congo ). The warrant concerns widespread attacks allegedly committed by FDLR troops against civilians in North and South Kivu in 2009. The Court's judges state that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mbarushimana bears criminal responsibility for these attacks, including murder, torture, rape, persecution and inhumane acts. The warrant alleges that Mbarushimana

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4004-459: The following territories including Itombwe, Lulenge, Ngandja, Tanganyika and M'tambala. In each territories the land occupants are well-known regardless of its inhabitancy. Though some part of Sud Kivu is inhabited, the dwellers of the land know well their territories and which land belonging to which tribe. In recent years, tensions over the identity of the Banyamulenge and their claims to a newly established district/"commune" (Minembwe) have created

4081-451: The government of Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila , who used the FDLR as a proxy force against the foreign Rwandan armies operating in the country, in particular the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPF military wing) and Rwanda-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy . In July 2002, FDLR units still in Kinshasa-held territory moved into North and South Kivu . At this time it was thought to have between 15,000 and 20,000 members. Even after

4158-452: The growing influence of the Banyarwanda in the administration. In reaction to the apparently growing influence of the Banyamulenge, the majority ethnicities, particularly the Nande and Hunde of North Kivu, focused on dominating the 1977 legislative elections. Once accomplished, they passed the 1981 Citizenship Bill , stating that only people who could prove descent from someone resident in Congo in 1885 would qualify for citizenship. From

4235-449: The issue of land and indigenous claims in the Kivus erupted into bloody conflict. Hutu, and some Tutsi, landlords began buying the lands of poor Hutu and Bahunde of the Wanyanga chiefdom in Masisi , North Kivu. After being displaced, one thousand people went to Walikale , demanding the right to elect their own ethnic leaders. The Banyanga, insisting that only "indigenous people" could claim this customary right, began fighting with

4312-410: The largest ethnic groups in ethnically diverse Tanzania), and Swahili. Banyamulenge their role in Mobutu 's war against and victory over the Simba Rebellion , which was supported by the majority of other tribes in South Kivu , their role during the First Congo War and subsequent regional conflicts ( Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma , Movement for the Liberation of the Congo , National Congress for

4389-424: The massacres of Hutu became part of the ruling military forces in the Kivus. Meanwhile, the Congolese government of Laurent Kabila urged the "indigenous" population to fight not only the invading RPA ( Rwandan Patriotic Army ), but also the Congolese Tutsi civilians, the mostly affected being Banyamulenge. Matching actions to words, Kabila armed "indigenous" militias Mai-Mai and Congolese Hutu militias, as well as

4466-417: The migrants were composed of Tutsi trying to avoid the increasingly high taxes imposed by Mwami Rwabugiri of the Kingdom of Rwanda . Secondly, the group was fleeing the violent war of succession that erupted in 1895 after the death of Rwabugiri. This group was mostly Tutsi and their Hutu abagaragu (clients), who had been icyihuture (turned Tutsi), which negated interethnic tension. They settled above

4543-437: The night of 17/18 September 2019, along with "his closest lieutenants". Banyamulenge Banyamulenge is a community that lives mainly in South Kivu province. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of South Kivu , with most speaking Kinyamulenge , a mix of Kinyarwanda (official language of Rwanda ), Kirundi (spoken primarily in Burundi ), Ha language (spoken by Ha people, one of

4620-456: The official end of the Second Congo War in 2002, FDLR units continued to attack Tutsi forces both in eastern DRC and across the border into Rwanda, vastly increasing tensions in the region and raising the possibility of another Rwandan offensive into the DRC – what would be their third since 1996. In mid-2004, a number of attacks forced 25,000 Congolese to flee their homes . Following several days of talks with Congolese government representatives,

4697-494: The overall instructions and commands, and others follow his orders... No operation could ever be done without his consent," one former FDLR combatant told Human Rights Watch. In another case, a senior FDLR deserter from the Reserve Brigade told UN officials that Lt. Col. Félicien Nzabanita, commander of the Reserve Brigade, which conducted several of the larger attacks on civilians during Umoja Wetu and Kimia II , "never made any decisions unless they were coming from Mudacumura." It

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4774-405: The pastoralists received permission from colonial authorities to occupy a high plateau further south. The groups received further immigrants during the overthrowing of the tsutsi monarchy and colonial clash between 1959 and 1973. Many Banyamulenge initially joined the Simba Rebellion of 1964–5, but switched sides when rebels, fleeing Jean Schramme 's mercenaries and government troops, came onto

4851-503: The perspective of the so-called "indigenous ethnicities", such as the Babembe, Bafuliro , the name "Banyamulenge" was a claim to indigeneity in Mulenge. However, the bill proved difficult to implement by the time of the 1985 provincial assembly elections, so the so-called "indigenous Kivutian majority" came up with an ad hoc measure: Banyarwanda (including Banyamulenge and Tutsi from North Kivu) were allowed to vote in elections, but not to run for political office. This appeared to aggravate

4928-450: The plateau and began to overthrow this rebellion. The Tutsi rose up, accepting weapons from the pro- Mobutu forces and assisting in the defeat of the remaining rebels. Because many of the rebels killed were from the neighbouring Bembe people aggravated the existing tensions between the group who felt The bayamulenge were overstaying their welcome and discriminating against their neighbors who had allowed them to graze their cattle and also

5005-428: The situation of the Banyamulenge. The Congolese Tutsi in North Kivu were threatened by the new armed Hutu camps, while the newly established Tutsi government in Rwanda gave them a safe place to go. Their peril was underlined by a commission led by Mambweni Vangu , who declared that all Banyarwanda were refugees and must return to Rwanda. In April 1995, Anzuluni Mbembe , the co-speaker of the Parliament of Congo, signed

5082-459: The situation, as those Banyarwanda who qualified as citizens under the 1981 law still found their political rights curtailed. Some so-called Banyarwanda, particularly Banyamulenge, smashed ballot boxes in protest. Others formed Umoja, an organization of all Congolese Banyarwanda. However, in 1988, the increasing tensions within the Banyarwanda community of North Kivu led to the division of the organization into Tutsi and Hutu groups in North Kivu due to

5159-418: The tendency of "indigenous" Congolese to differentiate Tutsi from Hutu, and lump together all Tutsi Banyarwanda as "Banyamulenge". It also underlined the fragility of their political position to the Banyamulenge. Within the Banyarwanda in the Kivus, the Hutu began defining themselves as "indigenous" in comparison to the Tutsis, who were increasingly seen as owing their allegiance to the foreign groups. In 1993,

5236-441: The term he introduced remained. Over decades, it became used as a catchall label for the Rwandan who live in the eastern parts. . While the Banyamulenge were brought in the 18th century from Rwanda, Burundi and the Karagwa area of Tanzania, it is a recorded that and historical data shows Banyamulenge came to the area in the 18th century and were of use to the Belgian king. Rwandan historians give two reasons for their migration:

5313-412: The total provincial population. Lemarchand notes that the group represents "a rather unique case of ethnogenesis ". Mulenge is a term historically referring to mountains concentrated on the High Plateau of South Kivu , in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo , close to the Burundi -Congo- Rwanda border. The term translates literally as "people of Mulenge ", a groupement on

5390-516: The towns of Fizi, Uvira, and Minembwe, which was recently declared a "commune" among many others in 2018. In August 2004, 166 Banyamulenge refugees were massacred at a refugee camp in Gatumba , Burundi by a force composed mostly of National Liberation Front rebels. Vice-president Azarias Ruberwa , a Munyamulenge, suspended his participation in the transitional government for one week in protest, before being persuaded to return to Kinshasa by South African pressure. Many Banyamulenge were opposed to

5467-430: The uprising after the creation of RCD-Goma. In early 2002, extensive fighting took place on the high plateau of South Kivu after Commandant Patrick Masunzu , then a Tutsi officer in the Rwandan-backed Rally for Congolese Democracy-Goma (RCD-Goma) rebel movement, gathered Banyamulenge support in an uprising against the RCD-Goma leadership. By 2000, the Banyamulenge were hemmed into the high plateau by Congolese Mai-Mai,

5544-541: The village, raid all the cattle, tell the population—since when have you learned to keep cattle; we are cattle; we know cattle. In Bukavu, they went into and stole from houses. Not so much in Goma. The result is the population is increasingly getting concerned over the question of the Tutsi presence. The situation became more polarised with the beginning of the Second Congo War in 1998. Those who had carried out

5621-604: Was an FDLR 'westerner', belonging to the group of rebels who were previously based in Kamina and fought alongside the Forces Armées Congolaise , as opposed to the group that stayed in the Kivus . Since 2003, there has been tension within the FDLR as Mudacumura replaced 'easterners' with 'westerners' in the command structure. He was implicated in the December 2006 death of the former FOCA second in command, Colonel Jean Baptist Kanyandekwe , who died of poisoning at

5698-494: Was conducted in clear violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The systematic nature of attacks by the FDLR against the civilian population at Busurungi suggests that they could qualify as crimes against humanity. The attack on Busurungi was perpetrated by the elements of the FDLR battalion "Zodiac" under the command of Lt Col Nzegiyumva of the FDLR Reserve Brigade, in turn under

5775-545: Was part of a plan to create a humanitarian catastrophe to extract concessions of political power for the FDLR. On 13 July 2012, the ICC announced an arrest mandate against the FDLR chief Sylvestre Mudacumura for war crimes committed in the Kivus as well as against Bosco Ntaganda . On 7 November 2019, Trial Chamber VI of International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Bosco Ntaganda to a total of 30 years of imprisonment. In April 2020,

5852-596: Was quoted as saying that this withdrawal would make the struggle against sexual violence in the region significantly more difficult. FDLR chairman Ignace Murwanashyaka was arrested in Mannheim, Germany, in April 2006, but released shortly thereafter. However, in November 2009, after pressure applied by the United Nations, the German Bundeskriminalamt captured Murwanashyaka, the 46-year-old chairman of

5929-622: Was the FOCA spokesperson prior to being captured in Operation Umoja Wetu. Mudacumura was sanctioned by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control under Executive Order 13413 and the United Nations Security Council 's Consolidated Travel Ban and Assets Freeze List. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sought an arrest warrant against him, alleging responsibility for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in 2009-10 in

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