Minembwe

The region of Minembwe was originally an ancient chiefdom of the Bembe people, a Bantu-speaking ethnic group that occupies a series of savanna plateaus in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and the western Republic of Tanzania.[6][7]

Prior to its establishment as an independent territory in its own right in the Lulenge sector of the Fizi Territory, the region held significant cultural and historical importance for the Bembe people. It served as a center for trade, commerce, and cultural exchange, with people from various ethnic groups converging in the region.[2][5]

During the era of Belgian colonization, the Babembe and Babuyu peoples were grouped together in the Fizi Territory, which was then subdivided into five sectors: Itombwe, Lulenge, Mutambala, Ngandja, and Tangani'a. However, following the end of colonization, the Itombwe sector was attached to the Mwenga Territory to bring the administration closer to the local populace.[8]

In the 1920s, many sections of these regions were considered underpopulated, which prompted the Belgian colonial administration to import workers from elsewhere to aid in their development.[9] This led to the transfer of people from Rwanda to the highlands of Kivu from the late 1930s to the 1950s. The migration of Banyarwanda had significant social and cultural impacts in the region, particularly in Minembwe. The migrants, who were mainly Tutsi, brought with them their language, customs, and traditions, which over time became integrated into the local culture. The integration process, however, was not always smooth. There were tensions between the Banyarwanda and other ethnic groups in the area, particularly the Babembe. These tensions were fueled by factors such as land disputes, competition for resources, and political power struggles.[10]

In the late 1950s, there was a significant influx of Banyarwanda immigrants into the Fizi Territory, particularly in the Lulenge sector of Minembwe. This migration was fueled by a combination of factors, including political instability in Rwanda and the search for better economic opportunities in neighboring areas.[11] Additionally, during the Rwandan Revolution of 1959–1961, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) settled Rwandan refugees in the sites of Lemera, Mulenge, and Katobo. Many of these refugees ended up dispersing throughout the Lulenge sector and settling in some of the most remote and inaccessible areas of the region.[12]

Mobutu Sese Seko sporting a typical abacost in 1983.

The Banyarwanda who settled in the Lulenge sector in the late 1950s-1980s, and those who migrated to the eastern part of the Congo Free State in the nineteenth century, now commonly referred to as "Banyamulenge," aspired to establish their own autonomous territory. However, they were required to meet certain criteria established by the Belgian colonial administration and maintained by the Congolese state after independence to be recognized as a tribal or ethnic entity. These requirements include having a native language that gives its name to the tribe, a chieftainship that represents the tribe in relation to other neighboring groups and the state, and a defined territory whose borders are recognized by the neighboring tribes.[13][14][15] Despite Kinyarwanda being the mother tongue of the Banyarwanda, they did not have a chieftainship or a defined territory. They were disqualified from being a Congolese tribe or acquiring land based on the three determining criteria. The names “Banyarwanda” or "Banyamulenge" were not recorded in colonial documents. Throughout history, the Banyarwanda were viewed as immigrants from Rwanda, and the Belgian colonists did not categorize them as an ethnic group until the Democratic Republic of Congo gained independence in 1960.[1][16] Thus, in 1972, Barthélémy Bisengimana Rwema, a cabinet director of Mobutu Sese Seko during his second republic, initiated a presidential “Ordinance № 69-096” collectively granting the Zairian (Congolese) nationality to all Banyarwanda.[17] This law complicate things, putting the Banyarwanda populations settled in the territory of the eastern part of the Republic of Zaire before the Belgian Congo colony (therefore Congolese by right) and those coming from more recent migratory flows in the same situation, creating perplexity. The “mass” acquisition of Congolese nationality, coupled with the perverse effects of the land law promulgated within the framework of “Zairianisation”.[17] Businessmen, politicians and Tutsi notables recovered land, in particular former colonial plantations, redistributed by the state. These land acquisitions conferred a legal character on the land settlements of the Tutsi peasantry in the Kivu.

The impossibility of applying the “1972 Ordinance”, not respecting the basic criteria, aggravated the tension and engendered conflicts in the region due to resistance from other Congolese tribes who considered themselves expropriated for the second time (the first time by the Belgian colonists) from part of their territory by Tutsis who remained from elsewhere in the collective unconscious.[17][18] These ethnic tensions threatened the national integrity and led the Congolese political authorities to repeal and annul the “1972 Ordinance” by passing Law no. 81/002 of June 29, 1981, and, thus, to correct the mistake that was made to the law regarding the recognition of ethnic communities.[17] In the same year, Banyarwanda changed their eponym from “Banyarwanda” to “Banyamulenge” to be distinguished from those coming directly from Rwanda.[19] However, the identity crisis between Banyamulenge and other Congolese tribes was conspicuous at the time as civil status offices continued to be torched to destroy the administrative documents necessary for any granting of nationality or land for Banyamulenge.

Between 1991 and 1993, these ethnic tensions resurfaced violently, particularly on the background of the problem of representation of Kivu at the National Sovereign Conference (Conférence Nationale Souveraine) organized in Kinshasa to establish a democratic regime in Zaire. They will lead to the formation of youth militias initiating attacks and murders in Kivu.[20] The tensions will require the intervention of the Special Presidential Division (Division Présidentielle Spéciale), an elite military corps of Mobutu's regime, to restore some semblance of order.[21]

In 1998, at the outset of the Second Congo War, there was a form of solidarity between Banyamulenge and Rwandan refugees who were present almost everywhere in the Kivu region.[22] These groups had common adversaries in particular: Juvénal Habyarimana in Rwanda and then, to a certain extent, Mobutu in Zaire due to nationality and land laws. Banyamulenge's fighters fought for the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF), then for the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) and the Rally for Congolese Democracy (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie).[23][24][22] After Mobutu departed, the Rally for Congolese Democracy, a rebel group backed by the Rwandan government and led by Azarias Ruberwa at the time, created Minembwe as an independent territory in 1999 alongside Bunyakiri in Kalehe Territory.[25][24][26] The creation of Minembwe territory responded to a long-standing wish of the Banyamulenge, to whom the colonial authorities and Zairean government had refused a chieftaincy or a group.[25]

The recognition of these two territorial entities is a source of ethnic tension between the various components of the Transitional Government at the beginning of 2006.[27][28]

Given that the Banyamulenge supported the AFDL and RCD forces during the Second Congo War, and were accused of attacking refugee camps and densely populated villages, executing civilians, and carrying out terrorist attacks against Zairian civilians in various areas of South and North Kivu such as Bwegera, Luberizi, Luvungi, Katala, Rubenga, Lubarika, Kakumbukumbu, Mutarule, Kagunga, Kiliba, Ndunda, Biriba, Sange, Rwenena, Kahororo, Kamanyola, Lemera, Kidoti, Makobola, Kasika, Kilungutwe, Kilungutwe River and Katogota, many Congolese viewed the Banyamulenge as invaders who had intruded upon their habitats.[29][30][24] Conversely, those on the Banyamulenge side believe that they were not given adequate space within the Fizi Territory and are therefore fighting for self-defense. This conflict has led to a displacement of approximately 140,000 individuals who were forced to leave their homes due to fighting between armed groups in Minembwe in May 2019, according to humanitarian organizations.[31][32]

Being an area built on hills and without subsurface wealth, Minembwe does not present strong development possibilities except for its location as a riparian region which gives it agriculture and fishing development.[48][49] Lake Tanganyika, situated in the eastern part of the region, offers tremendous fishing potential for Minembwe. Despite strong agricultural and fisheries development, Minembwe has suffered from a lack of improvements in health, access to clean water, lack of roads, and basic civic services.[50]