Banyamulenge is a community from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of North Kivu, with most speaking Kinyamulenge, a mix of Kinyarwanda (official language of Rwanda), Kirundi (spoken primarily in Burundi),[1] Ha language (spoken by Ha people, one of the largest ethnic groups in ethnically diverse Tanzania), and Swahili. Banyamulenge are often discriminated against in the DRC due to their Tutsi phenotype, similar to that of people living in the Horn of Africa, their insubordination towards colonial rule, 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 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 the DRC have affected more than 10 million lives, 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.[1] Gérard Prunier quotes around 60,000–80,000, a figure of about 3–4 percent of the total provincial population.[2][3] Lemarchand notes that the group represents "a rather unique case of ethnogenesis".
^ abLemarchand, 10
^Cite error: The named reference Prunier51-52 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Lemarchand states the figure of 400,000 given by Joseph Mutambo [Les Banyamulenges, (Limete: L'imprimerie Médiaspaul de Kinshasa, 1997), 26 (in French)] is "grossly exaggerated". Lemarchand, 10
Banyamulenge is a community from the Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province. The Banyamulenge are culturally and socially distinct from...
the two, calling both Banyamulenge and considering them foreigners. After coming to power in 1965, Mobutu gave the Banyamulenge political power in the...
out attacks on Banyamulenge targets, had substantially upset what equilibrium existed. The Rwandan government also saw the Banyamulenge, as natural allies...
Rwandan territorial integrity, and began to arm the ethnically Tutsi Banyamulenge of eastern Zaire. The Mobutu regime of Zaire vigorously denounced this...
also alienated the Banyamulenge who lived in South Kivu during this time, as the retreating insurgents killed the Banyamulenge's cows for food. Even...
are essentially two groups of Tutsi in the Congo (DRC). There is the Banyamulenge, who live in the southern tip of South Kivu. They are descendants of...
Babwari, Bavira, Balega, Bahunde, Banyanga, Bashu, Baamba, Baswaga, and Banyamulenge. Although the Bembe people are considered the indigenous group in the...
maintained a low intensity war with the invading Rwandan army and their Banyamulenge co-ethnics living in the Congolese provinces of North Kivu and South...
the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi group in the Zairian South Kivu province, helping them to defeat Zairian security forces. Rwandan forces, the Banyamulenge, and...
campaign against Congolese ethnic Tutsis in eastern Zaire, known as the Banyamulenge. In turn, these Zairian Tutsis formed a militia to defend themselves...
to neighboring countries, such as Burundi, Uganda, and expanding the Banyamulenge Tutsi ethnic group in the South Kivu region of the Belgian Congo. Later...
of Tutsi soldiers mutinied and, with the assistance of the AFDL, the Banyamulenge militias, the Ugandan army (Ugandan People's Defence Force; UPDF), and...
Sandra Uwiringiyimana is an author and member of the Banyamulenge tribe (also referred to as Tutsi Congolese). Sandra was born in South Kivu, located in...
training Burundi rebels who have joined with Mai Mai against the Banyamulenge and the Banyamulenge is accused of harboring the RNC, a Rwandan opposition group...
Bafuliiru, Babwari, Babuyu, Banyindu, Balega (Warega), Bamushi, and Banyamulenge. The area was conventionally inhabited by the Bembe people, a Bantu ethnic...
South Kivu, the Banyamulenge sided with security forces, as they had largely mistrusted the Simba rebels from the start. The Banyamulenge feared the insurgency...
the use of child soldiers in the conflict. CNDP was sympathetic to the Banyamulenge in Eastern Congo, an ethnic Tutsi group, and to the Tutsi-dominated government...
As of 2019, the coalition has also engaged in heavy clashes with the Banyamulenge-led Ngumino and Twiganeho militias. While the official announcement of...
leave Zaire on penalty of death, the ethnic Tutsis in Zaire, known as Banyamulenge, were the focal point of a rebellion. From eastern Zaire, the rebels...
Uganda gave for the intervention were to stop a "genocide" against the Banyamulenge in the DRC in concert with Rwandan forces, and that Kabila had failed...
Zaire by the Banyamulenge, a Tutsi group living near Bukavu in the Zairian South Kivu province. With Rwandan army support, the Banyamulenge defeated local...
considered a subgroup) to the Batutsi, Banyankole, Bahima, Bahororo and Banyamulenge living in northern Rwanda and parts of Uganda. They are found in Kitagwenda...
ethnic Banyarwanda from the jurisdiction of the Rwanda kingdom was the Banyamulenge, who crossed the Rusizi river into the South Kivu province of the Belgian...
village of Kagogo, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Banyamulenge are Tutsi people from South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and...
as the creator of the term "Banyamulenge", Rugama used the term in his thesis. According to René Lemarchand, Banyamulenge constitute a "Rwandan-origin"...
an uprising by the ethnic Tutsi, sometimes referred to as a whole as Banyamulenge (although this term only represents people from one area in eastern Zaire—other...
Burundi and other related ethnic groups, such as Baha in Tanzania and Banyamulenge in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In current-day usage, the term refers...
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