Understanding the bloody clash between refugees and Rwanda govt

A bloody clash between Rwanda government troops and Congolese refugees in Rwanda this week left five refugees dead and several injured. This followed days of protests by refugees who were protesting the reduction of their food ration by 25%. The group of about 2,000 refugees had forcefully moved from their camp and set up camp at the UNHCR field office taking some humanitarian workers hostage. The refugees were demanding to either be left to return to Congo or be relocated to a third country. They claimed that they had spent more than 23 years in the camp and were tired of such a protracted refugee situation. Rwanda hosts 17,400 Congolese refugees and about 57,000 Burundian refugees. The figure of 17,000 Congolese refugees is predominantly ethnic Banyamulenge and comprises of mostly women and children.

To understand where refugees would pick the courage to violently clash with government troops, we need to examine the role of the ethnic Banyamulenge in the conflicts in eastern Congo. Banyamulenge a.k.a Congolese Tutsi are part of the 17th Century Banyarwanda (both Tutsi and Hutu) who migrated to Congo. Because of their pastoralist lifestyle, some Tutsi settled in the Rusiizi plain and the high Itumbwe plateau of South Kivu province in eastern Congo. In 1924 the Belgian colonial government gave permission for these Tutsi pastoralists to occupy the plateau further south. Between 1959 and 1963 they were joined by other Tutsi refugees who were fleeing political turmoil in Rwanda. In 1964/65 the Banyamulenge joined the communist oriented Simba uprising that was being organised by the iconic Che Guevara in South Kivu. However, they typically switched sides and were supplied with weapons by the Kinshasha government to fight the rebellion. Since the Simba rebellion was mainly dominated by the local ethnic Bembe, bad blood between the two communities ensured.

The government rewarded the Banyamulenge with political positions, preferential formal educational opportunities and expansion of grazing territory. This was to the disadvantage of the local ethnic Walega, Wabembe, Wavira, Bafulero and Barundi. In 1971 the Congo government granted citizenship to Banyarwanda who had arrived in Congo as refugees in 1959 - 1963. In 1976 an attempt by Tutsi elites in government to create a single administrative entity for the different groups of Banyarwanda Tutsi in South Kivu failed. Consequently, to avoid being identified as Banyarwanda, the said Banyarwanda Tutsi of South Kivu chose to be called Banyamulenge (the people of Muenge) in reference to the Mulenge hills that they occupied. An organization called Umoja meant to bring together all Banyarwanda (Hutu and Tutsi) in both the South and North Kivu collapsed in 1988.

When the Banyarwanda Tutsi refugees from Uganda invaded the Hutu dominated government of Rwanda, these Banyarwanda Tutsi in eastern Congo joined the war on the side of the Tutsi RPF. The Mobutu government in Kinshasha which was close to the Hutu government in Rwanda moved to identity non-Zairean Banyarwanda. Even the families of those Banyarwanda who had come to Congo much earlier as colonial labourers were classified as aliens. Because Banyarwanda Tutsi in Congo were seen to be close to the rebelling Tutsi in Rwanda, they were all identified as Banyamulenge. All the Banyarwanda Hutu in Congo were identified as indigenous Congolese.

In 1993 a land conflict in North Kivu erupted owing to both rich Tutsi and Hutu landlords buying land from poor Hutu and ethnic Hunde in Misisi. The conflict turned bloody before the Kinshasha government deployed soldiers to contain the situation. Around the same time the events in Burundi led to about 50,000 Hutu refugees fleeing into South Kivu. The Burundian influx was followed by the over one million Rwandese Hutu following the take over of power in Rwanda by the Tutsi RPF. Threatened by the presence of armed Hutu refugees from Rwanda, the Banyarwanda Tutsi of North Kivu were offered safe passage to return to Rwanda. The government of Congo declared that all the Banyarwanda of North Kivu were refugees. The new Tutsi RPF government in Rwanda offered military training and arms to the Tutsi Banyarwanda militias in Congo as a protective measure against harassment by local leaders and government troops.

In November 1996 when the RPF backed AFDL rebels of Laurent Kabila invaded Congo from Kivu region, the Banyamulenge and other Tutsi militias overwhelmingly joined the invaders. After the fall of Kinshasa, the administrative positions in South Kivu were dominated by Banyamulenge to the displeasure of the indigenous ethnic communities. The now powerful Banyamulenge went ahead to settle old scores through killings. They mostly targeted Hutus and their perceived allies. After the Kinshasha government ordered the Rwandese RPF troops to leave Congo, with backing of Rwanda the Congolese Tutsi in the Congo army rebelled by forming the RCD.

Kinshasha urged and facilitated indigenous populations not only to fight the RPF and Banyamulenge rebels but also the Tutsi civilians. This gave both to different militia groups commonly referred to as Mai Mai. Commander Patrick Masunzu a Munyamulenge broke away from RCD Goma and established his own bases in high plateaus of South Kivu. Pro-Kinshansha Mai Mai, Rwandese Hutu FDRL Burundian CNDD overwhelmed the Banyamulenge with some fleeing to Burundi. Commander Masunzu opted to fight both the RCD and the Kinshasha government in defense of his Banyamulenge ethnic group.

When a peace deal was eventually reached, Commander Masunzu and his Banyamulenge militias joined hands with the Kinshasha government. He became a close confidant of Joseph Kabila and was seen as a symbol of Kabila's resistance to Rwanda. He was deployed to South Kivu as the overall commander of the 10th Military Region in South Kivu. Among the top Banyamulenge who joined the Kinshasha government were the likes of Azarious Ruberwa who became the Vice President. In August 2004 a total of 166 Banyamulenge refugees in Burundi were massacred at Gatumba camp by suspected rebel FNL.

Among the top Banyamulenge former militia commanders who joined hands with the Kinshasha government was Eric Rwehumbere, Julius Mutebusi, Venant Bisogo, and Ichel Rukunda. The likes of Laurent Nkunda, Bosco Ntaganda and Sultan Makenga who were later to form CNDP and later M23 are pro-Rwanda Tutsi Congolese from North Kivu. The Banyamulenge speak Kinyarwanda but with a dialect different from other Tutsi. The real Banyamulenge are slightly less than 100,000 in total. Owing to the discrimination they were subjected to in the early days of the Congo conflict, they attracted a lot of sympathy from the international community.

Hundreds of Banyamulenge refugees were resettled in the USA, Australia and other countries. This gesture of goodwill was exploited by other refugee ethnic groups who also claimed to be Banyamulenge. It is for the same reasons that the recent protesters were demanding to be taken to another country. In the same regard it is very common to find the same refugees registered in different countries in the Great Lakes Region in order to increase their chances of being considered for a third country resettlement.

The usual Tutsi militancy and arrogance can't be ruled out. In Burundi the Banyamulenge refugees hired trucks threatening to return to Congo on their own because the authorities were planning to shift them to another camp. In Uganda when an attempt was made to repatriate the former M23 fighters, they violently clashed with government forces before fleeing to the Banyamulenge Refugee camp at Rwamwanja where Museveni accorded them preferential treatment.

The absence of a harmonised refugee policy in the Great Lakes countries is also contributing to such disrespect of national laws by refugees in respective countries. Museveni is aiming at attracting as many refugees as possible and there is a possibility of external influence in the recent conduct of the Banyamulenge refugees in Rwanda. Currently Museveni is not on talking terms with Kagame. He is supporting Rwandese dissidents who are trying to establish bases in the Banyamulenge strongholds of South Kivu.

Rwanda's RPF had initially wanted to bring back home all Congolese Banyarwanda Tutsi from Congo to boost Tutsi numbers against Hutu who had fled to Congo. They refused by claiming that they were Congolese thus resorted to forcefully repatriate Rwandese Hutu Refugees from Congo. Therefore, Kagame harbours the old grudge of Banyamulenge under Commander Patrick Masunzu who fought both the RPF and RCD during the Second Congo War. Because of the role played by Rwandese Tutsi in Congo, other indigenous Congolese ethnic groups don't flee to Rwanda.

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