Masisi Territory | |
|---|---|
  Masisi on a map of North Kivu Province | |
 North Kivu on a map of DR Congo | |
| Country |  DR Congo |
| Province | North Kivu |
| Area | |
| • Total | 4,734 km2 (1,828 sq mi) |
| Population (2020) [1] | |
| • Total | 843,396 |
| • Density | 180/km2 (460/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
Masisi Territory is a territory which is located within the North Kivu Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its political headquarters are located in the town of Masisi.
Masisi territory has an area of 4734 km2. Masisi Territory is administratively subdivided into four sectors: Bahunde, Bashali, Katoyi, and Osso. [2]
Masisi is bordered by Walikale Territory on the west and north, Rutshuru Territory to the northeast, Nyiragongo Territory and Goma to the east, and South Kivu to the south.
Language-wise French is the DRC's administrative language. The most common language for a majority of the local population (56%) is Swahili. Many of the migrants with Rwandan background speak Kinyarwanda (15%), while some of the natives speak Hunde (20%). A few people speak Tembo (2%), who migrated from Lubero Territory and Beni Territory, and a few others speak Nande (2%), which is more common in the south of Masisi in the two Ufamando groupings. [1]
The following lists the organizational subunits of the territory, as of 1977. [3]
The administrative center of the territory is the town of Masisi, which contains Masisi Hospital, run by aid agency Médecins Sans Frontières, treats civilians and fighters from all sides of the conflict. [4] The town is inaccessible much of the time, due to fighting.
The town of Sake in Masisi, located at a crossroads, is the main headquarters of the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (part of MONUSCO).
Other settlements in Masisi include Karuba and Burungu, as well as the coltan mining center of Rubaya. Near the town of Mweso there is a tea processing plant as part of a 450 hectare tea plantation known as JTN. [5] Beginning in 1975, Belgian priests introduced a cheese-making tradition, and small farmers in the area produce Goma cheese, a Gouda-like cow cheese that is the only significant cheese production in the whole DRC. [6] [7]
The eastern portion of the territory is part of Virunga National Park, and contains the active volcano Nyamuragira and its satellite Rumoka.
The area was traditionally inhabited mostly by the Hunde people, as well as some Twa people. With support from the Belgians, one of the small local chiefs, Mwami André Kalinda, expanded his chiefdom, the Grande Chefferie des Bahunde to encompass of all of Masisi by 1935. [8]
During the colonial period in the 1940s and 1950s, the Belgian administration had a "dual colonization" policy of bringing in many immigrant white people and Banyarwanda (Hutus and Tutsis) to settle in the area, based on the promise of land. The colonial parastatal Comité national du Kivu gave out long term leases to the settlers in Bashali Chiefdom, to focus on tea and pyrethrum cash crops. [9]
During the Congo crisis in the early 1960s, voting rights were first granted to the Rwandan immigrants. Their immediate electoral success prompted a backlash from the Hunde population, who took control of local politics under the slogan udongo ya baba (father's land). Increasing violence between the Hunde administration and the immigrant population spiraled into the Kanyarwanda War. The violence prompted most of the white settlers to leave, with all the remaining whites gone after the implementation of the Zaïranization policy in the early 1970s. [3]
Historical events such as the 1977 eruption of Mount Nyiragongo prompted additional immigration to the area. The Banyarwanda acquired the overwhelming majority of the ex-colonial plantations, such as the case of Barthélémy Bisengimana, who served as chief of staff for DRC president Mobutu as well as taking over the large Osso concession in Masisi. [10]
Since at least the 1970s, the territory has been divided into the four modern collectives: Bahunde chiefdom and Bashali chiefdom are run by the traditional ethnic Hunde chiefs, and Katoyi and Osso are organized as sectors. [11]
Beginning in March 1993, the conflict broke out along ethnic lines in nearby Walikale Territory. Although fighting ended in Walikale after two weeks, the violence had since spread to Masisi Territory and the Bwito Chiefdom (western Rutshuru Territory). [3] [12]
This began with militias made up of the autochtone populations (Nyanga people, Hunde people, and Twa people), conducting a campaign aimed at forcibly removing the majority Hutu population from Walikale and Masisi. According to Doctors Without Borders, the fighting in March and May 1993 killed between 6,000 and 15,000 and displaced 250,000. [13]
Peace negotiations were attempted, but violence resumed in 1994, and then escalated significantly with the Great Lakes refugee crisis when there was an influx of around 600,000 Rwandan refugees due to Rwandan Genocide and related Hutu-Tutsi conflict. [14]
In the 1990s, Mobutu Sese Seko, the long-time dictator of the DRC, was facing growing opposition from various factions in the country, including rebel groups in the east. In 1996, a coalition of rebel groups, backed by neighboring Rwanda and Uganda, launched an offensive against Mobutu's forces. The rebels quickly gained control of much of eastern Congo, including Masisi Territory, and Mobutu was forced to flee the country in May 1997.
After Mobutu's ouster, Laurent-Désiré Kabila assumed power in the DRC. However, Kabila's rule was also marked by conflict and instability, as various rebel groups sought to gain control of the country's vast mineral resources. In 1998, a new rebellion broke out in the east of the country, led by the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). The rebels quickly gained control of Masisi Territory and other areas of eastern Congo, and a new round of fighting began.
This round of conflict, the Second Congo War, also known as the African World War, was a complex conflict involving multiple rebel groups, foreign armies, and various factions within the DRC. In the course of the conflict, the original RCD faction fractured into several groups, with the Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma maintaining control of Masisi. The war officially ended in 2003 with the signing of the Sun City Agreement, but fighting continued in some parts of the country, including Masisi Territory.
During the conflict, Masisi Territory was a hotspot of violence and human rights abuses, with numerous reports of massacres, rape, and other atrocities committed by both rebel groups and government forces. The conflict also had a devastating impact on the local economy and infrastructure, with many villages and towns destroyed and large numbers of people displaced.
Masisi Territory has constantly been subjected to the conflict between the Congolese army and militias, which has plagued the eastern Congo since the ending of the Second Congo War. militias originating from the Rwandan genocide and the Congolese civil war, and Ugandan rebel groups, are involved in these episodes of conflict, which also relates to Rwandan border security and the control of eastern Congo's minerals by rebel groups and business interests. Armed groups have systematically targeted the civilian population.
One of the armed groups active in the territory is Nyatura , a majority Hutu militia which was founded in 2010 in nearby Kalehe Territory in South Kivu. [15] Another active group is the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo (APCLS), a majority Hunde Mai-Mai.
In July 2014, an offensive in the Masisi and Walikale Territories by the Congolese army and UN forces liberated 20 rebel controlled towns, freeing the local residents. [16]
As of 2023, the majority Tutsi March 23 Movement has taken control of portions of the territory during its recent offensive. The Nyatura and APCLS militias are currently in a coalition to resist the M23. [17]
The earliest known human settlements in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been dated back to the Middle Stone Age, approximately 90,000 years ago. The first real states, such as the Kongo, the Lunda, the Luba and Kuba, appeared south of the equatorial forest on the savannah from the 14th century onwards.
South Kivu is one of 26 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Its capital is Bukavu.
The term Mai-Mai or Mayi-Mayi refers to any kind of community-based militia group active in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that is formed to defend local communities and territory against other armed groups. Most were formed to resist the invasion of Rwandan forces and Rwanda-affiliated Congolese rebel groups, but some may have formed to exploit the war to their own advantage by looting, cattle rustling or banditry.
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, Kirundi, Ha language, 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 and 1998.
The First Congo War (1996–1997), also nicknamed Africa's First World War, was a civil war and international military conflict which took place mostly in Zaire, with major spillovers into Sudan and Uganda. The conflict culminated in a foreign invasion that replaced Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko with the rebel leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila. Kabila's unstable government subsequently came into conflict with his allies, setting the stage for the Second Congo War in 1998–2003.
The Kivu conflict is an umbrella term for a series of protracted armed conflicts in the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo which have occurred since the end of the Second Congo War. Including neighboring Ituri province, there are more than 120 different armed groups active in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Currently, some of the most active rebel groups include the Allied Democratic Forces, the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, the March 23 Movement, and many local Mai Mai militias. In addition to rebel groups and the governmental FARDC troops, a number of national and international organizations have intervened militarily in the conflict, including the United Nations force known as MONUSCO, and an East African Community regional force.
The National Congress for the Defence of the People is a political armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2006. The CNDP was engaged in the Kivu conflict, an armed conflict against the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In January 2009, the CNDP split and Nkunda was arrested by the Rwanda government. The remaining CNDP splinter faction, led by Bosco Ntaganda, was planned to be integrated into the national army.
Walikale Territory is a territory located within the Congolese province of North Kivu, in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The headquarters are in the town of Walikale. The locality is situated between Bukavu and Lubutu on DR Congo National Road No. 3 in the valley of the river Lowa, 135 km to the west of Goma.
Laurent Nkunda is a former General in the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and is the former warlord operating in the province of Nord-Kivu, sympathetic to Congolese Tutsis and the Tutsi-dominated government of neighbouring Rwanda. Nkunda, who is himself a Congolese Tutsi, commanded the former DRC troops of the 81st and 83rd Brigades of the DRC Army. He speaks English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Lingala and Kinande. On January 22, 2009, he was put under house arrest in Gisenyi when he was called for a meeting to plan a joint operation between the Congolese and Rwandan militaries.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy, also known as the Rally for Congolese Democracy, is a political party and a former rebel group that operated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It was supported by the government of Rwanda, and was a major armed faction in the Second Congo War (1998-2003). It became a social liberal political party in 2003.
Kanyabayonga is one of the groupements (groupings) within the Bwito Chiefdom in the Rutshuru Territory of North Kivu Province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The region has suffered from continued violence between the army and rival militias since 1993.
Rutshuru Territory is a territory in the North Kivu province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), with headquarters is the town of Rutshuru.
Minova is a town in the Kalehe Territory, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is an important business center for farm-fishery products. It is very close to Idjwi Island, Masisi Territory, Lake Kivu on its North Western shore and is only 45 km from the Goma city. The town's development is linked with important refugee-related history, including those from Rwanda in 1994, those from Masisi in 1992–1997, and other surrounding areas in northern South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is known for being the site of the systematic rape of refugees by DRC troops. WE actually find many local organisations involved in the management of Gender Based Violence (GBV) working tirelessly to restore dignity to women and girls who were raped( Panzi Foundation DRC is one of them, and it is very active in Buzi -Bulenga area).
The Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo is an armed militia group which operates in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. APCLS is traditionally active in Masisi Territory, North Kivu and is considered one of the largest mai-mai groups operating in the province. Formed in 2006, the APCLS draws most of its support from the Hunde ethnic group. Its ideology is founded on opposition to the Tutsi ethnic groups who are believed to threaten the integrity of the Congolese state and to be supported, in particular, by Rwanda. The APCLS is a belligerent in the ongoing Kivu conflict and is led by Janvier Buingo Karairi, known as General Janvier.
The Kanyarwanda War was a conflict in the northeastern region of Congo-Léopoldville, specifically the newly-established province of North Kivu, between the Banyarwanda and indigenous groups within North Kivu including the Hunde and Nande groups that lasted from 1963 to 1966. It was sparked by years of ethnic tensions between the Banyarwandan people, who had significant influence and power in North Kivu and surrounding provinces, and native groups such as the Hunde and Nande groups.
The Rubaya mines, also known as the Bibatama Mining Concession, is a series of coltan mining sites near the town of Rubaya in Masisi Territory, North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Officially, the mining license is held by Société Minière de Bisunzu Sarl (SMB), associated with Congolese senator Édouard Mwangachuchu. Specific sites include Bibatama D2, Luwowo, Gakombe D4, Koyi, Mataba D2, Bundjali, and Bibatama D3.
Kinyandonyi is a village in the Rutshuru Territory of the North Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinyandonyi is situated 10 km east of the city of Kiwanja in Bukoma groupement, in the Bwisha Chiefdom and 85 km north of the capital of the province Goma. The region is inhabited by the Hunde people as well as some remaining autochthonous populations of African Pygmies, including the Twa people and the Mbuti people. In addition to the Hunde, Twa, and Mbuti, there are other ethnic groups, including the Nyanga, Lega, Kumu, Hutu and Tutsi.
Kitchanga, also known as Kitshanga, is a town and a camp for Congolese Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in the Rutshuru Territory of North Kivu Province in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Kitchanga is located 119 kilometers north of Goma and 10 kilometers north of Burungu. It also lies near Kizimba and Budey villages.
The Bwito Chiefdom is a chiefdom located in the Rutshuru Territory of North Kivu Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is one of the chiefdoms within Rutshuru Territory, bordered to the north by Batangi Chiefdom in Lubero Territory, Bwisha Chiefdom in the east, and to the north-east by Lake Edward and the Republic of Uganda. To the west, it is bordered by Bashali-Mokoto Chiefdom in Masisi Territory, and to the northwest by Wanyanga Chiefdom in Walikale Territory. To the south, it is bordered by Nyiragongo Territory.
Modern relations between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda have origins that date back to the colonial era. Sharing a border that is 221 km in length, the two countries were both colonial possessions of Belgium between 1919 and 1960, and were impacted by the two world wars. Both Rwanda and the Congo experienced violent upheavals during their first years of independence, with the Congo being left with a weak central authority, and Rwanda dealing with periodic raids and incursions from expelled Tutsi rebels in the east of the Congo.
