Burungu | |
|---|---|
  Burungu | |
| Coordinates: 1°20′11″S29°01′21″E / 1.336360°S 29.022483°E Coordinates: 1°20′11″S29°01′21″E / 1.336360°S 29.022483°E | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of the Congo |
| Province | North Kivu |
| Territory | Masisi Territory |
| Collectivity | Bashali |
| Elevation | 1,824 m (5,984 ft) |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (CAT) |
Burungu is a settlement in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Burungu is in the Masisi Territory of North Kivu, to the southwest of Kitchanga. It is on the RP1030 road from Kitchanga south to Lake Kivu. [1] It is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) from the provincial capital of Goma. [2]
At the start of the Kivu frontier incident in 1909 the British commissioner John Methuen Coote entered the Belgian territory through a band of territory that a German map showed to belong to the British. He advanced quickly in night stages and reached the shore of Lake Kivu near Goma. Coote established fortified camps at Burungu and Rubona (Lubuna). [3]
On the night of 5–6 February 2001 the nearby volcano Nyamuragira began erupting. The villages of Burungu, Kirolirwe and Kitshanga suffered damage from clouds of volcanic ash that included burnt out market gardens, banana plantations and pastures, destruction of many types of trees, pollution of water sources, respiratory problems, flu, headaches, diarrhoea, conjunctivitis and miscarriages. Cattle were also affected. [4]
The region has long suffered from violence. [5] In 2005 there were 500 to 700 troops of the 53rd Battalion based in Burungu, many of them Congolese Tutsis who had formerly belonged to the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD). In September 2005 it was reported that the troops had deserted, then two days later that they had returned to base. It seems that the troops, who were about to be taken to another army center, had fled out of fear that they were to be killed. [6] In June 2010 at least 19 people died in a night attack against the army base in Burungu. At first it was thought the attack had been launched by the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), but later it was claimed by a new militia calling itself the Front for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC). [2] [lower-alpha 1]
In November 2010 officers under the command of Lt. Col. Zimurinda visited schools in the Kitchanga area listing male students aged 15 to 20. In the weeks that followed soldiers loyal to Zimurinda's superior General Bosco Ntaganda began taking the youth away as they walked to or from school. A 22-year old man was shot in Burungu when he tried to escape and died soon after. [8] In May 2012 fighting erupted between government troops and "mutineers", and thousands of refugees began fleeing to Rwanda. A student from Burungu took five days to reach Rwanda, compared to one day in normal times, and was stopped 12 times during the journey by government soldiers or rebels. [5]
North Kivu is a province bordering Lake Kivu in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Its capital is Goma.
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.
Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the western branch of the East African Rift system. Goma lies only 13–18 km (8.1–11.2 mi) south of the active Nyiragongo Volcano. The recent history of Goma has been dominated by the volcano and the Rwandan genocide of 1994, which in turn fuelled the First and Second Congo Wars. The aftermath of these events was still having effects on the city and its surroundings in 2010. The city was captured by rebels of the March 23 Movement during the M23 rebellion in late 2012, but it has since been retaken by government forces.
Banyamulenge, also referred to as nyamurenge and banyamurenge is the name that they adopted in the 80’s describes a Tutsi community in the southern part of Kivu. The Banyamulenge of South Kivu are culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of North Kivu. Most Banyamulenge speak Kinyamulenge, a mix of Kinyarwanda (official language of Rwanda, Kirundi with specific phonological and morphological features found in the two. Banyamulenge are often discriminated in DRC due to their Tutsis morphology similar to the horn African people.
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.
The Kivu conflict began in 2004 in the eastern Congo as an armed conflict between the military of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Hutu Power group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It has broadly consisted of three phases, the third of which is an ongoing conflict. Prior to March 2009, the main combatant group against the FARDC was the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). Following the cessation of hostilities between these two forces, rebel Tutsi forces, formerly under the command of Laurent Nkunda, became the dominant opposition to the government forces.
Bosco Ntaganda is a convicted war criminal and the former military chief of staff of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), an armed militia group operating in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is a former member of the Rwandan Patriotic Army and allegedly a former Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (FPLC), the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots.
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.
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 Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is a source and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to trafficking in persons, specifically conditions of forced labor and forced prostitution. The majority of this trafficking is internal, and much of it is perpetrated by armed groups and government forces outside government control within the DRC's unstable eastern provinces.
Kanyabayonga is a town in Lubero Territory, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town has suffered from continued violence between the army and rival militias since 1993.
The Congolese Rally for Democracy–Goma was a faction of the Congolese Rally for Democracy, a rebel movement based in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) during the Second Congo War (1998–2003). After the war, some members of the group continued sporadic fighting in North Kivu. The movement also entered mainstream politics, participating in democratic elections with little success.
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.
Masisi is a town in the North Kivu Province in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is the administrative center of the Masisi Territory.
The M23 rebellion was an armed conflict in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), that occurred between the March 23 Movement and government forces between 4 April 2012 and 7 November 2013. It ended when a peace agreement was made among eleven African nations, and the M23 troops surrendered in Uganda. The rebellion was part of continued fighting in the region after the formal end of the Second Congo War in 2003.
The March 23 Movement, often abbreviated as M23 and also known as the Congolese Revolutionary Army, is a rebel military group that is for the most part formed of ethnic Tutsi. Based in eastern areas of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), it operates mainly in the province of North Kivu. The M23 rebellion of 2012 to 2013 against the DRC government led to the displacement of large numbers of people. On 20 November 2012, M23 took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a population of a million people, but it was requested to evacuate it by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region because the DRC government had finally agreed to negotiate. In late 2012, Congolese troops, along with UN troops, retook control of Goma, and M23 announced a ceasefire and said that it wanted to resume peace talks.
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 United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) is a military formation which constitutes part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). It was authorized by the United Nations Security Council on 28 March 2013 through Resolution 2098. Although it is not the first instance in which the use of force was authorized by the UN, the Force Intervention Brigade is the first UN peacekeeping operation specifically tasked to carry out targeted offensive operations to "neutralize and disarm" groups considered a threat to state authority and civilian security. In this case, the main target was the M23 militia group, as well as other Congolese and foreign rebel groups. While such operations do not require the support of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), the Force Intervention Brigade often acts in unison with the FARDC to disarm rebel groups.
In late March 2022, the March 23 Movement (M23) launched an offensive in North Kivu, clashing with the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and MONUSCO. The fighting displaced tens of thousands of civilians and caused renewed tensions between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, as the latter was accused of supporting the rebel offensive.
In 2022, heavy tensions broke out between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, which have led to several alleged attacks by Congolese and Rwandan forces on each other's territory. Rwandan forces have been caught crossing into the DRC multiple times, usually fighting alongside Congolese rebels.