Links to Rwanda fuel discrimination against DR Congo's Tutsis

The notorious M23 rebel group is wreaking havoc in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, seizing the region’s two biggest cities in a deadly uprising which has forced hundreds of thousands to flee their homes.

Central to their campaign is the assertion that ethnic Tutsis living in DR Congo are being persecuted.

Digging into the status of Tutsis in DR Congo – and how exactly this relates to the M23 uprising – is an extremely complex and sensitive matter that goes to the heart of who is considered to be Congolese.

For starters, many global authorities argue that in their purported fight against discrimination, the rebels have committed unjustifiable atrocities. The UN and US, for instance, have sanctioned M23 leaders over allegations of war crimes, such as sexual violence and the killing of civilians.

Secondly, some regional analysts say that rather than seeking to defend Tutsis, the M23 – and Rwanda, which backs the rebel group – is primarily seeking to exploit the eastern DR Congo’s vast mineral wealth.

It is also worth noting that there are thought to be hundreds of thousands of Tutsis in DR Congo – there is no official estimate – and many do not support the actions being carried out in their name.

That being said, experts and organisations like the UN have documented decades of discrimination against Congolese Tutsis and the Banyamulenge – a Tutsi sub-group concentrated in the South Kivu province.

This ranges from ethnic killings, to workplace discrimination, to hate speech on the part of politicians.

At the root of this discrimination is the association of Tutsis with neighbouring Rwanda, which has been led by Tutsis since 1994. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, many Congolese Tutsis played a key role in violent Rwandan-backed rebellions against the governments then running DR Congo.

The perception that Congolese Tutsis are “foreign” can have deadly consequences.

Bukuru Muhizi, a researcher and economist from South Kivu’s Mwenga territory, told the BBC that people from various generations of his family had been killed because of their Banyamulenge and Tutsi identities.

He said that in the past six years, his great-uncle and great-uncle’s son were killed by Congolese soldiers and local militia fighters. The Congolese armed forces have not responded to the BBC’s request for comment on this allegation.

Mr Muhizi said his family has lived in present-day DR Congo for centuries and that he “wished the world knew” his community was experiencing what he called a “silent genocide”.

Muragwa Cheez Bienvenue, a Banyamulenge activist, said he was once targeted by airport staff in the city of Bukavu.

“I was stopped – they told me I look like [Rwandan President] Kagame and they had me pay around $150 (£120) to save myself from being imprisoned,” he told the BBC, adding that he supports the M23’s cause.

Bukuru Muhizi belongs to the Banyamulenge sub-group, who took their name from the Mulenge locality where they first settled in DR Congo [Bukuru Muhizi]

Prior to colonisation, part of the territory that is now DR Congo was subject to the Rwandan monarchy, which is Tutsi. It had long been fighting expansionist wars, extending the kingdom to include more and more of East Africa.

Tutsis, Hutus and other ethnic groups lived in the Rwandan kingdom and had done so since at least the 19th Century. But when colonial powers drew up arbitrary borders in Africa, the kingdom was split between present-day DR Congo and Rwanda.

Subsequently, other Tutsis have migrated to DR Congo in waves. In the mid-20th Century, Belgian colonialists brought workers over from present-day Rwanda to staff their plantations, while others came on their own accord in search of a better life.

Meanwhile, Tutsi refugees began arriving in DR Congo, fleeing waves of ethnic violence in Rwanda and Burundi. Both countries have long been dominated by their Tutsi minorities, leading to tensions with the Hutu majority.

Many more are thought to have arrived in 1994 during the Rwandan genocide, in which some 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis, were slaughtered. But when a Tutsi-led government seized power and ended the massacres, some returned, especially after some of those responsible for the genocide then fled into DR Congo.

As DR Congo’s Tutsi and Banyamulenge communities grew, the Congolese authorities “alternately empowered and the undermined” them, Jason K Stearns, a DR Congo analyst, wrote in his book The War That Doesn’t Say Its Name.

In the early 1970s, then-President Mobutu Sese Seko granted citizenship to anyone who had originated from Rwanda or Burundi, provided they were present on Congolese territory before 1960.

But in 1981, parliament rowed back on these rights and many Tutsis, Banyamulenge and people from other minority groups were “derived of their nationality and left stateless”, a UN report noted.

In the 1990s, Tutsis and the Banyamulenge were subject to multiple massacres in DR Congo. For instance, a report by the UN says that the Congolese army aided armed groups in killing nearly 300 Banyamulenge civilians in the city of Baraka in 1996.

It also states that “many” Tutsis and Banyamulenge lost their jobs and suffered discrimination and threats.

Today, the constitution considers the Tutsi and Banyamulenge groups to be Congolese and some individuals from these communities occupy senior military and governance positions. In fact, Lt-Gen Pacifique Masunzu, the man leading the fight against the M23 as the commander of a key area in eastern DR Congo, is from the Banyamulenge community.

M23 fighters have seized the two biggest cities in eastern DR Congo [AFP]

But there is still significant evidence of discrimination. In 2024, experts working for the UN said that in South Kivu, Banyamulenge are commonly seen as harmful to their neighbouring communities. This discourse incites “hatred, discrimination, hostility and violence”, the experts said.

There have also been recent reports of Tutsi and Banyamulenge soldiers in the Congolese army being murdered. According to Human Rights Watch, a mob killed a Banyamulenge military officer in 2023 “in an apparent case of ethnic hatred”.

Politicians – past and present – have also pushed discriminatory sentiment.

Anti-Tutsi feelings appear to rise during M23 rebellions, say DR Congo experts such as Mr Stearns.

He told the BBC he had seen “pretty terrifying” social media posts over the past few weeks – “a phenomenon of people in other parts of the country expressing doubts over a certain person, often an army officer or police officers… the way he looks, and claiming that certain people look like they’re Rwandan”.

Although some Congolese Tutsis may back the M23’s current uprising, Mr Stearns says “many of them feel uncomfortable with the consequences this will have for them as a community, because once again, this means that they will be portrayed as treasonous rebels”.

The Congolese government has gone some way in acknowledging the discrimination against Tutsis. For instance, earlier this year President Félix Tshisekedi said he had “had enough” of anti-Banyamulenge speech and alleged that such comments gave Rwanda the pretext to invade DR Congo.

However, the authorities have also played down allegations of widespread persecution. Government spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told the BBC: “We have 450 tribes and there is conflict between some of them in many parts of the country… The government position is against any kind of discrimination or hate speech against every community”.

However, Mr Bienvenue on the other hand told the BBC he “strongly” believes his ethnic group are discriminated against, giving the example that his sister was once sacked after being told she “looked like a Rwandan spy”.

This is despite his family living in the same area for centuries.

“The Banyamulenge have been here since Congo was Congo!” he said, exasperated.

Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno in Kinshasa