Lulenge

Lulenge is one of the four sectors of Fizi Territory of the South Kivu Province in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It is situated near the Kiloba and Makena villages, at an altitude of 943 meters.[2] Its capital is Kilembwe. Lulenge is bordered to the north by the Itombwe sector and Mwenga Territory. In the east, it is bordered by Lake Tanganyika and the Mutambala sector. In the south, it is bordered by the N’gangya sector, and in the west by Shabunda Territory.[3][4][5]

Lulenge
Sector
Secteur de Lulenge
Kilembwe serves as the sector's capital, November 2007
Kilembwe serves as the sector's capital, November 2007
Country DR Congo
ProvinceSouth Kivu
TerritoryFizi
Area
 • Total5,530 km2 (2,140 sq mi)
Population
 (2014)[1]
 • Total187,806
Time zoneUTC+2 (CAT)

Mining and agriculture are the region's most significant revenue-generating and economic sectors. Agricultural co-operatives function much more efficiently in Lulenge, and the Coopérative Business Centre Olive (CBCO) is the largest in the mining sector. The primary agricultural commodities are cassava, peanuts, beans, mushrooms, and rice. Aside from mining and agriculture, fishing is another source of revenue, with Lake Tanganyika situated in the eastern part of the region. Parenthetically, small enterprises are well-developed in the area.[6][7][8]

Since 2018, Lulenge has been in the throes of conflicts. The emergence of the Ngumino and Twiganeho militias in November 2021 has escalated tension between Banyamulenge and Bembe people.[9] Verbal and physical attacks targeting Babembe and Babuyu have been spreading on the internet in Lulenge.[10]

History

Lulenge was a historic chieftaincy inhabited by the Buyu and Bembe communities. They resided in an environment characterized by cultural heterogeneity. To the north and east, there were patrilineal agro-pastoralist-oriented populations. To the west, there were the related patrilineal agricultural, hunting and food-gathering Lega communities. In the south, there were matrilineal hunters and agriculturalists who were descendants of the northern Luba cluster. The Buyu were the first to settle in the region, while the Bembe established themselves later, migrating from the mountains to occupy the remaining land due to their smaller workforce. During the 20th century, the Belgian Congo divided the Bembe and Buyu people into five sectors: Itombwe, Lulenge, Mutambala, Ngandja, and Tangani'a.[11][12][13][14]

As a result of economic policies implemented by the Belgian colonial administration, a significant number of Banyarwanda cattle-herders were authorized to migrate into ostensibly 'vacant' grassy regions by the end of the 20th century, moving in from Rwanda via the Uvira Territory. Nonetheless, the Bembe people abstained from practicing exogamy and generally held a truculent and adversarial disposition toward Banyarwanda.[15][16]

Security problems

In June 2020, two civilians were wounded by gunfire during an attack by alleged Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda; FDLR) rebels in the village of Kasolelo in the Lulenge sector. Local sources attribute the attack to rebels of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, who operate in the area from the Hewa Bora forest. The assailants looted the population's possessions.[17]

In September 2020, approximately ten people were killed after three days of fighting between militia groups in the high plateau of Fizi, Mwenga, and Uvira. The coalition of militiamen such as Android, Al-Shabaab, Twiganeho, and Ngumino, headed by Rukundo Makanika at the bastion of the Mai-Mai Mutetezi militia. According to civil society sources in Minembwe, 18 militiamen from the Makanika coalition were killed and 41 wounded, and the Mai-Mai also looted the livestock.[18] At least 800 cows were swept by the Mai-Mai towards Lulenge and the Itombwe forest.

In October 2020, the Twiganeho, a rebel group led by a Munyamulenge (noun for Banyamulenge) army deserter, Colonel Rukundo Makanika, attacked several villages in the Itombwe sector, in the Mwenga Territory as well as in the Lulenge sector, near Minembwe.[19] The villages of Tabunde, Kukwe, Kashasha, Ibumba, Abangya, and Ibulu were set on fire, causing at least 20 fatalities. The villages were the property of the Bembe and Fuliiru people. Subsequently, the Mai-Mai of the Bembe, Fuliiru, and Nyindu communities clashed with those of the Banyamulenge until they were driven out in all villages.

In September 2022, an estimated 500 displaced households were relocated to Lulenge. The families fled clashes between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and Rwandan-backed rebel the National Resistance Council for Democracy (Conseil National de la Résistance pour la Démocratie; CNRD) in Hewa Bora.[20]

See also

References
  1. "Chapitre II: Methodologie du Travail: Situation géographique du secteur de Lulenge". Africmemoire.com.
  2. "RDC - Sud-Kivu - Territoire de Fizi: Zone de santé de Kimbi-Lulenge (au 13 juin 2014) - Democratic Republic of the Congo | ReliefWeb". reliefweb.int. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  3. videfi. "videfi". Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  4. "Territoire – Fizi Itombwe". Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  5. "Economie – Fizi Itombwe". Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  6. "Rapport final des consultations participatives de la base pour l'élaboration du Document de Stratégies de Réduction de la Pauvreté (DSRP) Territoire de FIZI - Province du Sud Kivu" [Final report of grassroots participatory consultations for the development of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) Territory of FIZI - Province of South Kivu.] (PDF). Sous la coordination du SERACOB (in French). 2004. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  7. de Brier, Guillaume (2015). "Chaines d'approvisionment en minerais et iens avec les conflicts dans l'est de la Republique Democratique Du Congo" (PDF). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  8. "Economie – Fizi Itombwe". Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  9. "RDC/Sud-Kivu: le groupe armé Twirwaneho a renforcé son contrôle sur Minembwe". Actualite.cd (in French). 2022-12-19. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  10. "RDC : nouvelles violences dans plusieurs villages dans les hauts plateaux de Fizi et Mwenga, au moins une vingtaine de morts enregistrée". Actualite.cd (in French). 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  11. Cosma, Wilungula B.; Jean-Luc Vellut (1997). "Fizi 1967-1986: le maquis Kabila" (PDF). Institut Africain CEDAF (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  12. "Chapitre I : GENERALITES SUR L'IMPACT DES CONFLITS ETHNIQUES ENTRE LES BABEMBE ET LES BABUYU SUR LE DEVELOPPEMENT SOCIO-ECONOMIQUE DE LA COLLECTIVITE SECTEUR DE LULENGE ET LA REVUE DE LA LITTERATURE". www.africmemoire.com. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  13. Moeller, Alfred (1936). "Les grandes lignes des migrations des Bantus de la province orientale du Congo belge" (PDF). Bruxelles: G. van Campenhout (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  14. Cosma, Wilungula B.; Vellut, Jean-Luc (1997). "Fizi 1967 - 1986: Le Maquis Kabila" (PDF). Institut Africain CEDAF (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  15. Mararo, Stanislas Bucyalimwe (2005). Marysse, Stefaan; Ryntjens, Filip (eds.). "Kivu and Ituri in the Congo War: The Roots and Nature of a Linkage" (PDF). New York, Palgrave Macmillan. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  16. Commission pour l'Étude du problème de la main-d'oeuvre au Congo Belge (1929). Rapport du Sous-Comité de la Province Orientale du Comité Consultatif de la main-d'oeuvre (in French). Belgium. pp. 257–265.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  17. "Fizi : deux civils blessés par balles lors d'une attaque des présumés rebelles FDLR dans le secteur de Lulenge". Actualite.cd (in French). 2020-06-28. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  18. "RDC : Une dizaine de morts après trois jours des combats entre des groupes miliciens dans les hauts plateaux de Fizi, Mwenga et Uvira". Actualite.cd (in French). 2020-09-10. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  19. "RDC : nouvelles violences dans plusieurs villages dans les hauts plateaux de Fizi et Mwenga, au moins une vingtaine de morts enregistrée". Actualite.cd (in French). 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2023-03-16.
  20. "Fizi : environ 500 ménages de déplacés en détresse à Lulenge". Radio Okapi (in French). 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2023-03-16.

6°44′S 26°00′E

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