Banyamulenge community in Eastern DRC faces systematic violence, humanitarian crisis

Members of the Banyamulenge and Tutsi communities from the Democratic Republic of Congo protest over the dire humanitarian situation they face and targeted killings, in Nairobi, on April 20, 2026. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

The Banyamulenge community from the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has called for urgent international intervention, including humanitarian corridors, independent investigations, and targeted sanctions to prevent what they describe as a looming humanitarian catastrophe.

They also want restoration of the deteriorating security and human rights situation of the vulnerable civilian populations.

The community noted that more than 1400 people have been killed since 2017 to date with over 600 villages destroyed and thousands of cattle looted, devastating livelihoods in South Kivu and mass displacement, with over 130,000 refugees now in neighboring countries.

Speaking during a peaceful mass protest in Nairobi, Desire Ndengeye, representative of the Banyamulenge community, said that the current crisis is fuelled by a long-standing manipulation of indigenous versus non-original identities, used to marginalise Rwandophone Congolese.

“Despite a documented presence in the High Plateaus since the 18th century, the Banyamulenge have faced repeated attempts at political disenfranchisement since the 1970s. Following the 1885 Berlin Conference, significant Tutsi populations became Congolese citizens via border demarcation. Labeling these groups as "newcomers" is a factual inaccuracy used to justify exclusion,” he stated.

Ndengeye said that the 1981 Nationality Law (No. 81-002) created a legal vacuum that effectively stripped many of their citizenship rights, transforming a domestic population into "foreigners" on their ancestral lands.

“The security landscape was irrevocably altered post-1994 with the influx of armed elements into the Kivu regions. These groups have exported a lethal ideology that has since been integrated into local security structures. Of grave concern is the reported operational coordination between the Congolese National Army (FARDC), the Wazalendo militias, and foreign armed elements,” he said.

Uwase Uwitonze, a member of the community, pointed out that the data collected since 2017 indicates a deliberate policy of socio-economic destruction.

“More than 1,500 individuals have been killed specifically because of their Banyamulenge identity, the looting of over 600,000 head of cattle has dismantled the community’s primary means of survival and social cohesion, and more than 600 villages have been destroyed, resulting in the clearance of 95 per cent of ancestral Banyamulenge lands in South Kivu, destruction of 147 schools and 57 health centers and currently 130,000 documented Tutsi refugees in Rwanda, with thousands more in Burundi and Uganda, unable to return due to credible threats of violence,” she said.

The community proposed the Diplomatic Engagement through facilitating high-level dialogue with the African Union (AU) to ensure the immediate cessation of hostilities and the withdrawal of non-neutral foreign forces.

Establishing secure, internationally monitored corridors to lift the current blockade and provide life-saving aid.

Support an AU-led Independent Commission of Inquiry to investigate reports of ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Implementing sanctions against individuals found to be inciting ethnic hatred or coordinating attacks on civilians and developing a tripartite framework for the safe, voluntary, and dignified repatriation of refugees to their ancestral lands.