The Batwa–Luba clashes were a series of clashes in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

(DRC) between the

Pygmy In anthropology, pygmy peoples are ethnic groups whose average height is unusually short. The term pygmyism is used to describe the phenotype of endemic short stature (as opposed to disproportionate dwarfism occurring in isolated cases in a pop ...

Batwa people, and the

Luba people The Luba people or Baluba are an ethno-linguistic group indigenous to the south-central region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The majority of them live in this country, residing mainly in Katanga, Kasai and Maniema. The Baluba Tribe ...

that began in 2013 and ended in 2018.

Background

The pygmy Batwa, regionally also called Bambuti or Bambote, are often exploited and allegedly enslaved by the Luba and other Bantu groups. While the pygmy never organized militarily to resist, starting with the First Congo War, rebel leader

Laurent-Désiré Kabila Laurent-Désiré Kabila () (27 November 1939 – 18 January 2001) or simply Laurent Kabila ( US: ), was a Congolese revolutionary and politician who was the third President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo from 1997 until his assassinatio ...

, who won the war, organized the Twa into paramilitary groups to help him. His son,

Joseph Kabila Joseph Kabila Kabange ( , ; born 4 June 1971) is a Congolese politician who served as President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between January 2001 and January 2019. He took office ten days after the assassination of his father, Pres ...

, who succeeded him, used these militias in the Second Congo War and against the predominantly Luba

Mai-Mai Kata Katanga Mai-Mai Kata Katanga, also called Mai-Mai Bakata Katanga, is a ''mai-mai'' rebel group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which advocates the independence of the Congo's Katanga Province. It was formed shortly after the group's leader, Géd ...

Course of the conflict

Tanganyika Province Tanganyika is one of the 21 new provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Tanganyika, Haut-Katanga, Haut-Lomami and Lualaba provinces are the result of the splitting up of the former Katanga provinc ...

, in the northern part of the former Katanga Province, starting in 2013, Pygmy Batwa rose up into militias, such as the "Perci" militia, and attacked Luba villages. In

Nyunzu Territory Nyunzu is a territory in the Tanganyika Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, t ...

, the pygmy hunter-gatherers organized into militias for the first time in known history. A Luba militia known as "Elements" attacked back, notably killing at least 30 people in the "Vumilia 1" displaced people camp in April 2015. Since the start of the conflict, hundreds have been killed and tens of thousands have been displaced from their homes. The weapons used in the conflict are often arrows, axes, and

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s, rather than guns. In October 2015, Pygmy and Luba leaders sign a peace deal to end the conflict. In September 2016, the United Nations along with provincial authorities established local councils called "baraza" to address grievances and this appeared to reduce the violence. However, clashes intensified at the end of 2016, as the government tried to enforce a tax on caterpillars that the Batwa harvest as a major source of income to sell as a delicacy around the capital Kinshasa, while the military attempted to arrest a Twa warlord. Both of these events led to a violent backlash and a spread of the fighting. Twa militias also started to target Tutsis, another Bantu group, by slaughtering their cows. A ceasefire brokered by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

in February 2017 failed, and the violence continued. The International Rescue Committee said more than 400 villages were destroyed between July 2016 and March 2017. In August 2017, the clashes intensified after Batwa attacked a group of Luba near

Kalemie Kalemie, formerly Albertville or Albertstad, is a town on the western shore of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town is next to the outflow of the Lukuga River from Lake Tanganyika to the Lualaba River. History From 18 ...

; in course of the following fighting about 50 people died, most of them Luba. Batwa fighters also attacked a

MONUSCO The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

convoy with arrows. A number of Blue Helmets were wounded, though they still opted not to return fire. By the end of 2017, the economy in Tanganyika had mostly collapsed, while fields could no longer be harvested. As result, malnutrition spread amongst those who had fled, as well as those who stayed at their homes. However, open fighting had largely ceased by early 2018, although both sides still treated each other with mistrust. On 5 June 2020, the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

passed a bill to recognize the rights of indigenous peoples, including the Batwa.

Casualties

Deaths

More than a thousand people were killed in the first eight months of 2014 alone.

Displaced people

The number of displaced people are estimated to be 650,000 as of December 2017. Around March 2017, 543,000 had fled, up from 370,000 in December 2016, the strongest growth of the current conflicts in the Congo, which has the largest population of displaced people in Africa. Many refugees are allegedly forced by the government to leave the camps and return to their homes, where the fighting still continues.

Notes

References

External links