Mulenge

Mulenge is a village encircled by hills in the Kigoma ''groupement'' (grouping), within Bafuliiru Chiefdom, located in the Uvira Territory, South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Perched on the Itombwe massif's high plateaus, it overlooks Uvira. Historically, the area has been inhabited by remnants of Bantu communities like the Fuliiru people whom are the original inhabitants of region, and some Nyindu communities. The region's economy is centered around agriculture, family livestock breeding, and fishing.

Etymology

The name "''Mulenge''" originates from the Fuliiru language, spoken by the Fuliiru people, who migrated to Uvira Territory from Lwindi Chiefdom—a region near the Ulindi River in the rugged hinterlands of Mwenga Territory—around the seventeenth century. "''Mulenge''" is believed to derive from a Fuliiru word for the shinbone.

History

Mulenge has historically been inhabited by the Fuliiru people, who migrated from Lwindi (now Luindi Chiefdom) towards the present-day Uvira, settling in the mountainous terrain. Congolese researcher Shimbi Kamba Katchelewa of the University of Montreal notes that Mulenge, along with Luvungi and Lemera, were key sites where the first Bafuliiru from Lwindi settled between the 10th and 14th centuries, forming the basis for the eventual establishment of a "kingdom" under a Hamba clan ruler. The Bahamba traditionally held authority in the area, with Lemera as their capital. Lemera itself was named after ''Mulemera'', the father of Kahamba, the dynasty's founder. Historian Bishikwabo Chubaka indicate that the Bahamba clan's control extended across the northwestern Ruzizi Plain, from Uvira to Luvungi.

Interethnic and regional conflicts

By the 1920s, Mulenge began attracting Tutsi pastoralists searching for grazing land in the Itombwe Highlands. Scholars have characterized these migrants as foreign groups. René Lemarchand described them as "renegades from Rwanda", while Daniel P. Biebuyck stated that they migrated "from Rwanda via the territory of Uvira". In ''Mayhem in the Mountains: How Violent Conflict on the Hauts Plateaux of South Kivu Escalated'', Judith Verweijen, Juvénal Twaibu, Moïse Ribakare, Paul Bulambo, and Freddy Mwambi Kasongo noted that these groups moved to present-day Uvira Territory from what is now Rwanda, as well as from present-day Burundi. Alfred Moeller de Laddersous, a colonial administrator known for his extensive studies on Bantu communities in eastern Belgian Congo, classified the Tutsi of eastern Congo as " Hamite invaders" and asserted that the Banyarwanda, as a broader ethnolinguistic group, were not the region's original inhabitants. He also observed that the Barundi of Uvira Territory were of Bahutu origin, having settled in the Ruzizi Plain between Luvungi and Kiliba before expanding northward between Luvungi and Kamanyola.
Regarding the Tutsi pastoralists, the Fuliiru mwami, Nyamugira Mukogabwe II, granted them grazing land in exchange for livestock tributes. These pastoralists established settlements between Mulenge and the upper Sange River, subsequently ceasing their previous tributary obligations to the Rwandan monarchy. Mulenge became the immigrants' "quasi-capital, while the migrants began to be referred to as '' Banya-Mulenge''". Tensions arose by 1924 when Mwami Mukogabwe's increasing demands resulted in the depletion of Tutsi cattle herds, prompting many Banyamulenge to migrate southward to Itombwe in search of isolation and better grazing land. Paradoxically, this movement deepened their reliance on Fuliiru farmers for food, as cattle remained an essential part of Fuliiru bridewealth. The Fuliiru recall experiencing systemic marginalization in 1927, which fueled long-standing resentment toward the newcomers. After Mukogabwe's death in 1930, tensions persisted as the Rwandophone community sought colonial intervention to facilitate their reintegration into Mulenge. Belgian authorities, sympathetic to their return, assisted in their resettlement.

On 25 February 1938, Mulenge was formally incorporated into the administrative framework of Uvira Territory under Ordinance-Law No. 21/91. It was designated as an administrative post alongside Makobola and Luvungi within Bafuliiru Chiefdom. While Banyamulenge were a culturally and linguistically distinct community, their eponym "never appears in colonial records", nor were they granted a chiefdom (''collectivité''), which left them politically disadvantaged in a system where ethnic administrative divisions shaped governance. During this colonial era, Belgian settlers built a police station in the village, and directly in front of it lay a football field, which served multiple purposes—a site for public whippings, and a marketplace for trading goods between villagers and settlers.

During the 1963–65 Simba Rebellion, which erupted across eastern Congo due to widespread discontent over post-independence governance, Banyamulenge suffered significant losses of their cattle. The rebellion, particularly in South Kivu, exposed ethnic divisions, as insurgents—drawn largely from the Bafuliiru, Bavira, and Babembe communities—targeted wealthy individuals, including those of Rwandan and Burundian descent. Amid increasing competition for land, the Bafuliiru, asserting their status as indigenous inhabitants, strongly opposed the continued presence of Rwandophone immigrants. The widespread loss of livestock forced some Banyamulenge to abandon cattle herding in favor of agricultural labor. By the early 1970s, economic relations between the Banyamulenge and the Fuliiru deteriorated. The Fuliiru, realizing they could obtain more cattle through market transactions rather than traditional exchanges, became less willing to supply food to the Banyamulenge. This shift further strained relations, as both communities felt economically disadvantaged by the other. Resentment over the events of 1964, particularly the loss of Banyamulenge herds, led them to side with President Mobutu Sese Seko's national army when it suppressed the rebellion in 1966. Since around 1976, some Tutsi immigrants began identifying as ''Banya-Mulenge'', a designation that the Bafuliiru viewed as an attempt to obscure their Rwandan origins and stake a territorial claim. This longstanding dispute resurfaced during the First Congo War, when a substantial number of Banyamulenge fighters joined the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), participating in extrajudicial killings and acts of sexual violence against other ethnic communities. In October 1998, at the onset of the Second Congo War, the AFDL, with support from Banyamulenge, carried out numerous atrocities against civilians in Uvira. Many lost their lives to AFDL's violence, including the former Mulenge post chief, Ladislas Matalambu, who was killed on 1 October 1998, at 7:30 p.m., and Alexis Deyidedi, the former administrative secretary of the Bafuliiru Chiefdom, who was assassinated on 2 October 1998, at 11 p.m. Homes and businesses were looted, set ablaze, and destroyed.

Ongoing security problems

On 10 June 2004, up to 3,500 Congolese, mostly Bafuliiru and Babembe, fled to Burundi, fleeing ethnic persecution. On 16 January 2019, clashes erupted between Burundian rebel factions, including FOREBU, RED-Tabara, and the FNL (National Forces of Liberation), and Burundian militias. The conflict, which originated in Kabere, 20 kilometers west of Sange, spilled over into adjacent localities, including Mubere and Mulenge, resulting in at least 17 fatalities. By 22 January 2019, the coalition comprising RED-Tabara, FNL, and Mai-Mai Kihebe, commanded by Kihebe Ngabunga, was expelled from Kifuni village, where they had sought refuge on 20 January following their defeat in Mulenge at the hands of Burundian Imbonerakure militia, bolstered by Congolese Mai-Mai contingents. This coalition regained control of territories spanning Kabere, Mubere, and Mulenge in the middle plateaus of the Kigoma ''groupement''. The skirmishes culminated in the deaths of five people, including four rebels and one Mai-Mai combatant, alongside injuries sustained by militia members. These hostilities triggered further displacement, with uprooted populations seeking shelter in school facilities and among host families, where they were deprived of fundamental necessities.

On 31 January 2019, civil society representatives and elders from the Bavira, Banyamulenge, Bafuliiru, Banyindu, and Babembe communities appealed to the United Nations Security Council to address the proliferation of Burundian and Rwandan armed groups in the DRC. By early February, the Burundian military commenced a phased withdrawal, dismantling RED-Tabara rebel strongholds. However, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), deployed to secure the region, established unauthorized checkpoints in former rebel-occupied zones, where reports of harassment and extortion on market days emerged. On 21 February 2019, Kihebe Ngabunga surrendered to FARDC forces, accompanied by a cohort of approximately ten combatants, and relinquished two military-grade firearms. On 11 August 2019, the FARDC's 123rd Special Commando Battalion replaced the 3,304th Regiment in Lubarika, currently stationed in Nyamutiri (mid-plateaus) and Mulenge.

Climate

In Mulenge, the wet season is hot, humid, and overcast and the dry season is warm and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 62 °F to 86 °F and is rarely below 59 °F or above 90 °F.

References

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Populated places in South Kivu