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Nyerere’s views on DRC offers a glimmer of hope

Nyerere DRC political solutions
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Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere’s speech on the political problems in DRC should he listened, understood and applied to seek political solutions to the DRC.

While Nyerere’s speech did not provide solutions but through his critical analytical skills he laid bare historical injustices that fuel the conflict.

This discourse recaps Nyerere’s views and use them to offer political solutions to the DRC’s maze of political conundrums.

According to Nyerere precolonial era, there were two nations called Banyarwanda and Barundi.

They were not tribes in a strict sense of the word but were independent nations.

In those two nations were distinct ethnographic populations define by mode of habitation, geographical locations and means to eke out a living.

In Rwanda, there were three characterizations of Tutsi, Hutu and Twa or Batwa.

The Batwa are an indigenous group of people in Rwanda who are considered the first inhabitants of the country.

They are also known as Pygmies. Hutu were the majority while the Tutsi and Twa were the minorities.

In Burundi there were Hutu who were majority and the Tutsi as a minority.

The two nations had their own borders. I must also add before these two nations there was a Bahima Empire that cuts through parts of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, DRC and Tanganyika, now Tanzania. Bahima empire included the Banyankole of Uganda, Tutsi, Hutu, Twa, and later Banyamulenge of the DRC.

It was a multicultural society defined by their unique languages which were Bantu, Nilotes, Hamites and Nilo- Hamites.

The “Bahima Empire” is not historically recognized as a singular, unified empire, but rather refers to a group of semi-nomadic pastoral people, primarily the Bahima, who held significant influence in regions of present-day Uganda and Rwanda.

Their power waned over time due to a combination of factors including internal power struggles, the rise of neighbouring kingdoms, population shifts, and changing political landscapes, not a single dramatic collapse event.

Key reasons for the decline of Bahima power:

Internal divisions:

The Bahima were not a single, unified entity, but rather consisted of various clans with competing interests, leading to internal power struggles that weakened their overall authority.

Rise of neighboring kingdoms:

Kingdoms like Bunyoro and Ankole, which were established by other ethnic groups, gradually gained power and expanded their territories, reducing Bahima influence.

Population shifts:

As populations grew and agricultural practices changed, the traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Bahima became less viable, leading to conflicts with settled communities.

Colonial impact:

European colonization in the region further disrupted traditional power structures, contributing to the decline of Bahima influence.

Important points to remember:

No single “Bahima Empire”:

While the term “Bahima Empire” is sometimes used, it’s important to understand that it refers to a dispersed network of communities with significant cattle-herding practices, not a centralized political entity with defined borders.

Intermixing with other groups:

Over time, the Bahima intermarried with other ethnic groups, like the Banyankole and Bairu, further blurring the lines of distinct political power.

What is significant in the DRC quagmire is the major impacts of colonialism. New borders were established that did not incorporate traditional borders.

As a result Banyamulenge found themselves in the DRC while originally they were part of Rwanda.

They didn’t move physically but new borders redefined their allegiance to Kinshasa rather than Kigali.

Postcolonial DRC struggled to define and accept the Banyamulenge as their own citizens. Banyamulenge is a community that lives mainly in South Kivu province.

The Banyamulenge are not culturally and socially distinct from the Tutsi of South Kivu, with most speaking Kinyamulenge, a mix of Kinyarwanda (official language of Rwanda), Kirundi (spoken primarily in Burundi).

Banyamulenge played a pivotal role in Mobutu’s war against and victory over the Simba Rebellion (supporters of Patrice Lumumba), which was not supported by the majority of other tribes in South Kivu.

They did this in order to be naturalised in what was then Zaire.

Their role during the First Congo War and subsequent regional conflicts (Rally for Congolese Democracy–Goma, Movement for the Liberation of the Congo, National Congress for the Defence of the People, and more importantly for the fact that two of the most influential presidents of their country declared them as enemy of the State both in 1996 (Mobutu Sese Seko) and 1998 (Laurent-Désiré Kabila).

The RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) claimed that Banyamulenge were brought in the 18th Century to DRC from Rwanda, Burundi and Karagwe District in Tanzania.

However, it has been recorded that the Belgian King was the one who brought them to the DRC to help doing axillary works for the colonial masters. There are two versions of the reasons why Banyarwanda who were later recognised as Banyamulenge moved to the DRC.

Rwandese historians attributed Banyarwanda migration to tax evasion and succession violence.

However, the Congolese migrants were not recorded to protest against the status quo from where they were coming. The real reasons were labour migration.

From the 1930s, Congolese Banyarwanda immigrants continued coming in search of work, with a major influx of Tutsi refugees in 1959–1960 following the “Social Revolution” led by Hutu Grégoire Kayibanda.

While the early migrants lived primarily as pastoralists in the high plains, colonial labour migrants moved to urban areas.

Refugees were placed in refugee camps. In 1924, the pastoralists received permission from colonial authorities to occupy a high plateau further south.

Banyamulenge political status was by no means accidental. From Belgian rule they were trusted with clerical works, and began feeling part of the DRC.

When Mobutu Seseko was grappling with the Patrice Lumumba loyalists’ rebellion called Simba Rebellion, he tapped into them to syrenght his hand against his political enemies.

Banyamulenge situation in the DRC has always been tenuous because they do not have the population numbers to assert themselves.

They had to append themselves to whichever side that they deem powerful and most likely to prevail in any given conflict.

It narrates why originally Banyamulenge sided with the Simba Rebellion but changed sides after Mobutu began arming them with smaller weapons.

Mobutu cashed in on a localized conflict between Banyamulenge and Bembe people who perceived Banyamulenge as aliens who should go back to where they came from.

Banyamulenge used the Mobutu weapons to subdue the Bembe people while crushing the Simba Rebellion. For their troubles, Mobutu rewarded some of the Banyamulenge with senior positions in Bukavu City with their children taken to missionary schools.

No sooner the Simba Rebellion was crushed, Banyamulenge became expansionists, enlarging their territory to encroach south towards Moba port and Kalemi, while others moved onto the Ruzizi plain, where a few became chiefs among the Barundi through bribing them with gifts of cattle.

Still others went to work in Bukavu, the provincial capital, or Uvira, a town experiencing a gold rush economic boom.

These urban dwellers could make a fair living selling meat and milk from their herds to the gold diggers, though the group lacked the political connections to Kinshasa and the large educated class which was possessed by the North Kivu Banyarwanda.

As Banyamulenge grew economically stronger they began buying land edging out other poor ethnics that were originally there before them. This aggravated tensions and legislative efforts to undermine Banyamulenge backfired even in the ballot box.

When genocide was being committed in Rwanda in 1994, Banyamulenge and Congolese Tutsi felt threatened and joined the RPF.

Back home in the DRC, legislative efforts were taken to denaturalize them on grounds of shaky affinity and allegiance to Rwanda. That exacerbated the tensions.

With the ailing Mobutu spending more time sickbed in European capitals, Rwanda and Uganda sensed an opportunity to oust Mobutu through Congolese Laurent Desirè Kabila.

There was an understanding between Kabila on one hand and Uganda and Rwanda on the other that after the removal of Mobutu, Banyamulenge would be fully assimilated in the DRC.

However, Kabila reneged on the assimilation promise largely because he felt Kigali was making all the major decisions. He was mere the Rwandese paw to run the country.

After realising he wasn’t in charge, Kabila ordered a Banyamulenge purge, and monthslong later he was assassinated. It is unclear who really ordered his murder.

In DRC, the Banyamulenge have been part of the elite community in politics and the military while benefiting from Kabila himself, even though hated by some members of his inner circle.

This has led to increased tensions with local communities all over the country who argue they receive government preferential treatment they do not deserve.

This view is largely held by other tribes in South Kivu who have always maintained that they are more Rwandan than they are Congolese.

Popular politicians in the DRC have been demonizing Banyamulenge, blaming them for all the insecurities and poverty in the DRC. No wonder they are not popular.

Banyamulenge are in constant fear of facing genocide in the DRC and may explain despite initial resistance to the M-23 and the RPF axis but now viewing the duo as inescapable means to ascertain their citizenship rights.

Nyerere’s views indicate DRC must accept Banyamulenge as their citizens and that will reduce apprehensions of split loyalty and allegiance.

It is the persecution of the Banyamulenge that has contributed to compromised loyalty and allegiance. Congolese Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge are just being pragmatic, that is all and nothing personal.

Deeper governance issues in the DRC requires going back to the drawing board and partially embracing what originally the Belgians had proposed: devolved regional governments.

The devolution idea was scuttled by nobody but the then freedom fighter Patrice Lumumba who was apprehensive the Belgians were plotting to dismember the DRC for their own selfish reasons.

Modernity demands regions to have more say over resources and how they are being distributed. One person in Kinshasa cannot continue to call the shots under the guises of parliamentary autonomy.

Read more about How equipped are SADC Forces in DRC?

The author is a Development Administration specialist in Tanzania with over 30 years of practical experience, and has been penning down a number of articles in local printing and digital newspapers for some time now.

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