By Norm Dixon
The refugee crisis in eastern Zaire follows months of brutal oppression — largely unreported in the mainstream media — against the Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge ethnic groups by the Zaire dictatorship, in league with those responsible for the 1994 genocide in neighbouring Rwanda.
The Banyamulenge responded by taking up arms — with spectacular success. The Zaire armed forces have lost control of much of South Kivu province, the site of many refugee camps which the Zaire dictatorship has allowed the Rwandan Hutu-chauvinist militias to run as virtual military bases for a future invasion of Rwanda. Fearing retribution from rebel forces, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutu refugee camp residents have fled.
The latest crisis is the direct result of the West and the United Nations' refusal to oppose the slavishly pro-Western Mobutu Seso Seko dictatorship's ethnic cleansing in North and South Kivu provinces, and Kinshasa's aiding and protecting the exiled regime that murdered more than 500,000 Rwandans.
Beginning in January, and increasing markedly in late March and early April, thousands of Banyarwanda from North Kivu in north-west Zaire sought refuge in Rwanda following attacks by the Zairean army and members of the notorious interahamwe, the Hutu-chauvinist militias.
Prior to the Belgian colonisation of central Africa in the late 19th century, North Kivu was part of the Kingdom of Rwanda. The imperialists drew their borders without regard to existing ethnic boundaries so the Banyarwanda were incorporated into the Belgian Congo, becoming Zairean nationals at independence in 1960. The Banyarwanda include both traditional castes in Rwandan society, Tutsi and Hutu.
The Banyarwanda first faced discrimination and persecution in 1963 when provincial authorities excluded them from civil service posts. Tensions eased in 1972 when a law granted Zairean nationality to the Banyarwanda. In 1981, the Zairean parliament repealed this act, stripping the Banyarwanda of citizenship. The Banyarwanda have faced systematic discrimination ever since. In 1991, in an attempt to win greater civil rights, the Banyarwanda formed a political party and organised a campaign of civil disobedience. After the arrest of one of their leaders in 1993, violence erupted resulting in the deaths of up to 15,000 people and over 250,000 were left homeless.
The arrival of Hutu refugees in 1994 increased antagonism between the Banyarwanda and non-Banyarwanda. Supported by the Zairean army, the interahamwe began an ethnic cleansing operation against the Banyarwanda Tutsis. The aim of the pogroms against Zairean Tutsis was part of the Rwandan contras' plan — supported by Zaire and accepted by the UN, France and the US who continued to pour aid into the refugee camps ruled by Rwanda's mass murderers — to build up a "pure" Hutu rear base from which to reinvade Rwanda.
In contrast to the Banyarwanda, who were forced out of their own country without a fight, the Banyamulenge of South Kivu fought back. The Banyamulenge are descendants of Rwandan Tutsi pastoralists who migrated to South Kivu between the 16th and 18th centuries, establishing their first settlement at Mulenge. The Banyamulenge, who number 400,000, lived peacefully with other peoples of the area until 1964 when a peasant revolt broke out. The rebels demanded that land and cattle be shared amongst all the people. The relatively wealthy Banyamulenge opposed the rebellions and sided with the then-Congolese National Army to crush the revolt. As a result, resentment against the Banyamulenge has been harboured within other ethnic groups.
The Banyamulenge suffered similar discrimination to the Banyarwanda following the 1981 revocation of Zairean citizenship. On April 28, 1995, Zaire's parliament passed a law to prevent recent Rwandan and Burundian refugees claiming Zairean citizenship, defining the Banyarwanda and Banyamulenge as "immigrants who have acquired Zairean nationality fraudulently". The law authorised the cancellation of any sale or transfer of assets by such "immigrants", forbade them from holding political or military office, and banned all Banyamulenge from administrative posts.
In 1995, the district commissioner of Uvira ordered an inventory of all property and land owned by the Banyamulenge. Evictions of Banyamulenge from their homes became common, as were deportations to Rwanda. Banyamulenge petitioners were arrested. The Zairean regime in late 1995 began urging non-Banyamulenge to arm themselves. As in North Kivu, the interahamwe and the Zairean army joined forces to drive the Banyamulenge out of Zaire.
In early September this year, the Zairean army swooped on several Banyamulenge religious centres and NGOs, arresting activists, church people and missionaries, and seizing vehicles and communications equipment. The regime orchestrated demonstrations of villagers demanding "foreigners" leave the country. The district commissioner of Uvira enrolled youths into the armed forces to fight the "Tutsis". The Zairean army declared Uvira area a "military zone". That month, 35 Banyamulenge were killed by Zairean soldiers and 50 "disappeared". The deputy governor of South Kivu on October 8 decreed that all Banyamulenge must relocate to temporary camps within a week. Reports of executions and disappearances were widespread.
The South Kivu Banyamulenge began to organise and arm themselves in the face of these attacks by the Zaire dictatorship and the Rwandan Hutu-chauvinists, forming the Alliance of Forces for Democracy and Liberation of Congo-Zaire. Armed clashes were first reported in September and within a few weeks Uvira had fallen to the rebels. Banyamulenge fighters are on the verge of taking control of Bakavu, the South Kivu capital.
Rather than admitting the Banyamulenge revolt is an indigenous rebellion against oppression, Kinshasa continues to claim Rwanda's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front, which overthrew the genocidal interahamwe-dominated government in 1994, is behind the uprising, a claim denied by the Rwandan government.
The Banyamulenge rebellion may be the beginning of the end of Mobutu. Banyamulenge leaders say that other Zairean opponents of Mobutu may join forces with them to overthrow the dictator, reported to be on his deathbed in Switzerland. Exiled Banyamulenge leader Muller Ruhimbika told the BBC on October 26, "we are not fighting for the Kivu region, but for the whole of Zaire. Mobutu must go".
Throughout his three-decade rule, imperialism has relied on Mobutu to help its struggle against the liberation movements in South Africa, Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Mobutu seized power in 1965 with US support. Successive US governments have provided hundreds of millions in aid to Zaire, despite its reputation as one of Africa's most violent, undemocratic and corrupt regimes. Twice, when internal rebellions threatened to overthrow Mobutu, French and Belgian troops, with US support, intervened to save him. Conservative estimates put Mobutu's personal fortune at over US$5 billion. While Mobutu and his cronies have grown ludicrously wealthy, Zaire has slid into despair.