In 1937,
Fizi Territory was subdivided into five
sectors: Itombwe, Lulenge,
Mutambala, Ngandja, and
Tanganyika. Itombwe Sector was later incorporated into
Mwenga Territory on 31 December 1947. Lulenge was a historic chieftaincy inhabited by the
Babuyu and
Babembe communities. They resided in an environment characterized by cultural heterogeneity. To the north and east, there were
patrilineal agro-pastoralist-oriented communities, while the west was inhabited by the related patrilineal
Lega communities, known for their agriculture, hunting, and food-gathering practices. To the south were
matrilineal hunters and agriculturalists, descendants of the northern
Luba cluster. The Buyu were the first to settle in the region, while the Bembe established themselves later, migrating from the mountains to occupy the remaining land due to Babuyu's sparse population. Belgian colonial economic policies facilitated the migration of significant numbers of
Banyarwanda cattle-herders into ostensibly "vacant" grassy regions from Rwanda via
Uvira Territory. However, the Bembe largely refrained from exogamy and maintained a truculent and adversarial disposition toward Banyarwanda. Despite successive waves of
Arab-Swahili incursions, colonial domination, and the
Mulelist rebellion, Fizi Territory witnessed, between 1937 and 1959, the arrival of numerous Rwandan
refugees escaping unrest in their homeland. The question of Rwandan refugee
transhumance (seasonal cattle migration) emerged on 21 September 1953, during a meeting at the Kakwela and Nakabunga mountains between Van Caester, Acting Administrator of Fizi Territory, and Jean Schwall, Assistant Administrator of Mwenga Territory. This period worsened a "climate of mistrust" between the Babembe and the Babuyu, the latter being accused of "being closely linked, if not outright allied, to the Rwandans". In September 2020, approximately ten people were killed following three days of fighting between militia factions in the high plateau of the Fizi,
Mwenga, and Uvira territories. The coalition of militiamen, including groups such as Android,
Al-Shabaab, Twirwaneho, and Ngumino, was led by Rukundo Makanika at the stronghold of the
Mai-Mai Mutetezi militia. According to civil society sources in
Minembwe, located in Lulenge, 18 militiamen from the Makanika coalition were killed and 41 wounded, with the Mai-Mai Mutetezi also seizing livestock. At least 800 cattle were driven by the Mai-Mai Mutetezi towards Lulenge and the
Itombwe forest. These villages belonged to Babembe and Bafuliiru. Consequently, the Mai-Mai of the Bembe, Fuliiru, and Nyindu communities engaged in clashes with the Banyamulenge until the latter were expelled from all the villages. In August 2023, the Rwandan-backed
M23 insurgency was reported to be liaising with Twirwaneho in the highlands of Minembwe, as detailed in a report by United Nations Secretary-General
António Guterres on the security situation in the eastern DRC. According to the report, these interactions heightened the risk that hostilities resuming in
North Kivu could open a second front in South Kivu, potentially mobilizing previously inactive local armed groups in response to perceived foreign aggression. On 3 September, Twirwaneho forces assassinated a soldier at the ''Union des Groupes d'Etudes et d'Actions pour le Développement de Fizi-Itombwe'' (UGEAFI), with his body discovered 48 hours later in the Lwiko River in Minembwe. The same Twirwaneho elements, under army
deserter Colonel Charles Sematama, carried out another assassination at a joint guard post with the
Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) in Kakenge. They were handed over to
MONUSCO for
child protection, while the other 10 were transferred to the 10th military region in
Bukavu. Seven militiamen were killed, four were wounded, and the violence led to significant population displacement. == References ==