Ethnic politics in DR Congo are more than 60 years old. In the east of the country, they are closely linked to the Mai-Mai phenomenon and the activism of tribal-based armed groups. Following the assassination of Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba in the early post-independence period, the country experienced widespread fragmentation of armed movements and political unrest.

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In 1964, Louis Bidarira, a warlord from Luvungi in the Ruzizi Plain, challenged the authority of the Bafuliru and Barundi chiefdoms. Together with his fighters, known as the Simba Mulele, he captured the town of Uvira for nearly a year. His armed resistance and political objectives contributed to the emergence of the Mai-Mai phenomenon. The movement claimed affiliation with the rebellion led by Pierre Mulele, a former minister in Lumumba’s government.

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However, Bidarira’s followers transformed Mulele’s nationalist rebellion into a tribal struggle and ethnic identity politics. In alliance with other fighters, notably Musa Marandura and Alexis Mushubazi, they redirected their campaign against the Banyamulenge. During the conflict, much of the Banyamulenge community’s property and housing was destroyed. Their most popular slogan and song while launching violent attacks was "Mai Mulele, Mai Mulele.”

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Mobutu’s forces eventually recaptured Uvira. In response to the insecurity, Mushishi Karori, a Banyamulenge leader, promoted community self-defense. Two Banyamulenge men, Stephen Muhindanyi and Norbert Aaron Gakingiye, obtained six weapons from Col Kaniki, the commander of the Congolese national army, and recruited Banyamulenge volunteers to defend their community. This marked the beginning of the Twirwaneho resistance against the Simba rebellion.

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The group gradually expanded and acquired additional weapons from Mobutu’s government. Banyamulenge fighters played an important role in restoring security and pacifying the region. Nevertheless, tensions between the Banyamulenge and neighbouring communities persisted and were later exploited by the central government’s ethnocentric policies.

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Several political and community figures have been associated with hate speech portraying the Banyamulenge or the Tutsi as "insects”, "serpents” or a people "without land, without customary entities, and without ethnic identity.”

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Similar narratives also emerged elsewhere in the region, including neighbouring Burundi, and eventually spread beyond South Kivu into North Kivu.

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The identity crisis intensified following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In April 1995, the Congolese Parliament adopted a resolution prohibiting Banyamulenge and Banyarwanda from acquiring Zairian citizenship. The resolution also recommended the imprisonment of several community leaders solely because of their ethnic identity and called for the forcible deportation of Banyamulenge and Banyarwanda, and confiscation of their property. The principal architect of the resolution was Anzuluni Bembe Isilonyonyi, a politician from South Kivu.

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Following its adoption, local authorities in Uvira began seizing Banyamulenge property. Looting, arbitrary arrests, and intimidation quickly followed. On October 19, 1995, Banyamulenge leaders signed a memorandum protesting these actions. In response, local authorities ordered their arrest. The mayor declared that the Banyamulenge were not recognized as an ethnic group in Zaire and that all Banyamulenge were foreigners.

Amid this climate of tension and persecution, one tragic event became one of the catalysts for the outbreak of the 1996 war: two young Banyamulenge brothers, Paul Muhindanyi Semahungiro and Bizimana Semahungiro, were captured and beheaded. Their severed heads were displayed publicly before large crowds, and their deaths were celebrated.

With support from elements of the Zairian army, livestock raids increased and violence spread throughout the region. Troops from the Military Action and Intelligence Service (SARM) carried out operations targeting members of the community. These dynamics were intensified by the influence and ideology of the Kinshasa-backed FDLR militia - formed by the leftovers of the génocidaires who slaughtered more than one million Tutsi people in Rwanda in 1994.

It was partly in response to these developments that the AFDL rebellion emerged.

Today’s ethnic identity politics are ideologically rooted in the movements associated with Bidarira, Marandura, and Mushubazi. This legacy contributed to the development of ethnocentric political narratives at both local and national levels and promoted exclusionary approaches to ethnic identity and governance. This phenomenon continues to persist today.

Rwandan génocidaires – FDLR – exacerbated these dynamics, contributing to the spread and radicalization of ideologies that some observers characterize as genocidal.

The writer is a researcher and analyst on the Great Lakes Region.