05/03/2005

These Kinyarwanda-speaking Congolese (also known as the Banyamulenge) fled into Rwanda about seven months ago because of persecution in Congo. They claimed that they fled because Mai-Mai forces (local militia that “protect” the villages from invaders in North Kivu) had threatened and intimidated them. Other groups of “Rwandan-speaking” people in the eastern DRC have moved back and forth across the border often in the past years. They have faced recurrent discrimination by Congolese who see them as sympathetic with Rwandan interests in the region and with Rwandan troops, who frequently crossed over the border in the past. Once in Rwanda though, the Congolese refugees do not have access to any land and must depend on the international community to support them until it is safe enough for them to return to the DRC.