Mulenge
Village
Country	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Province	South Kivu
Territory	Uvira
Chiefdom	Bafuliiru
Grouping	Kigoma
Time zone	UTC+2 (CAT)

Mulenge is a village encircled by hills in the Kigoma groupement (grouping), within Bafuliiru Chiefdom, located in the Uvira Territory, South Kivu, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.^[1][2][3][4] Perched on the Itombwe massif's high plateaus, it overlooks Uvira. Historically, the area has been inhabited by remnants of Bantu communities like the Fuliiru people and Nyindu people.^[1][5][6][7] The region's economy is centered around agriculture, family livestock breeding, and fishing.^[8]

The name "Mulenge" originates from the Fuliiru language, spoken by the Fuliiru people, who migrated to Uvira Territory from Lwindi Chiefdom—a region near the Ulindi River in the rugged hinterlands of Mwenga Territory—around the seventeenth century.^[1][9][10] "Mulenge" is believed to derive from a Fuliiru word for the shinbone.^[9]

Mulenge has historically been inhabited by the Fuliiru people, who migrated from Lwindi (now Luindi Chiefdom) towards the present-day Uvira, settling in the mountainous terrain.^[11] The area was traditionally under the authority of the Bahamba clan of the Fuliiru, whose capital was Lemera. According to historian Bishikwabo Chubaka, European colonial records indicate that the Bahamba clan controlled territory along the northwestern Ruzizi Plain, from Uvira to Luvungi.^[10] Lemera itself was named after Mulemera, the father of Kahamba, the dynasty's founder.^[10][12][13]

By the 1920s, Mulenge began attracting Tutsi pastoralists searching for grazing land in the Itombwe Highlands. Scholars such as Olga Boone [fr], David Newbury, and Catherine Newbury, describe these migrants as "foreign groups".^[7][14][15] Fuliiru's mwami, Nyamugira Mukogabwe II, granted the Tutsi grazing land in exchange for livestock tributes. These pastoralists settled between Mulenge and the upper Sange River, ceasing their previous tributes to the Rwandan monarchy.^[16] Mulenge became the immigrants' "quasi-capital, while the migrants began to be referred to as Banya-Mulenge".^[16][17]

Tensions arose by 1924 when Mwami Mukogabwe's increasing demands resulted in the depletion of Tutsi cattle herds, prompting many Banyamulenge to migrate southward to Itombwe in search of isolation and better grazing land.^[16] Paradoxically, this movement deepened their reliance on Fuliiru farmers for food, as cattle remained an essential part of Fuliiru bridewealth. The Fuliiru recall experiencing systemic marginalization in 1927, which fueled long-standing resentment toward the newcomers.^[16] After Mukogabwe's death in 1930, tensions persisted as the Rwandophone community sought colonial intervention to facilitate their reintegration into Mulenge. Belgian authorities, sympathetic to their return, assisted in their resettlement.^[1]

On 25 February 1938, Mulenge was formally incorporated into the administrative framework of Uvira Territory under Ordinance-Law No. 21/91. It was designated as an administrative post alongside Makobola and Luvungi within Bafuliiru Chiefdom.^[18] While Banyamulenge were a culturally and linguistically distinct community, their eponym "never appears in colonial records",^[19] nor were they granted a chiefdom (collectivité), which left them politically disadvantaged in a system where ethnic administrative divisions shaped governance.^[16][20]

During the 1963–65 Simba Rebellion, which erupted across eastern Congo due to widespread discontent over post-independence governance, Banyamulenge suffered significant losses of their cattle.^[16] The rebellion, particularly in South Kivu, exposed ethnic divisions, as insurgents—drawn largely from the Bafuliiru, Bavira, and Babembe communities—targeted wealthy individuals, including those of Rwandan and Burundian descent.^[16] Amid increasing competition for land, the Bafuliiru, asserting their status as indigenous inhabitants, strongly opposed the continued presence of Rwandophone immigrants. The widespread loss of livestock forced some Banyamulenge to abandon cattle herding in favor of agricultural labor.^[16] By the early 1970s, economic relations between the Banyamulenge and the Fuliiru deteriorated. The Fuliiru, realizing they could obtain more cattle through market transactions rather than traditional exchanges, became less willing to supply food to the Banyamulenge.^[16] This shift further strained relations, as both communities felt economically disadvantaged by the other. Resentment over the events of 1964, particularly the loss of Banyamulenge herds, led them to side with President Mobutu Sese Seko's national army when it suppressed the rebellion in 1966.^[16] Their military support, alongside mercenaries and other anti-rebel groups, played a significant role in the government's victory. This historical alliance with Mobutu's forces became a lasting point of contention in South Kivu, particularly during the 1996 Banyamulenge uprising, when past grievances resurfaced in the region's political landscape.^[16] In October 1998, at the onset of the Second Congo War, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL), with support from Banyamulenge, carried out numerous atrocities against civilians in Uvira. Many lost their lives to AFDL's violence, including the former Mulenge post chief, Ladislas Matalambu, who was killed on 1 October 1998, at 7:30 p.m., and Alexis Deyidedi, the former administrative secretary of the Bafuliiru Chiefdom, who was assassinated on 2 October 1998, at 11 p.m. Homes and businesses were looted, set ablaze, and destroyed.^[21][22]

On 10 June 2004, up to 3,500 Congolese, mostly Bafuliiru and Babembe, fled to Burundi, fleeing ethnic persecution.^[23] On 16 January 2019, clashes erupted between Burundian rebel factions, including FOREBU, RED-Tabara, and the FNL (National Forces of Liberation), and Burundian militias.^[24] The conflict, which originated in Kabere, 20 kilometers west of Sange, spilled over into adjacent localities, including Mubere and Mulenge, resulting in at least 17 fatalities.^[24] By 22 January 2019, the coalition comprising RED-Tabara, FNL, and Mai-Mai Kihebe, commanded by Kihebe Ngabunga, was expelled from Kifuni village, where they had sought refuge on 20 January following their defeat in Mulenge at the hands of Burundian Imbonerakure militia, bolstered by Congolese Mai-Mai contingents.^[25] This coalition regained control of territories spanning Kabere, Mubere, and Mulenge in the middle plateaus of the Kigoma groupement.^[25] The skirmishes culminated in the deaths of five people, including four rebels and one Mai-Mai combatant, alongside injuries sustained by militia members. These hostilities triggered further displacement, with uprooted populations seeking shelter in school facilities and among host families, where they were deprived of fundamental necessities.^[25]

On 31 January 2019, civil society representatives and elders from the Bavira, Banyamulenge, Bafuliiru, Banyindu, and Babembe communities appealed to the United Nations Security Council to address the proliferation of Burundian and Rwandan armed groups in the DRC.^[26] By early February, the Burundian military commenced a phased withdrawal, dismantling RED-Tabara rebel strongholds.^[27] However, the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC), deployed to secure the region, established unauthorized checkpoints in former rebel-occupied zones, where reports of harassment and extortion on market days emerged.^[27] On 21 February 2019, Kihebe Ngabunga surrendered to FARDC forces, accompanied by a cohort of approximately ten combatants, and relinquished two military-grade firearms.^[28] On 11 August 2019, the FARDC's 123rd Special Commando Battalion replaced the 3,304th Regiment in Lubarika, currently stationed in Nyamutiri (mid-plateaus) and Mulenge.^[29]

In Mulenge, the wet season is hot, humid, and overcast and the dry season is warm and partly cloudy. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 62 °F to 86 °F and is rarely below 59 °F or above 90 °F.