# Mutambala

Mutambala (or M'tambala) is a sector that constitutes one of the four sectors in the Fizi Territory of the South Kivu Province in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Mutambala is situated near Lake Tanganyika, in the west by the Lulenge sector, in the north by the Tangani'a sector, and in the south by the Ngandja sector. It has a surface area of 777 km 2. The sector consists of five groupings (groupements), including the Basimukindja groupings (in the center), the Batombwe groupings (in the south), and the Babwari groupings (in the east).
Agriculture is a significant economic activity in the region; it is revenue-generating for farmers. It is geared towards self-sufficiency but also generates profit through SOCODEFI, an agricultural organization that sells cassava to Baraka. Local food crops include cassava, palm oil, rice, maize, beans, banana, tomato, yam, peanut, sweet potato and sugarcane. In addition to agriculture, fishing constitutes another important source of income in the sector. It is practiced in Lake Tanganyika in traditional fishing (small canoes, hooks, small nets) and artisanal fishing (motorized canoes, fishing nets). Although fishing is a significant activity in the sector, there is no industrial fishing; men and women are involved in commercializing or selling fish in the market.

## History

The Mutambala was inhabited by the Mbuti people, who practiced hunting and food-gathering as an essentially nomadic way of life. Incidentally, the Bembe people were established in the region, which on several occasions was incorporated by the colonial administration in the territories of Fizi or Mwenga. There were also a small number of Lega, Babwari, Babuyu and Nyindu and small lineages established within the area. The Belgian colonial administration later established Mutambala as a sector alongside Itombwe, Lulenge, Ngandja, and Tangani’a.
In the mid-twentieth century, the region housed many cattle-herding Banyarwanda, who have been leading their herds towards Itombwe. The region experienced another influx of immigrants from Burundi in 1972 during the Great Calamity, a series of mass killings against the Hutu populace by the Tutsi-dominated army and government after the advent of Michel Micombero. Parenthetically, the region hosted a second wave of immigrants following the displacement of Burundians in 1976–77. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Zairean government organized the influx of immigrants from the Ruzizi Plain to the Fizi territory in Mutambala sector.

## Security problems (1996 to present)

Since the First Congo War, Mutambala has been in the throes of conflict. Like the Uvira and Mwenga territories, the Mutambala sector has a reputation as a stronghold of armed groups. The Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo (AFDL) took off from Fizi in October 1996 to overthrow President Mobutu’s regime on May 17, 1997. The insurgency conducted mass killings of Hutu refugees as well as Zairian civilians in Atanga, Baraka, Alùndja, Banyalinga, Alùlo, and Alèlè villages in the Mutambala sector. The forests and plateaus of Mutambala were for a long time the scrub of the head of the AFDL, Laurent Désiré Kabila.
In recent years, there has been an abundance of armed groups: FRF (Forces Republicaines Federalistes), RCD-Goma (Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie-Goma), Ngumino, Twigwaneho and Red-Tabara. Reputed mono-ethnic and populated by the Banyamulenges, these armed groups have provoked a rebuttal in the leadership of other ethnic communities. Thus, each community, for its safety, has preferred to have its own armed group: Mai-Mai Malaika (Bangubangu), Mai-Mai Yakutumba (Bembe); Mai-Mai Biloze Bishambuke (Fuliiru and Nyindu); Mai-Mai Kibukila Mbilizi (Lega), Mai-Mai Yalinda (Bembe); the armed group Ebuhali (Bembe).
In April 2010, two civilians were reportedly robbed and seriously wounded by gunfire by armed groups in Mukera Kasonge, a town 30 kilometers north of Fizi-center, according to the sector chief of Mutambala.
On March 23, 2015, Mai-Mai Yakutumba attacked a FARDC (Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) military position in Lubishako near the Nganda forest in the Fizi territory in South Kivu. Three people were reported dead, and the attackers raped the soldiers’ wives.
On August 12, 2020, 600 cows were allegedly stolen following the clashes between Twigwaneho and Maï-Maï Ebuela in the Mulima region, 90 km west of Baraka, in the middle plateaus of the Mutambala sector, South Kivu.
On March 8, 2022, Emerite Tabisha, the deputy mayor of Baraka City, called on the local community of Baraka to live in cohesion with the other community of Bibogobogo in the middle plateaux of the Mutambala sector. The ceremony was held at the Lumumba arena to bring together all social strata and promote peaceful coexistence in the middle plateaux of Bibogobogo. During the launch of this consultation framework, the Babwari, the Banyamulenge from the middle plateaux and the Babembe met in Baraka, five months after the Bibogobogo crisis.

## Climate

The average temperature ranges from 21 °C to 24 °C to 54 °C, with maximum daily temperatures increasing, eventually during the dry season: 30 °C and 32 °C in September. Annual precipitation varies between 900 and 1200 mm depending on the location but still presents significant irregularities. The dry season, in addition, lasts five months on the coastal plain and in the mountains; it only lasts two months.