# Lulenge

Lulenge constitutes one of the four sectors within the Fizi Territory of South Kivu Province, situated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Geographically positioned adjacent to the Kiloba and Makena villages at an elevation of 943 meters, the sector's administrative center is Kilembwe. Lulenge is delineated to the north by the Itombwe sector and Mwenga Territory, to the east by Lake Tanganyika and the Mutambala sector, to the south by the N'gangya sector, and to the west by Shabunda Territory.
Mining and agriculture are Lulenge's most significant revenue-generating and economic sectors. Agricultural cooperatives, particularly the Coopérative Business Centre Olive (CBCO), function significantly within the sector, producing key agricultural outputs such as cassava, peanuts, beans, mushrooms, and rice. Fishing, mainly from Lake Tanganyika, also serves as a source of revenue. Parenthetically, small enterprises are well-developed in the area.
Since the First Congo War, Lulenge has been embroiled in persistent conflicts. The emergence of the Ngumino and Twigwaneho militias in November 2021 has exacerbated ethnic tension between Babembe and Banyamulenge populations. Verbal and physical attacks against the Babembe, Bafuliiru, Banyindu, and Babuyu have proliferated in Lulenge.

## Administrative divisions

The Lulenge sector is administratively divided into groupements (groupings), each governed by a customary chief (chef de groupement). The groupements are established to facilitate local governance, service delivery, and community organization. These groupements are further subdivided into localités (villages), each of which is also governed by a customary chief.

### Groupements and localités

The Lulenge sector is made up of five groupements:
Groupements :
| 1. | Basimimbi |
| 2. | Basimunyaka-Sud |
| 3. | Basikasingo |
| 4. | Basombo |
| 5. | Obekulu |

## History

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. During the 20th century, under the Belgian Congo administration, Babembe and Babuyu were administratively divided into five sectors: Itombwe, Lulenge, Mutambala, Ngandja, and Tangani'a. 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.

### Ongoing security problems

In June 2020, two civilians were wounded by gunfire during an attack by alleged Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda; FDLR) rebels in the village of Kasolelo in Lulenge. Local sources ascribe the attack to FDLR, operating from the Hewa Bora forest. The assailants pillaged the possessions of the populace. 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, Twiganeho, 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.
In October 2020, the Twigwaneho, a rebel faction led by a Munyamulenge army defector, Colonel Rukundo Makanika, launched attacks on several villages in the Itombwe sector in the Mwenga Territory as well as in Lulenge. The villages of Tabunde, Kukwe, Kashasha, Ibumba, Abangya, and Ibulu were set ablaze, resulting in at least 20 fatalities. 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 September 2022, an estimated 500 displaced households were relocated to Lulenge. These families fled the skirmishes between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and the Rwandan-backed rebel group, the National Resistance Council for Democracy (Conseil National de la Résistance pour la Démocratie; CNRD), in Hewa Bora.
In August 2023, the Rwandan-backed M23 insurgency was reported to be liaising with Twigwaneho 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 the night of 1–2 October, the Twigwaheno attacked the headquarters of the 121st Parachute Battalion. On 3 September, Twigwaheno forces assassinated a soldier at the UGEAFI, with his body discovered 48 hours later in the Lwiko River in Minembwe. The same Twigwaheno elements, under army deserter Colonel Charles Sematama, carried out another assassination at a joint guard post with the Police Nationale Congolaise (PNC) in Kakenge. Two first-class soldiers were killed, their weapons were taken, and their bodies were clandestinely disposed of to erase any traces. This pattern of attacks became recurrent. On 12 September, twelve members of Twigwaneho surrendered to FARDC's 12th Rapid Reaction Brigade in Minembwe, including two minors who were Colonel Sematama's bodyguards. They were handed over to MONUSCO for child protection, while the other 10 were transferred to the 10th military region in Bukavu. In December 2023, clashes erupted between FARDC's 12th Rapid Reaction Brigade and a coalition of Mai-Mai Yakutumba, Mai-Mai-Biloze Bishambuke, and RED-Tabara militias in several villages around Minembwe, particularly in Kivumu, Rutigita, Masha, Monyi, and Kabingo. Seven militiamen were killed, four were wounded, and the violence led to significant population displacement.