EXPERT VIEWS ? Did statelessness fuel the conflict in Congo?

by George Fominyen | Thomson Reuters Foundation

Tuesday, 23 August 2011 10:04 GMT

About our Humanitarian Crises coverage

From major disaster, conflicts and under-reported stories, we shine a light on the world’s hotspots

Experts debate if the contentious issue over citizenship of thousands of people with ethnic links to Rwanda who live in eastern Congo fueled a war that killed more than 5 million people

This story is part of an AlertNet special report on statelessness

DAKAR (AlertNet) – Did tensions over citizenship in eastern Congo fuel the conflict and violence that killed more 5 million people and left a host of militia groups in the central African country?

Thousands of people with ethnic links to Rwanda, the so-called Banyarwanda, migrated to parts of present day Democratic Republic of Congo at separate times before and during Belgian colonisation.

These ethnic minority groups have seen their Congolese citizenship re-defined at various instances since independence in 1960, and the question of which, if any, of these minorities may be described as indigenous to the Democratic Republic of Congo remains unresolved and highly contentious.

Some of them, mainly ethnic Tutsis say they have been marginalised and refused recognition of their status as Congolese.

AlertNet interviewed three experts on the impact of statelessness in the Congolese wars of 1996-2003 -: Bronwen Manby, the author of Struggles for Citizenship in Africa, a book that reviews the challenges of statelessness in Africa; Jason Stearns the author of the book “Dancing in the Glory of Monsters” on the war in Congo; and Laura Seay an assistant professor at Morehouse College in the U.S. with expertise on Congo.

Did concerns over the citizenship of the Banyarwanda fuel the Congo wars 1996-2003?

Bronwen Manby: I don’t think it was the sole cause of the war: you can’t reduce everything to a one dimensional argument. There were other issues such as access to land, corruption and the general decay of all state institutions, as well as the role of neighbouring states; but you have a large number of people who are finding that the denial of their nationality is preventing them from accessing all sorts of rights, most of all voting and running for public office, but also other benefits such as access to land or schooling. The people were provoked to arm against the central government because their right to be there was being denied. You had from the central government people saying that Rwandans must be expelled. In that context the people who were in fear of being expelled felt ‘what choice do we have than to fight’.

Jason Stearns: I wouldn’t say it was the cause of the war but their (Congolese-Tutsi) participation was very important because they formed the vanguard of the troops that initially invaded Zaire (Congo) in 1996. Many Congolese-Tutsi participated out of the deep feeling of exclusion and discrimination that they felt. However, if there had not been genocide in Rwanda in 1994, if there had not been refugee camps in eastern Congo (Zaire) in 1994-1996 there never would have been the war we have seen. There would have been rebellions, uprisings but there would never have been the war.

Laura Seay: The AFDL (Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire) rebel group that launched war to oust Mobutu Seseseko was heavily backed by Rwanda. The reason that so many Congolese Tutsis, especially the Banyamulenge joined the AFDL is because they thought it would protect them. They thought the Tutsis in control in Rwanda after the genocide would protect them in Congo.

Are the Banyarwanda (particularly ethnic Tutsis) of Congo stateless?

Jason Stearns: Congolese law would recognise the fact that they are eligible for citizenship. But the problem with that is Congolese law with regard to citizenship keeps changing over the years. The first change was to grant anybody who had arrived in Congo before 1960 blanket citizenship. In 1981 the law was reversed to say your ancestors had to be in Congo before 1885 which was the conference of Berlin. That basically rendered not only Tutsis but Hutu who had come from Rwanda stateless. After the war a new citizenship law was passed in 2004 which makes anyone with ancestry that arrived Congo before 1960 – Congolese. Many Tutsi themselves feel though that their citizenship is not secure and that puts them in what they feel is a very tenuous, very volatile and very dangerous position that has affected them a huge amount.

Bronwen Manby: This has been an issue dating back to independence; and has its roots in the pre-independence Belgian policy of forced transplantation of migrant workers from Rwanda and Burundi to Eastern Congo – though many Banyarwanda have always been on what is now Congolese territory. The law on paper has improved. The date at which an ‘ethnic group or nationality’ had to be first present on Congolese soil if its members are to be citizens from birth was brought back from 1885 to 1960, and it is easier to naturalise; but you still have this strong sense, which is absolutely exploited by politicians, that somehow people who speak Kinyarwanda are not really Congolese and cannot really be Congolese and that is at the heart of the conflict in the eastern Congo. What is the right to belong of people who speak a language that is seen as a “foreign language?”

Laura Seay: It is hard to say they are stateless but we can certainly say they are an ethnic minority that is highly discriminated against and reviled by their neighbours. And a lot of times in similar situations across the world we see that lead to a push to independence and some kind of autonomy.

Did they obtain recognition as citizens after the wars?

Bronwen Manby: The role of the Rwandan state in Congo has certainly not helped their plight. Because Rwanda has intervened militarily in Congo on many occasions this has led to a situation where anybody who speaks Kinyarwanda -- even though they may be descended from people who have lived in Congo for generations -- are still seen as actually Rwandan and not loyal to Congo.

Jason Stearns: Now with hindsight the question is whether this militaristic option of launching a war in order to combat exclusion was successful or not. The fact that they (Congolese-Tutsi) have been involved not only in military rebellions but also abuses and massacres has not made them more accepted to the Congolese. To the contrary this has made many Congolese feel that it proves they do not deserve to be Congolese.

Laura Seay: It kind of backfired on them as they were not seen as Congolese. Because of the Rwandan invasions everybody thinks they are in the pockets of Rwanda but that is not true – there are tensions between Congolese Tutsis and Rwanda these days.

How important is the nationality issue to the resolution of the Congo crises?

Bronwen Manby: There are many dynamics at play, but you are not going to be able to resolve the conflict in Congo unless you come to a solution which means that people who are born in Congo and brought up in Congo, and their parents were born in Congo and have always lived in Congo are Congolese. This is linked to access to land and property issues, and the restoration of state institutions including the justice system – but without a resolution to the nationality issue of ‘who belongs’ you are never going to get peace to return..

Jason Stearns: I think that addressing tensions between ethnic communities which include not only citizenship issues, dispute over land and history has to be the building block for peace in Eastern Congo. It is not just citizenship, it is a broader issue.

Laura Seay: The international community never thought it important to solve these local conflict issues related to ethnicity, citizenship and access to land. However, the only way out of the quagmire that is Congo is to deal with these issues. You are not going to see peace there until you resolve the question of the status of Kinyarwanda speakers, of their rights to land and you have time to build public acceptance of their role in Congolese society.

Following is a list with all links related to the report.

MULTIMEDIA

VIDEO: Who is stateless? – Emma Batha and Alex Whiting, AlertNet

VIDEO: What is statelessness? – Aubrey Wade/Open Society Foundations

VIDEO: Stateless Nubians - Katy Migiro, AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless Rohingyas - AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless children in Sabah –Thin Lei Win, AlertNet

VIDEO: Stateless Dominicans – Jon Anderson, Open Society Foundations

GRAPHIC: Stateless people worldwide - Reuters

STORIES

Invisible millions pay price of statelessness - Emma Batha, AlertNet

Bedouns suffer uncertain fate in Kuwait - Emma Batha, AlertNet