The study setting

One of the challenges during the research was to find reliable quantitative data such as demographic figures and economic and social statistics. Due to war, political instability, lack of money and the generalized governance crisis, public registers, archives or offices for statistics function only rudimentarily. At the same time, public officials and scholars sometimes question data produced by international organizations because they believe that these data are produced for fundraising purposes and are not reliable. Hence the figures and statistics used in this thesis are taken mainly from three sources. The first is public institutions, which include a few official reports from the central and provincial ministries and official websites; the second source is reports from

43 humanitarian organizations about the situation of displaced populations linked to conflict dynamics in the areas covered by this study, and lastly academic work comprising published and unpublished articles, policy papers, theses and books. This choice was made based on both the need for information related to this study and the fact that these documents were accessible online.

Masisi is one of the five ‘Territoires’ that constitute the province of North Kivu. It is 4,734 km² in size and is subdivided in two chefferies, Bahunde and Bashali, and two collectivités-secteurs, Osso/Banyungu and Katoyi (Figure.3.2). The difference between the two types of collectivités is that collectivités-chefferies are ruled by customary chiefs called ‘Mwami’, whereas collectivités-secteurs are ruled by agents appointed by the government.

Figure 3.2 Administrative sub-division of Masisi

44 3.2.1 Population of Masisi and social composition

Masisi territory is inhabited by six groups categorized as ethnic groups by the Congolese state (see for example the code foncier or the Monograph of North Kivu), with an estimated total population of 673,000 in 2003 (Monograph of North Kivu 2009:29) and 711,000 in 2016 (Cellule d’Analyse d’Indicateurs de Développement-CAID).

In this study, I mainly focused on two groups: Hutu and Tutsi on the one hand and Hunde on the other (see Mararo, 1997, Willame 1997, Rukatsi 2004 and Tegera 2009). The first is categorized as immigrants from Rwanda (Banyarwanda), the second as indigenes of Masisi. According to census data North Kivu had a population of 2,307,665 in 1984, including 342,423 who were classified as non-Congolese (Rukatsi 2004:34). In Masisi, the Banyarwanda constituted 38.82%

of the population in Bashali, 54.42% in Bahunde, 38.19% in Katoyi and 28.65% in Osso. The Banyarwanda, in total, were estimated at 70% of the Masisi population in 1970s and 80% at the end of 1990s (Mathieu and Tsongo 2008:392). Due to the context of war and genocide in Rwanda in 1994, and the Congolese war of 1996, people were displaced from Masisi to several other places, which has modified the above statistics. In 1994, for example, when a Tutsi regime took power in Rwanda, a large number of the Tutsi population from Masisi left Congo and moved to Rwanda and elsewhere as settlers (Rusamira 2003:153).

With regard to terminology, Tutsi and Hutu are often referred to as ‘Rwandophones’ (Mararo 2002, Huening 2013), which means the Kinyarwanda-speaking population. However, the

‘Rwandophone’ term is contested since Kinyarwanda is not solely spoken by Hutu and Tutsi in Masisi; some Hunde and Nyanga groups also speak it. The term ‘Rwandophone’ is also contested in everyday use because of its political connotation during the RCD rebellion (1998-2003). During this period, the Banyarwanda leaders used the term ‘Banyarwanda’ to create a social and political movement against other ethnic groups of North Kivu at a time when a Hutu (Eugene Serufuli) became governor, succeeding a Tutsi governor (Leonard Kanyamuhanga). I prefer to use

‘Banyarwanda’, which emphasizes the Rwandan origin instead of the Kinyarwanda language.

Therefore, I use Banyarwanda instead of Rwandophones especially because during the field research I discovered that even some Hunde speak Kinyarwanda, and Hutu or Tutsi can also speak Kihunde and other local languages.

45 3.2.2 Economic profile of Masisi

The main economic activities in Masisi are agriculture, livestock, artisanal mining and small-scale trade in agricultural and livestock products. Among the agricultural products are tea, cinchona, coffee, pyrethrum, beans, cassava, maize, sorghum, soybeans, sugar cane and bananas; some grown for family consumption, some sent to nearby markets in Goma, Bukavu and some even exported to Rwanda. For decades, Masisi was known for fertile volcanic soils, high agriculture production and very good conditions for livestock farming. For example, the livestock of North Kivu was reported to reach 144,000 cows in 1983 with 60% located in Masisi. Around 1990, there were more than 300,000 cows, mostly in the Masisi and Rutshuru Territories (Mathieu and Tsongo 2008). Beyond this period and due to violent conflict since the beginning of 1990s, no more specific figures for Masisi or other parts of North Kivu province are available.

Masisi also has mineral resources such as coltan, tourmaline, tentalite and cassiterite, exploited in an artisanal way, especially in Rubaya and Ngungu. In Rubaya, the mining company Mwangachuchu Hizi International (MHI) was created in 1999 by the North Kivu politician and senator Edward Mwangachuchu. The MHI concession currently produces tantalite but has potential for cassiterite and wolframite too. In the Congolese context, MHI is a medium-sized company. It obtained an exploration permit in 2001 and, in November 2007, a mining contract for a 15-year renewable exploitation permit under which exploitation continues till now.

Alongside MHI and in the same mining area, there is COOPERAMMA (Coopérative d’Exploitants Artisanaux des Minerais de Masisi), a local mining cooperative managed by Robert Seninga, a member of parliament in the North Kivu Provincial Assembly. The provincial decree authorizing the functioning of COOPERAMMA was signed in 2008 and was approved in 2012 at the national level. Until 2013, COOPERAMMA had between 2,000 and 2,500 members (interview in Rubaya 4 October 2014),

In 2016, the website of the government body for monitoring development indicators (CAID) listed more than a thousand individuals legally registered as businessmen in Masisi. Half of them are active in the mining sector in Rubaya and in the surrounding villages. Other businesses are in small-scale trade in agricultural products.

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