Ruberwa Rejects Claims Against Banyamulenge Congolese Identity

Kigali, August 22, 2026 - Former DRC Vice President Azarias Ruberwa rejected claims that the Banyamulenge are not indigenous Congolese, intervening in a politically sensitive debate tied to identity, citizenship and conflict narratives in eastern Congo.

Ruberwa said research shows the Banyamulenge lived on Congolese soil before 1885. He was responding to opposition politician Martin Fayulu, who argued that the Banyamulenge are not an ethnic group because they speak Kinyarwanda.

Ruberwa, who hails from Minembwe, said Fayulu's Bambala community arrived from Angola in 1891, after the Banyamulenge. He also rejected claims that the Banyamulenge arrived in Congo only after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.

The exchange matters for Rwanda because Banyamulenge identity is frequently drawn into Rwanda-DRC tensions, citizenship disputes and the political framing of armed conflict in South Kivu.