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The hope that peace and reconciliation will prevail in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is what sustains the Banyamulenge people as they recover from the massacre at the village of Gatumba in the country of Burundi eight years ago. On August 13, 2004, 166 Banyamulenge Congolese were brutally killed in Burundi, and more than 100 others were seriously wounded. This massacre hit hard a population already traumatized by a history of persecution by political authorities and rival ethnic groups.
On that sad day, armed groups attacked a refugee camp in Gatumba (near Burundi's capital, Bujumbura) where hundreds of Banyamulenge refugees were sheltered. The refugees had fled increasing violence in eastern DRC and growing animosity against them. They expected to be safe in Burundi, but their fate turned out to be catastrophic. They were mercilessly killed with gunfire, grenades, and machetes.
The prime suspect in these killings is a Burundian armed group known as Forces Nationales de Libération (FNL), formerly known as PALIPEHUTU. According to a report released in September 2004 by Human Rights Watch, the FNL was responsible for the slaughter; the FNL's spokesperson, Pasteur Habimana, accepted responsibility for the attack. Another suspect is the Congolese armed group known as Mai Mai, which allegedly crossed the border into Burundi and joined the FNL in that deadly attack.
The massacre took place in a context of endemic ethnic violence and war in the DRC and Burundi. First, the Banyamule - who are descendants of Tutsi from Rwanda- emigrated to eastern DRC in the eighteenth century from Rwanda. Although they have lived in the DRC for centuries, some Congolese extremists among the indigenous ethnic groups consider the Banyamulenge as Rwandans or not authentically Congolese. This situation has led to repeated discrimination and attacks against the Banyamulenge since the 1960s. In their quest for some recognition, the Banyamulenge eventually participated in the 1996-97 warthat...