The Banyamulenge have been viewed as strangers in their own country – the violence targeting them revolves around this misconception.
DRC President Felix Tshisekedi waves an official copy of the nation’s Constitution during his swearing in on January 24, 2019.
TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images
The US has sent troops to countries neighbouring the Democratic Republic of Congo in anticipation of violence and unrest once the election results are announced.
Voters during the DRC’s last elections in Kinshasa.
Dai Kurokawa/EPA
The Democratic Republic of Congo has been in turmoil since President Kabila refused to relinquish power at the end of his term. But there is hope of ending the stalemate.
Protesters demand Congolese President Joseph Kabila step down.
Reuters/Thomas Mukoya
The outcome of the race between increasingly artful electoral manipulation and limitless possible manifestations of democratic expression is never entirely certain.
The DRC says presidential elections would probably not happen this year as President Joseph Kabila holds on to power.
Nic Bothma/EPA
President Joseph Kabila remains in office despite upheaval in the DRC. He can still save face and a change of heart could see him become the first Congolese president to relinquish power.
Chair of the Board of Trustees and Head of African Futures & Innovation at the Institute for Security Studies. Extraordinary Professor in the Centre of Human Rights, University of Pretoria