Identity is a concept that is surrounded by imperatives of power, resistance, subjection and citizenship, (Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2010). With migration playing a huge role in the DRC because of the war many citizens moved to neighbouring countries in fear of their lives and safety. Years later some returned to their homes only to be told that they do not belong and not considered to be Congolese. So the question of what does it means to be Congolese, especially for the many that moved during war times has resulted in many losing their ownership of land because they are not seen as being Congolese.
Boas and Dunn (2013) date back their argument to the 1800s, stating that there has been a lot of migration by Rwandaphones who commonly spoke Kinyarwanda including both Hutu and Tutsi who lived in the eastern part of the DRC. After the genocide 1994 however, many Rwandan Hutus fled to the Kivus because they feared being killed by the RPF government who was in control at the time (Boas and Dunn, 2013). As a result of the migration many difficult questions are still unresolved of whether any of these Rwandaphones can be considered to be Congolese. This has therefore made it difficult to distinguish between invaders and other Rwandans who may have a family history that is more than 100 years in the Congo (Boas and Dunn, 2013:86).
Tracing this back to the Congolese constitution of 1964, there exists only one Congolese nationality which was granted certain rights dating back to 30 June 1960 and stated that: “all persons having now, or at some point in the past, as one of their ancestors a member of a tribe or the part of a tribe established on the territory of Congo before the 18th of October 1908” was seen as being Congolese (Boas and Dunn, 2013:88). This enabled the Banyarwanda eligible in claiming Congolese citizenship on the basis of their ancestors being native to the DRC as of 18 October 1908. However, this changed in 1972 when Barthelemy Bisengimana the Director of the Office of the President, a Congolese Tutsi and Mobutu strongman, established a new citizenship law. The new law gave Congolese citizenship on all migrants living in the Congo before 1950, thus giving a number of Banyarwanda political and economic rights which they had never accessed before (Mamdani, 2011). This framework changed again in 1981 when Anzuluni Bembe, another Mobutu strongman and autochthonous from South Kivu, convinced the legislative council to reopen the nationality question (Mamdani, 2011). This changed in 2005 when the Congolese constitution, dated citizenship back to ancestral connections showing a step in the right direction (Mamdani, 2011).
However, these shifting rules regarding citizenship have greatly contributed to insecurity among who can be considered as Congolese. Even with laws being implemented, the practicality of them is still not evident in reality. There is still a lot of contestation over who is Congolese and seen through the occupation of land, especially among those who left during the war which resulted in their land being taken by the rebel groups or the RPF. But it should also be considered that individuals also decide if they want to take on Congolese identity, one might have the privilege but still not want to identify themselves as being Congolese.