Kasika (village)

Kasika
Village
The view from part of the center of Kasika village in the Luindi Chiefdom, March 2023
The view from part of the center of Kasika village in the Luindi Chiefdom, March 2023
Country Democratic Republic of the Congo
ProvinceSouth Kivu
TerritoryMwenga
ChiefdomLuindi
Time zoneUTC+2 (CAT)

Kasika is a village located in the Luindi Chiefdom within the Mwenga Territory of the South Kivu Province, situated in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Geographically positioned at 965 meters above sea level, Kasika strategically lies near Kihovu and Kahulile, approximately 108 kilometers from Bukavu, near the Rwandan border. The region is more than clusters of mud huts built around a Catholic parish on a hill overlooking a valley. It was the headquarters of the customary chief of the Nyindu ethnic community, whose house and office sat on a hill opposite the parish, a series of large, red-brick structures with cracked ceramic shingles as roofing, laced with vines.[1]

Kasika is one of the most affluent areas of the South Kivu Province, with gold mining being a significant contributor to the village's economy.[2][3] Incidentally, artisanal gold mining and its trade in the region is the subject of numerous semi-legal and illegal smuggling.[4][5] As a result, much of the gold mined artisanally in Kasika is smuggled out of the countries, usually to Uganda, but also Kenya, Rwanda, and Burundi, and from there, allegedly in Dubai.[6]

The region is infamous for the Kasika massacre that occurred in 1998 during the Second Congo War, where the Rally for Congolese Democracy, a Rwandan-backed armed group, committed a range of abuses against civilians, including "deliberate killings, arbitrary arrests, and detentions, disappearances, harassment of human rights defenders, abuses against women, and recruitment of child soldiers".[7][8]

  1. ^ "Two conflicts, One Village: The Case of Kasika". Peace Insight. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  2. ^ Wassomukokya, François; Mukungilwa, Bitondo; Muteleka, Cyprien; Mutimanwa, Jean Michel; Kasese, Richard Minyota (December 2004). "Rapport final des consultations participatives de la base pour l'élaboration du Document de Stratégies de Réduction de la Pauvreté (DSRP) Territoire de MWENGA - Province du Sud Kivu". Sous la coordination du SERACOB (in French). Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  3. ^ "20 Years On from the Kasika Massacre, Women Survivors Share Their Stories | Women For Women". Women for Women International. 19 June 2019. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  4. ^ Doumenge, C.; Schilter, C. (1997). "Les Monts Itombwe: D'une enquête environnementale et socio-économique à la planification d'interventions au Zaïre" (PDF). UICN - Union mondiale pour la nature, Brazzaville, Congo. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  5. ^ Mwetaminwa, Justin; Vircoulon, Thierry (February 2022). "Un scandale sino-congolais L'exploitation illégale des minerais et des forêts par les entreprises chinoises au Sud-Kivu" (PDF). Institut français des relations internationales. Retrieved 2023-03-20.
  6. ^ Doumenge, C.; Schilter, C. (1977). "Les Monts Itombwe: D'une enquête environnementale et socio-économique à la planification d'interventions au Zaïre" (PDF). UICN - Union mondiale pour la nature, Brazzaville, Congo. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  7. ^ "CASUALTIES OF WAR". www.hrw.org. Retrieved 2023-03-21.
  8. ^ Stearns, Jason (2012). Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa. New York City, United States: PublicAffairs. pp. 250–251. ISBN 978-1610391078.