Following the Berlin conference that partitioned Africa in 1884, the territory of Rwanda was reduced from 168,606 Km²  to 26,338 Km². 124, 553 Km² were attached to the DRC and 17,715 Km²  were attached to Uganda. Therefore,  Kinyarwanda-speaking people found themselves in different countries in the Great Lakes Region, including the DRC.  In 1908, the need for more labor force in Kivu plantations and mines led to a mass organized migration of Rwandophones to North Kivu, particularly the Masisi territory in the DRC, especially between 1920 and 1955. 

After the independence of the DRC, Congolese authorities started considering Rwandophones as foreigners. This led to the “Guerre Kanyarwanda”,  a conflict for land autonomy.  Rwandophones (Tutsi and Hutu) fought against other ethnic groups, such as Nande, Hunde, and Nyanga, in the region.  The Congolese army responded with systematic killings of Rwandophones in the Masisi region. 

Over time, different laws on nationality were passed to strip Rwandophones of congolese nationality. In particular, the 1981 citizenship bill restricted nationality to those who could prove their ancestors lived in Zaire (currently known as DRC) before 1885. 

In the 1980s, President Habyarimana of Rwanda and President Mobutu of Zaire  organized the migration of Hutus into Masisi through what was known as “transplantation”, intending to undermine the growing land control by Tutsis in Masisi, North-Kivu. The transplantation was supported by the local association of Congolese Hutu farmers called Mutuelle des agriculteurs des Virunga (MAGRIVI), which later evolved into a political organization anti-Tutsi genocide ideology prevalent in Rwanda at the time.  Due to this anti-Tutsi ideology, xenophobia and systemic discrimination were directed only at Rwandophone Tutsis. 

In 1993, militias known as Mai-Mai and Bangilima, composed of Hunde, Nande, and Nyanga, attacked Tutsi communities in North Kivu with the support of government authorities, causing mass displacement.  From July 1994, the mass exodus of Rwandan Refugees controlled by genocidaires, Ex-FAR (former regular armed force), and Hutu militia Interahamwe into North and South Kivu and their subsequent reorganization as a military force (FDLR-FOCA)  further spread the genocide ideology in the region and exacerbated ethnic tensions between the local Congolese Hutu and Tutsi communities. 

The collaboration between  Congolese Hutu and Rwandan genocidaires armed groups intensified the killings of Congolese Tutsi, causing mass displacement of Congolese Tutsis to Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda in 1996.  Congolese Tutsis are a target each time there are political upheavals in DRC.  

Today,  xenophobia and hate speech incited discrimination, hostility, and violence against Congolese Tutsi communities, leading at times to acts of violence, including killings. As the UN Group of experts notes, hate speech against Congolese Tutsis communities has spread nationwide by DRC defense, security or political figures, civil society actors, and members of the Congolese diaspora, via conventional and social media.