Bukavu is part of the ancient territory of Bushi Kingdom, an ethnic group of South-Kivu. It was governed by a "Muluzi" Nyalukemba, when the first Arabs arrived. They were traders and often trafficked in enslaved Africans; they were influential in much of Africa.
Near the end of the 19th century, Europeans entered Bushi, and the Congo Free State attempted to colonize the large territory. 'Muluzi' or 'Baluzi' in the plural means 'the nobleman' or 'nobility' to Shi. Before the Europeans came in Bushi Kingdom, Bukavu was called "Rusozi". The name Bukavu comes from the transformation of word 'bu 'nkafu ' (farm of cows) in Mashi, the language of Bashi.[citation needed]
Bukavu was established in 1901 by the Congo Free State which became the Belgian Congo in 1908.[4] Originally named Bukavu, it was named "Costermansville" (in French) or "Costermansstad" (in Dutch) in 1927, after Vice Governor-General Paul Costermans. In 1953, the name was changed back to Bukavu. It had a prominent European population under colonial rule.[5] They were attracted by the subtropical climate (Lake Kivu is 1,500 metres above sea level) and scenic location (Bukavu is built on five peninsulas and has been described as "a green hand, dipped in the lake"). Many colonial villas have gardens sloping down to the lakeshore.
By contrast, the main residential district for ordinary people, Kadutu, climbs up the hillside inland. The surrounding hills reach a height of 2,000 metres. Formerly an administrative centre for the whole of the Kivu region, the town lost some of its status as a result of the growth of Goma and the late 20th century wars that erupted in the Congo following the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.
Following those massacres, Hutu refugees and many members of the former Hutu-led government fled Rwanda, contributing to the Great Lakes refugee crisis. The refugee camps around Goma and Bukavu became a center of Hutu insurgency from the camps against the new Watutsi government of Rwanda.
In November 1996, at the start of the First Congo War, Rwandan government forces attacked the Hutu camps and forces of the Zaire government, which had allowed the insurgency. The Rwandan government supported rebels in Zaire led by Laurent Kabila, who overthrew the Kinshasa government with their help. Later, the Rwandan government fell out with the rebels, which lead to the Second Congo War. Rwanda supported the rebel Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) against Kabila. Bukavu and the rest of Sud-Kivu was the site of sporadic fighting between rebels and government forces and their proxies, including the Mayi-Mayi, especially in 1998 and 2004.
On June 3, 2004, protestors in several Congolese cities took to the streets to demonstrate against the United Nations for failing to prevent Bukavu from falling to Rwandan-backed RCD forces led by General Nkunda.[6] About 16,000 women were raped on a single weekend after General Nkunda told his troops "This city is yours for three days."[7] Nkunda was later persuaded to fall in line with the peace accords which ended the war and re-integrate his troops with the Congolese government forces. In September 2007 he rebelled again and started attacking government troops north of Goma.
Although not threatened by volcanoes as Goma is, Bukavu is equally in danger from a potential limnic eruption from Lake Kivu, in which vast quantities of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane could explode from the lake and threaten the lives of the 2 million people who live near the lake.[9]
The city has over 100 art deco buildings which were constructed during Belgian colonial rule and proposals have been made to preserve these so that the city can be a tourist attraction for architecture enthusiasts.[11]
Transport
Bukavu is an important transport hub and gateway to eastern DR Congo, but as a result of the wars the road network has deteriorated and highways to Goma, Kisangani and other towns have not been fully restored. As with Goma, close proximity to the paved road network of East Africa and the functioning eastern section of the Trans-African Highway to Mombasa may allow a faster recovery than other Congolese towns. Bukavu's proximity to the Lake Tanganyika ports of Bujumbura and Kalundu-Uvira give it an additional advantage, with access on the lake to the railheads of Kigoma (linked to Dar es Salaam) and Kalemie (rail link to Katanga, in need of rehabilitation). Isolation, largely due to bad road infrastructure, has been found to be an important determinant of wealth and/or development in South Kivu.[12]
Bukavu has numerous lakeside wharves and boat transport is used extensively in the Congolese waters of the lake in the absence of well maintained roads.
Kavumu Airport (ICAO code: FZMA, IATA code: BKY) located about 30 kilometres north is the domestic airport for Bukavu. This airport has not been renovated for many years.
Education
There are many schools and universities present in Bukavu. The city also is known to be one that gives good education in D. R. Congo.[citation needed]
The city is home to the Panzi Hospital. Founded by the Swedish Pentecostal Mission in 1921, its director Denis Mukwege operates on women who survive sexual violence, and is one of two doctors in the eastern Congo qualified to perform a reconstructive surgery.[14]
Panzi Hospital is a teaching hospital of the Evangelical University in Africa. Bukavu is also home to the Catholic University of Bukavu's School of Medicine and General Reference teaching hospital. The pharmaceutical factory Pharmakina owned by a German immigrant and a French immigrant produces the antimalarial drug quinine and the generic AIDS medicament Afri-vir. Pharmakina also runs an AIDS diagnostic and treatment center.[15] With 740 employees and about 1000 free-lance workers. After Great Lake Plantations SARL, which is Congo's only modern tea manufacturing company, Pharmakina is the largest employer in town.[16]
Social issues
Women continue to face major problems of violence in the wake of war in the eastern DRC. Fondation Chirezi in August 2007 launched a project based in Bukavu for women's trauma healing and care.
Another NGO launched a program to help women affected by Violence in Panzi next to Fondation Panzi called V-Day.[17]
After the repeated wars in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the number of people wounded by the war and living with disabilities has increased considerably. A national non-profit association called Congo Handicap was created in 2004 in Bukavu to support people living with disabilities. It provides comprehensive care for this segment of the population, including people living with disabilities who were raped during the war.[18]
^Ulimwengu, J., Funes, J., Headey, D. and You, L. 2009. Paving the way for development? The impact of transport infrastructure on agricultural production and poverty reduction in the Democratic Republic of Congo, IFPRI Discussion Paper 00944, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington DC, USA. 48 pp. [1]
^J. Gordon Melton, Martin Baumann, Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices, ABC-CLIO, USA, 2010, p. 777
^Stephanie Nolen (Spring 2005). ""Not Women Anymore…": The Congo's rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS". Ms. Archived from the original on 2016-10-31. Retrieved 2011-12-04. It took Thérèse Mwandeko a year to save the money... She walked with balled-up fabric clenched between her thighs, to soak up blood that had been oozing from her vagina for two years, since she had been gang-raped by Rwandan militia soldiers who plundered her village in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Finally, she arrived at Panzi Hospital... Dr. Denis Mukwege, Panzi's sole gynecologist and one of two doctors in the eastern Congo who can perform such reconstructive surgeries, can repair only five women a week.
"Detailed Map of Bukavu"(PDF). Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo: GIS Unit MONUC (United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). 25 August 2003. Archived from the original(PDF) on 13 October 2007.
