Kanyabayonga
| Kanyabayonga | |
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 Kanyabayonga
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| Coordinates: 0°42′07″S 29°10′21″E / 0.7020°S 29.1726°ECoordinates: 0°42′07″S 29°10′21″E / 0.7020°S 29.1726°E | |
| Country | Democratic Republic of Congo |
| Province | North Kivu |
| Territory | Lubero Territory |
| Climate | Cfb |
Kanyabayonga (also Kanya Bayonga, Kanyabayungu) is a town in Lubero Territory, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The town has suffered from continued violence between the army and rival militias since 1993.
The town lies in mountainous terrain to the west of Lake Edward, in the east of the country. It is on the N2 route from Goma to Butembo. As of 2004 the population was about 30,000.
In 1993 the government's Forces Armées Zaïroises (FAZ) launched "Operation Mbata", a military offensive that resulted in the burning of houses and the central hospital in Kanyabayonga. During the Rwandan Civil War thousands of Rwandan refugees arrived in the region in 1994, fleeing from advancing troops of the Rwandan Patriotic Front. The refugees included Rwandan Armed Forces soldiers and Hutu Interahamwe militias, some of which still occasionally make incursions into Kanyabayonga and surrounding communities, looting, killing and raping.
In the 1996 war led by the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL) of Laurent Kabila, AFDL troops and their allies from Rwanda and Uganda committed many crimes and abuses of human rights in Kanyabayonga. In the Second Congo War initiated by the Rally for Congolese Democracy (RCD) in August 1998, Kanyabayonga suffered further violence and destruction, particularly after the RCD split into two rival groups, the RCD/Goma allied with Rwanda and the RCD-K/ML allied with Uganda. The line between the territories of the two rebel groups was at Rwindi, just south of Kanyabayonga, with Kanyabayonga located in the part controlled by the RCD-K/ML .
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