Kidote
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Kidote
| other_name = Kidoti
| settlement_type = Village
| pushpin_map = Democratic Republic of the Congo
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{flag|Democratic Republic of the Congo}}
| subdivision_type1 = Province
| subdivision_type2 = Territory
| subdivision_type3 = Chiefdom
| subdivision_type4 = Grouping
| subdivision_name1 = South Kivu
| subdivision_name2 = Uvira
| subdivision_name3 = Bafuliiru
| subdivision_name4 = Lemera
| timezone1 = CAT
| utc_offset = +2
| official_name = Village Kidote
}}
Kidote, also known as Kidoti, is a small village situated in the middle plateaux of Lemera groupement in the Bafuliiru Chiefdom, Uvira Territory, in the South Kivu Province of the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.{{Cite web |date=1 June 2021 |title=Sud-Kivu: les déplacés en difficulté à Bwegera et à Lemera |trans-title=South Kivu: Displaced people in difficulty in Bwegera and Lemera |url=https://www.radiookapi.net/2021/06/01/actualite/societe/sud-kivu-les-deplaces-en-difficulte-bwegera-et-lemera |access-date=17 February 2025 |website=Radio Okapi |language=fr}}{{Cite book |last=Ruhimbika |first=Manassé |title=Les Banyamulenge, Congo-Zaïre, entre deux guerres |publisher=Éditions L'Harmattan |year=2001 |isbn=9782747503631 |location=Paris, France |pages=158 |language=French}} It also serves as a camp for Congolese Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from various regions of Bwegera.{{Cite web |date=1 June 2021 |title=Sud-Kivu: les déplacés en difficulté à Bwegera et à Lemera |trans-title=South Kivu: Displaced people in difficulty in Bwegera and Lemera |url=https://www.radiookapi.net/2021/06/01/actualite/societe/sud-kivu-les-deplaces-en-difficulte-bwegera-et-lemera |access-date=23 May 2023 |website=Radio Okapi |language=fr}}
History
Kidote was traditionally inhabited by the Fuliiru people, as well as a small Vira population that share strong cultural connections with the Bafuliiru community.{{Cite web |last=Sebakunzi |first=Ntibibuka |date=January 1998 |title=Le rôle du site dans l'extension de la cité d'Uvira |trans-title=The role of the site in the expansion of the city of Uvira |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/payen_0989-6007_1990_act_3_1_866 |access-date=10 June 2023 |website=Persée |pages=143-152 |language=French |publication-place=Lyon, France}}{{Cite web |last=Moeller |first=Alfred Alphonse Jean |date=1936 |title=Les grandes lignes des migrations des Bantus de la province orientale du Congo belge |url=https://www.congoforum.be/Upldocs/1_pdfsam_Moeller%201936%20Migrations%20dans%20la%20PO.compressed.pdf |access-date=17 January 2025 |publisher=Librairie Falk fils |page=136 |language=fr |publication-place=Brussels, Belgium |archive-date=30 December 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241230021126/https://www.congoforum.be/Upldocs/1_pdfsam_Moeller%201936%20Migrations%20dans%20la%20PO.compressed.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{Cite journal |last=Chubaka |first=Bishikwabo |date=1987 |title=Aux origines de la ville d'Uvira selon les explorateurs et les pionniers de la colonisation belge au Zaïre (1840-1914) |trans-title=The origins of the city of Uvira according to the explorers and pioneers of Belgian colonization in Zaire (1840-1914) |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41968746 |journal=Civilisations |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=83–126 |issn=0009-8140 |jstor=41968746}} During the onset of the First Congo War, Kidote served as a training camp for the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo; AFDL).{{Cite book |last=Stearns |first=Jason |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XAHGTnNu8KIC&dq=kidote&pg=PA145 |title=Dancing in the Glory of Monsters: The Collapse of the Congo and the Great War of Africa |date=27 March 2012 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=9781610391597 |location=New York, New York |pages=145 |language=English}}{{Cite book |last=Umutesi |first=Marie Beatrice |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X9pCh_N2atgC&dq=kidote&pg=PA257 |title=Surviving the Slaughter: The Ordeal of a Rwandan Refugee in Zaire |date=15 October 2004 |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |others=Contributor: Catharine Newbury |isbn=9780299204938 |location=Madison, Wisconsin |pages=257 |language=English}} On 6 October 1996, Kidote was attacked by the AFDL, which resulted in more than 50 fatalities. The victims were mainly civilians. Some met their demise due to shrapnel injuries, while others were brutally executed after being coerced into digging mass graves, wherein their bodies were callously discarded.{{Cite web |date=15 June 2009 |title=South Kivu: Attacks against other civilian populations |url=https://www.mapping-report.org/en/aattacks-against-other-civilian-populations-south-kivu/ |access-date=23 May 2023 |website=Mapping-report.org |publisher=DRC Mapping Exercise Report |language=en-US}}
= Security problems =
For decades, the region remained plagued by persistent insecurity. Armed conflict, clashes between various armed groups, and inter-communal violence have all contributed to uprooting communities from their homes. Armed groups operating in the region, such as rebel factions or militias, carry out attacks, looting and intimidation aimed at both civilians and rival factions.{{Cite web |date=24 February 2014 |title=Sud-Kivu: la société civile dénonce des attaques armées contre la population |trans-title=South Kivu: Civil society denounces armed attacks against the population |url=https://www.radiookapi.net/regions/2014/02/24/sud-kivu-la-societe-civile-denonce-des-attaques-armees-contre-la-population |access-date=23 May 2023 |website=Radio Okapi |language=fr}}{{Cite web |date=1 June 2022 |title=Sud Kivu: des centaines de ménages de déplacés regagnent les hauts plateaux d'Uvira |trans-title=South Kivu: Hundreds of displaced households return to the highlands of Uvira |url=https://www.radiookapi.net/2022/06/01/actualite/securite/sud-kivu-des-centaines-de-menages-de-deplaces-regagnent-les-hauts |access-date=23 May 2023 |website=Radio Okapi |language=fr}} In the early months of 2022, the resurgence of the March 23 Movement, sparked tensions in Lemera. Consequently, a large number of civilians took refuge in Kidote, fleeing other conflict-affected areas. The Espace Amis d'Enfance (EAE), a local non-governmental organization, received nearly one hundred displaced children in search of help and shelter.