One in Africa are described in detail in this book. They illustrate the consequences for peace and security of national citizenship law, policy and rhetoric that found their structure on an ethnic or racial basis; the use and abuse of citizenship law to silence political opponents; and the everyday injustice to ordinary ­­people that results. Though it is tempting for politicians all over the world to mobilize an ‘in-group’ of supporters by blaming an ‘out-group’ of alleged foreigners for all their troubles, the con­ sequences of a focus on blood-and-soil connection to the country can be disastrous not only for that group, but for the country as a whole. Denationalized groups In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the disputed ‘indigenous’ or ‘non-indigenous’ status of the Banyarwanda populations (speaking dialects of the Kinyarwanda language centred on modern-day Rwanda) of the eastern provinces has been at the heart of the conflicts that have afflicted the region. Disputes over the law have been at the heart of the wider debate. The changing balance of political power at national level has been reflected first in the decision to create an ethnic definition for citizenship in the constitution, and then in the repeatedly amended laws that have shifted the ‘date of origin’ for an ethnic group to qualify for citizenship back and forth with the political tide. At different times, this date was set at 1885 (the date of creation of the Belgian king’s personal colony, the ‘Congo Free State’), 1908 (the date the colony was transferred to the Belgian state), 1950 and 1960 (the date of independence). Those excluded by these laws form the core of the rebel groups that have challenged central authority since the late 1990s. This ethnic focus has its roots in population displacements of the years under colonial rule. Although parts of the territory that is now DRC (formerly Zaire) were, prior to colonization, already occupied by Kinyarwanda speakers, the Belgian colonial authorities greatly increased these numbers by transplanting tens of thousands of people from the already densely populated 8