The population is extremely poor, and due to the continued insecurity their farming methods minimize risk rather than maximizing profit.

[3] There have been incidents where elephants from the Virunga National Park have invaded farmlands in the territory, often causing considerable damage.

There have been conflicts between ethnic groups, and particularly so as a result of tensions produced by Rwandan Interahamwe entering the region following the 1994 Rwanda Genocide.

In these wars Rwanda took an active role in supporting rebels opposed to the government, including supplying troops.

[7] In October and November 2008 there was severe conflict in the region between government troops and rebels led by Laurent Nkunda, with an estimated 250,000 people made homeless.

[8] Nkunda claimed his CNDP forces were protecting his Tutsi community from attacks by Hutu rebels of the FDLR who fled to the DRC after the Rwandan Genocide.

[1] On 2 June 2011 the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO) launched Operation "Restore Hope" in Rutshuru territory, a concerted drive to suppress violence through 24-hour patrols.

[10] In July 2012, Rutshuru territory was captured by the rebel group March 23 Movement, which will hold it until it is reconquered by the government in October 2013.

The following month, President Joseph Kabila, following a 930km journey through the country, visited Rutshuru and gave a speech praising peace.

[11] In November 2022, 8 deaths were recorded in the Rutshuru IDP sites in Nyiragongo territory, North Kivu.

Of these victims, a 44-year-old woman and seven children died at Kanyaruchinya health center and CBCA Ndosho hospital.

[12] In February 2023, a homemade killed a woman and seriously injured another who lost both her legs in a field in the Gisikari Groupement, in the chiefdom of Bwisha in the Rutshuru territory, North Kivu.