Inter-African Return Migration and Urban Poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the Experience of Congolese Returnees from South Africa to Lubumbashi

This article analyses the links between inter-African return migration and urban poverty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), based on the experience of Congolese nationals who returned from South Africa and resettled in Lubumbashi. It is based on a field survey conducted in 2025, based on four months of structured interviews with 80 return migrants (48 men and 32 women) who had stayed in South Africa for at least one year and returned to the DRC at least one year ago. The study is part of a scientific continuity approach, extending and updating our previous doctoral work based on 120 structured interviews (86 men and 34 women) conducted in Lubumbashi between February and May 2017 and publicly defended in November 2019. It thus offers a more focused analysis and empirical enrichment of the previous conclusions.