Tropical mountainous regions are often identified as landslide hotspots because of the growing population pressure. However, very little information is available for understanding landslide processes in these environments. This thesis investigates the interactions between landslides and land use and management in a rural environment located on the Rift flanks west of Lake Kivu (DR Congo). Data were collected with multi-method approaches, combining remote sensing and field work. At the regional scale (5700 km²), a unique multi-temporal inventory for this type of environment was built, with more than 2730 landslides mapped. The analysis of susceptibility patterns and frequency-area distributions show that natural factors contributing to deep-seated landslide occurrence were either different or changed over time, that the occurrence of recent shallow landslides are influenced by deforestation and that mining and road landslides are controlled by environmental factors that are not present under natural conditions. At the local scale, farming is more common on landslides than on adjacent flanks, reflecting the strong human demand for agricultural land. Farmer satisfaction at using land inside landslides is greater when these lands are characterized by higher fertility, weaker slopes, less stony and sandy terrain, deeper soil and greater moisture. Such favourable natural conditions are generally more prevalent on deep-seated, old and large landslides than on their adjacent flanks. A case study on vegetation cover recovery in the wake of the shallow landslide-flash flood event of October 2014 in the vicinity of Kalehe shows that vegetation recovery is faster in the transport-deposit zones than in the landslide source zones, the former being more favourable to cultivation. The doctoral research showed that, beyond natural predispositions, human activities play an important role on the occurrence of landslides. It also shows that in the post-event period, people tend to adapt, sometimes quickly, to the new landscape characteristics, often at the expense of the dangers associated with slope instabilities. From a detailed analysis carried out in a tropical region of Africa, we not only bring new insight on a typically under-researched type of environment, but also highlight the need to consider the human context when studying hillslope instability characteristics and distribution patterns in regions under anthropogenic pressure. Understanding site-specific contexts of the human-nature nexus is key to lay out efficient disaster risk reduction strategies.