DRC background
The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has suffered from violent conflict since the early 1990s, with periods of regional (from 1994 and especially 1996) and local/national level conflict (from 2005/2006). Despite relatively calm elections in 2006, the eastern part of DRC has remained conflict-ridden.
The conflicts in eastern DRC centre on control of land and natural resources, and are caused by structural injustices present in systems of political and ethnically centred patronage. These systems are further exacerbated by the negative effects of a war economy dominated by armed groups and their control of local natural resources through the terrorisation of local communities. Gender-based violence remains a serious problem throughout the conflict area. The lack of good governance and a middle class not strong enough to become an effective change agent for peace, in combination with superficial peacebuilding efforts that have tended to avoid the root causes of the conflicts, have all contributed to sustain the conflicts.
The international community, international NGOs, local civil society, traditional elders and churches all play an important role as peacebuilders and unifiers. Their efforts do, however, need to be backed by regionaland national authorities through legal sector reform, and sincere efforts of disarmament and demobilisation of armed groups combined with security sector reform. Despite the negative effects of the recent military operations in eastern DRC on the civilian population, this cooperation still testifies to a positive normalisation of the international relations between the DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, thus helping to centre peacebuilding efforts around the actual root causes of the conflicts in eastern DRC.
DRC's current context
With national presidential and legislative elections scheduled for the 28 November 2011, the current political context in DRC is characterised by fierce electoral competition. In comparison to the elections in 2006, the international accompaniment of the electoral process is limited. While the incumbent Joseph Kabila and his Presidential Majority coalition have long started their electoral campaign, the opposition remains divided with three to four candidates: Vital Kamerhe and his Union pour la Union Congolaise, Jean-Pierre Bemba, himself on trial at the International Criminal Court, and his Mouvement de Libération du Congo and Etienne Tshisekedi (l’Union pour la Démocratie et le Progrès Social) as well as Nzanga Mobutu (Udemo), son of the former dictator. The outcome of the elections is not sure, despite the introduction of a winner-takes-all election system, which was to favour the incumbent. The electoral calendar is tight and the voter registration process has faced numerous logistical challenges.
Despite hasty and incomplete efforts of the government to integrate armed groups in the national army (FARDC), numerous areas in North and South Kivu remain highly insecure. Armed groups of local and international origin continue to threaten the physical security of the civilian population. The FARDC is not only incapable to protect them, but is also itself a major source of human rights abuses and insecurity. Consequently, internal displacement is high (according to UN OCHA, 31 December 2010: North Kivu 508398 IDPs, South Kivu 752195 IDPs). The United Nation’s Stabilisation Mission in the DRC, its mandate recently prolonged until June 2012 (SC Res 1991), is tasked to protect civilians, but so far, this could not be guaranteed.
On local level, intra- and inter-community conflicts affect the cohabitation of populations. Access to land emerges as a key conflict issue, which interacts with questions of identity and access to power and other resources. This is embedded in a pervasive system of bad governance, which reaches from national to local level. The highly complex question of refugee return to different zones in North and South Kivu adds another – if not carefully managed – potentially destabilising element to the situation.
Click here for information about LPI's work in DRC.