Refugees International: Publications: DRC Report

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Seizing This Moment of Hope: Background

Seizing This Moment of Hope

The DRC is the third largest country in Africa, about the size of the eastern United States, with an estimated population of 60 million. It stretches from the equatorial heat of Kinshasa near the Atlantic Ocean southeast across the diamond mines of the Kasai provinces, to mineral-rich Katanga and its capital Lubumbashi; and northeast up the Congo River to Kisangani and beyond to the Great Lakes region of central Africa, where Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi sit across from Ituri, North Kivu, and South Kivu. Its rivers represent 10% of the world’s hydroelectric potential; its rainforest is the largest on the continent; it contains 30% of the world’s cobalt; Kilo Moto, in Ituri, is one of the world’s largest gold fields; its extensive copper mines in Katanga produce high-grade ore; and its uranium was used in one of the atomic bombs detonated over Japan in 1945.

These natural resources, of strategic and economic interest to the U.S., Europe, China, and South Africa, are at the root of the confl ict that has provoked the current humanitarian crisis. They first drew King Leopold II of Belgium, who was granted full rights to the Congo as his personal domain by European powers and the U.S. in 1885. His exploitation of natural resources, extracted in conjunction with extensive human rights abuses, set the precedent for subsequent rulers; the Belgian colonial state set an additional precedent with its policies of ethnic division. The most visible heir of Leopold and Belgium was Mobutu Sese Soku, who seized power five years after Congo gained independence in 1960, then stripped and sold its resources with no longterm benefit to the population. Manipulation of ethnic animosity, including against the Tutsi minority in the east, created the instability needed to justify Mobutu’s ruleand keep the state weak enough to facilitate unregulated plunder.

The genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994 and the ensuing take-over of Rwanda by Tutsi rebels led more than one million Rwandan Hutu—including those who organized the genocide—to seek shelter in eastern Congo. Two years later, Rwanda invaded to deny the génocidaires safe haven in the DRC,pushing the Rwandan refugees back into Rwanda and supporting the rebellion of an obscure commander, Laurent-Désiré Kabila, against Kinshasa.

In 1998, Kabila, after deposing Mobutuand becoming president, turned against his Rwandan backers to reduce their influence. Rwanda in turn flexed its newfound might and invaded the DRC for a second time. It was joined by Uganda, with both countries claiming self-defense against attacks from Congolese territory. They were soon battling each other, however, to gain control over mineral resources far from the ostensible threat to their security on their borders. The fall of Mobutu had created a security vacuum in the DRC that its voracious neighbors fought to fill, arming local rebel groups in order to keep Kinshasa at bay and ensure a steady supply of coltan, copper, diamonds, cobalt, and gold. In 2001, an independent panel of experts convened by the United Nations established that the armed forces of Rwanda and Uganda were perpetrating war and human rights abuses in the DRC inorder to loot its natural resources—becoming, in effect, the new heirs of Leopold, Belgium, and Mobutu.

The humanitarian consequences of the war were catastrophic. As Rwanda and Uganda moved to take control of mineral resources, either directly or through Congolese proxies, local defense forces, referred to generically as the Mai-Mai, sprang up to resist. Throughout the east of the country, men, women, and children were caught in the crossfire or directly targeted due to perceived support for one group or another. Some joined the armed groups in order to defend their communities or profi t from the mines they controlled; others, including women as well as thousands of children, were captured and conscripted as soldiers, wives, and slaves. Hundreds of thousands fl ed to neighbor- The Congo’s natural resources are at the root of the conflict that has provoked the current humanitarian crisis.

With the expansion of MONUC, withdrawal of foreign troops, and theformation of a transitional government in July 2003, fighting in many parts of the country has died down. ing countries, especially Tanzania, and have lived for years in sprawling refugee camps. Millions more abandoned their homes and fi elds to seek shelter in other villages, in towns, or near military bases, anywhere that could offer a sense of safety and something to eat. While some of the internally displaced created camps for themselves, most found refuge in the local community, living with friends or family members, or renting small plots in exchange for fi eld labor. Even those who stayed home, however, were affected as armed groups looted villages and destroyed bridges, health centers, markets, and schools. All of this occurred in the context of general neglect by the government that had kept the DRC in a state of chronic underdevelopment.

In total, four million people have died in the DRC since 1998 from causes related to the conflict, most because they had no access to simple life-saving medical treatment or disease prevention measures available in even the poorest countries.

International efforts to stop the war in the DRC began almost immediately after the Rwandan and Ugandan invasion of August 1998. The belligerents signed a ceasefire agreement in 1999, which mandated the organization of an Inter-Congolese Dialogueleading to a transitional government, a new constitution, and elections. This process began in earnest only after the assassination of Laurent-Désiré Kabila in January 2001and the accession of his son, Joseph, to the presidency. The ceasefi re agreement also called for the UN to establish a peacekeeping mission to the DRC, which it did in November 1999. The UN Mission to the Congo (MONUC) had a limited mandate at first, restricted to observing the ceasefire, with a small number of troops. This has increased in response to ongoing fi ghting in theDRC (most signifi cantly following massacres in Ituri in May 2003) and the need to impose a certain measure of security in order to hold elections.

With the expansion of MONUC, withdrawal of foreign troops, and the formation of a transitional government in July 2003, fighting in many parts of the country has dieddown. Massacres, which once occurred with sickeningly regularity, have stopped. Armed groups are increasingly confined to smaller and smaller areas, over 100,000 combatants have entered a formal demobilization program, the number of reported rapes has decreased in areas where MONUC operates, and the displaced have started to return home. Improved security also means better access for humanitarian aid agencies, allowing them to provide more assistance more quickly to those who need it most. Seventeen million people, representing 70% of the electorate, recently cast votes in the first democratic elections since independence, with international assistance overcoming logistical challenges andpolitical resistance.

Renewed violence is possible: individuals and groups that are now part of the transitional government, including Joseph Kabila and his rival for the presidency, Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba, stand to lose their power at the end of the electoral process, and rumors abound that the old armed groups, having never truly disarmed, stand ready to intervene. However, peace in the DRC has grown because the belligerents realize that none of them can control the DRC’s natural resources by force, and that participation in the transitional government gives them their best chance to retain at least some access to the riches. This tacit understanding should hold during the rest of the electoral process and lead to the relatively peaceful installation of a new government.

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