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DR Congo

Field Reports  In-Depth Reports  Letters & Testimonies

Overview
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is still contending with ongoing conflict in its troubled east. More than 1.5 million people remain internally displaced and there are more than 450,000 Congolese refugees in neighboring countries. A myriad of armed groups threaten civilians in North Kivu, South Kivu and Orientale provinces, uprooting families from their homes and taking away their livelihoods when not killing or raping them outright. While local government officials, UN agencies and international and local NGOs strive to mitigate the suffering of the displaced, the ongoing violence and insecurity in eastern DRC must be addressed in order for living conditions to improve significantly.

Current Humanitarian Situation
The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and other rebel groups in North and South Kivu continue to control swaths of countryside, especially remote areas, causing new displacement and making it impossible for those already displaced to return to their land. Armed groups, including the national army (FARDC), have repeatedly engaged in acts of sexual violence, especially against young women and girls. More efforts are necessary to better protect the displaced and the most vulnerable amongst them. Access for humanitarian organizations to assist displaced populations remains extremely challenging due to ongoing insecurity and poor roads. In certain areas people have been able to return to their land, sometimes leading to ethnic tensions and land disputes which require community-level conflict resolution initiatives. Meanwhile, for those people displaced for long periods and the host communities helping them, assistance must go beyond basic services to include a focus on livelihoods and education.   

While the number of people affected is not as great as in the Kivus, parts of Orientale province are the scene of violence perpetrated by other groups, notably the Lord’s Resistance Army. Ongoing attacks cause new displacement and instability prevents people from restarting their lives. Meanwhile Equateur, in the west of the country, is preparing for the return of thousands of refugees displaced during localized fighting in 2009. A well-implemented and coordinated reintegration effort will be crucial in ensuring peace and stability in the area.

The UN peacekeeping/stabilization mission MONUSCO (reconfigured from MONUC as of July 2010) has made significant efforts to develop ways to better protect civilians, especially in North Kivu. It is, however, hampered by resource constraints and maintains an uneasy relationship with the poorly trained and ill-equipped national army. MONUSCO needs to be enabled to build on its best practices and extend them to other areas.   

Action Needed

  • UNHCR must reapportion its resources and attention to better assist and protect internally-displaced Congolese, given consistently high levels of displacement and fewer returning refugees.
  • The UN Security Council must ensure that MONUSCO have the resources to build on its successes so that the mission can protect more civilians.
Field Reports
  • DR Congo: Local Communities on the Front Line
    04/23/2012
    The day-to-day reality for ordinary people in the Democratic Republic of Congo includes all of the following: latent insecurity, ongoing military operations, and systematic attacks by armed groups – including units of the Congolese military. The international community has been providing humanitarian assistance to the DRC for over a decade and a half, but the need remains acute. The local UN peacekeeping operation (MONUSCO) dedicates the majority of its scarce resources to the protection of civilians, and will need to maintain this critical effort for the foreseeable future. Creative protection efforts by the peacekeepers need to be reinforced and supported. Protection monitoring and coordination efforts – led by the UN Refugee Agency – also need to be repaired.
  • DR Congo: Too Soon To Walk Away
    07/28/2011
    International interest in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is waning at a time when hundreds of thousands of Congolese continue to be displaced by ongoing violence. This shift risks squandering the substantial investments made towards peace and stability in the DRC and leaves internally displaced people vulnerable to further violence and suffering. Continued political and financial support by the U.S. and other donor governments is still essential to address both the root causes of the problem and emergency needs – all the more so in the context of November’s elections.
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In Depth Reports
  • Last Line of Defense: How Peacekeepers Can Better Protect Civilians
    02/24/2010

    When violent conflict breaks out, the United States and other United Nations member states often call for the deployment of UN peacekeeping forces to create stability and protect people from harm. The UN Security Council has explicitly instructed peacekeepers to protect civilians under “imminent threat of violence” in most UN peacekeeping mandates since 1999. But there is no clarity as to what “protection” means in practice. Which circumstances require action and what level of force should be used? This has resulted in a lack of proper training, guidance and resources for peacekeepers to accomplish protection activities.
  • Seizing This Moment of Hope: Towards a Secure Future in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
    10/17/2006
    For more than a decade, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has struggled with one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Yet, improbably, that situation has improved markedly over the past few years. Seventy percent of the electorate has voted in the first democratic contest for president in four decades; violence in the east has eased, largely due to the presence of the UN peacekeeping force, MONUC; and humanitarian response has improved even as internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees begin to return home.
Advocacy Letters
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Congressional Testimony
Successes

In March 2011, two communities in Equateur province in the DR Congo signed a non-aggression pact ending more than a year of deadly conflict.  We are pleased that peace has arrived after the UN and other agencies followed RI’s recommendation to support reconciliation efforts.

Then in August 2011, as the new UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) was being formed, RI was instrumental in pushing the UN Security Council to prioritize the protection of civilians and authorize the greatest possible number of troops.