The DRC has been engulfed in violent civil war since 1996, which has claimed the lives of 5.4 million people, making it the world’s deadliest conflict since WWII.
By John Bavoso, Africa Contributor
In the last few weeks, while domestic and international news outlets were almost exclusively focused on the U.S. Presidential election, violence has intensified in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The central African country, the third largest on the continent, has been engulfed by violent civil war since 1996, which has claimed the lives of 5.4 million people, making it the world’s deadliest conflict since World War II. With war raging now for over 10 years, this recent spat of violence raises the question: is there an end in sight?
Since 1996, the violence has officially been broken into three different conflicts: the First Congo War, which lasted from November 1996 to May 1997; the Second Congo War, also known as “Africa’s World War,” which ran from August 1998 to July 2003; and the current iteration, known as the Kivu Conflict after the region that is hosting it, which has run from 2004 to the present.
The origins of the DRC’s turmoil can be traced back to another infamous conflict which also occurred in Africa’s Great Lakes region: the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. Following the horrific events in that country, many members of the Rwandan Hutu Interahamwe fled the country once the Tutsi militia took control. Based out of refugee camps in the eastern DRC (known as Zaire at the time), they formed the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda, leading incursions into Rwanda and attacking the local Congolese Tutsi population. Eventually, the whole country became embroiled in a civil war, which resulted in the ousting President Mobutu in 1997.
The current phase of fighting began in 1998 in the Kivu province in the eastern part of the country. It is a conflict between the DRC’s national army (FARDC), National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP), a rebel group led by Tursi General Laurent Nkunda, and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), which includes the Rwandan Hutu genocidaires amongst its ranks. Nkunda was a rebel leader in the Second Congo War and was subsequently made a general in the national army following the end of that conflict. In 2004 Nkunda defected from the army, bringing with him many of the members of the national army under his command, fled to Kivu and called for the downfall of the government, citing corruption as his main grievance. A peace agreement was reached in January of this year, but did not last long.
On October 26 Nkunda launched an attack on the city of Goma, beginning the current spate of violence. Last week the UN held a regional summit in Nairobi, Kenya with many leaders from the region and warned that if the fighting wasn’t brought under control soon, it is likely that it could spread to neighboring countries, destabilizing the entire region. Several leaders from surrounding states offered to send peacemakers into the province if necessary. Nkunda actually agreed to a ceasefire on the 29th, but then broke it only a few days later. At the end of last week, Nkunda told AP reporters that he vows to keep fighting.
The violence has affected all of those in the DRC, not just those who carry guns. 200,000 people have already been displaced from their homes in the past two weeks and have converged in camps surrounding Goma. It’s being reported that outbreaks of cholera have hit the residents of these camps. Additionally, the DRC has become in the last few years the site of one of the worst rape epidemics in history. Right before this round of violence broke out, Dr. Denis Mukwege, the lone gynecologist in the eastern region of the Congo, was profiled again in the international media, revealing that aid money from international donors was drying up and that he was running out of the funds he needs to perform the10 surgeries a week he currently completes in an attempt to help the overwhelming number of women who have survived horrific sexual assaults.
With the country being in such a near constant state of conflict for so long, one has to wonder about what possibilities the future holds for this struggling nation and its long-suffering population. Thinking just this, the Council on Foreign Relations asked Anthony Gambino, former USAID mission director for the DRC, to reflect on the country’s future. One thing is clear: reaching a solution will take cooperation and input from the international community. As reported in the story about the cholera outbreak, the EU has been reluctant to send troops into the region, choosing instead to wait for more information from the UN before deciding on a course of action. Gambino is critical of U.S. policy towards the DRC, saying “We have regularly been satisfied with small steps that may appear to paper over the crisis of the moment but in no way deal with the fundamental problems.” He goes on to say that he recommends that the international community support the Mission of the United Nations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or MUNOC, both in terms of additional troops and in the spirit and diplomatic function of the mission.
When a country has been embroiled in conflict for as long as the Democratic Republic of the Congo has, it becomes easy for casual observers and policymakers alike to be overwhelmed and disheartened by the prospects for peace and stability. It’s important that the international community shows its support for the country and its people while also considering the ramifications for the future and for the rest of Central Africa. While individual countries and international organizations have a spotty record at best in the Great Lakes region, the DRC presents both a challenge and an opportunity to show that the international community is dedicated to improving the lives of all Africans.
