The Trouble with the Congo

Abstract

The Trouble with the Congo suggests a new explanation for international peacebuilding failures in civil wars. Drawing from more than 330 interviews and a year and a half of field research, it develops a case study of the international intervention during the Democratic Republic of the Congo's unsuccessful transition from war to peace and democracy (2003–6). Grassroots rivalries over land, resources, and political power motivated widespread violence. However, a dominant peacebuilding culture shaped the intervention strategy in a way that precluded action on local conflicts, ultimately dooming the international efforts to end the deadliest conflict since World War II. Most international actors interpreted continued fighting as the consequence of national and regional tensions alone. UN staff and diplomats viewed intervention at the macro levels as their only legitimate responsibility. The dominant culture constructed local peacebuilding as such an unimportant, unfamiliar, and unmanageable task that neither shocking events nor resistance from select individuals could convince international actors to reevaluate their understanding of violence and intervention.

Cascades of Violence: War, Crime and Peacebuilding Across South Asia

“…At the local level, however, the Yemen conflict is driven by local grabs for power by very local politicians with whom Houthi and anti-Houthi fighters ally. This is a way of restating the themes of Autesserre's (2010Autesserre's ( , 2014 work on conflict in the DRC (see also Chapter 2). Conflicts start out very locally in Autesserre's narrative, but are then enrolled by national and transnational players (particularly the militaries of Rwanda and Uganda).…”

“…Séverine Autesserre (2010Autesserre ( , 2014 put her finger on the paradox of all this transnational complexity. Diplomats struggle to study its many strands; they master long lists of names of states that sponsor fighting groups in the DRC.…”

The Congo Trap: MONUSCO Islands of Stability in the Sea of Instability

“…Despite the international focus on 'blood minerals' to explain the Congo conflict (UN 2014), land is probably a more important factor to explain the conflict (IA 2010), since the intercommunity conflicts existing in Congo before the colonization were due to land problems (Chretien 2000;Djugudjugu 1979: 159;Weiss 1958: 148) and not to minerals. Indeed, most of the intercommunity conflicts in DRC are linked to identity and to an unfair access to local and provincial administrations and resources (Autesserre 2010). Among the natural resources, land, and not minerals, is the primary factor of the Congo conflict.…”

“…To solve this peacebuilding challenge, it would be necessary to implement a land reform or, at least, to enact legislation to clarify when legal or traditional ownership rights apply (Autesserre 2010). The UN 'islands of stability', thus, cannot have a ripple effect over this factor of instability, which is also beyond MONUSCO's mandate.…”

“…Only the Congolese State can solve the land problem. In the meantime, the micro-level conflicts of land, identity and power will continue to be transferred to the 'inter-community' level (Huggins 2010) and, from this, to the national level (Autesserre 2010), enflaming the Congo conflict.…”