DR Congo.

“Despite the relevance of local factors to gaining a fuller understanding of what lies beneath the violence in the Congo, policy-makers have tended not to prioritise the pursuit of local solutions to local problems. ”

— Chris Wake

Conflict Profile The origins of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – formerly Zaire –...
Further violence in DR Congo? In November, our Local Correspondent Flory Kazingufu travelled to the little-known Fizi region of DR...
DR Congo: Kimia II to end on December 31st The UN have announced that the controversial Kimia II mission will end on December 31st...
New operation to replace Kimia II in DR Congo The army of the DR Congo, the FARDC, has commenced a new military operation, Amani...
Peace Exchange in Goma, DR Congo Last week was a very exciting one for Insight on Conflict, as for the first...

The Democratic Republic of Congo is almost as large as Eastern Europe and the third biggest country in Africa. The four Eastern provinces – South Kivu, North Kivu, Ituri, and Maniema – and the countries they border (Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi) have been the scene of multiple conflicts at local, national, and regional levels for at least a decade.

East DRC’s enormous mineral wealth has largely failed to transfer better living conditions to the local population; whilst corruption, state weakness and the sheer size of the territory all present opportunities for various armed groups, both state and non-state, to engage in human rights abuses against civilians and plunder of natural resources. Since the outbreak of violence in DR Congo, at least 4 million people are estimated to have been killed and 2.5million forced to flee their homes. East DR Congo also hosts the largest and most expensive UN peacekeeping mission in history, MONUC (United Nations Mission DR Congo).