Kivu's intractable security conundrum

African Affairs

Volumn 108, Issue 432, 2009, Pages 475-484

  Vlassenroot, Koen ^a   Raeymaekers, Timothy ^a  

^a GHENT UNIVERSITY   (Belgium)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CIVIL WAR; NATIONAL SECURITY; POLITICAL CONFLICT;

AFRICA; CENTRAL AFRICA; DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC CONGO; KIVU; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA;

EID: 67649418458     PISSN: 00019909     EISSN: 14682621     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/afraf/adp039     Document Type: Article

References (14)

1. Andreas Mehler and Dennis Tull, 'The hidden costs of power-sharing: reproducing insurgent violence in Africa, African Affairs 104 416 (2005), pp. 375-98;
2. see also Andreas Mehler, 'Peace and power sharing in Africa: A not so obvious relationship', African Affairs 108, 432 (2009), pp. 453-73.
3. Jean-Francois Bayart, 'Africa in the world: A history of extraversion', African Affairs 99, 395 (2000), pp. 217-67.
4. In 2009, Human Rights Watch reported the illegal detention and targeted killing of numerous Bemba supporters, many of whom are tortured or ill-treated. Journalists and human rights activists critical of the Kabila regime were also regularly detained or threatened (Human Rights Watch, 'World Report', 2009), pp. 61-5, , accessed 1 April 2009.
5. In June 2005, a parliamentary commission headed by lawmaker Christophe Lutundula submitted a report that was very critical of a number of historical mining contracts concluded during the war (amongst others with Joseph's father Laurent Kabila), and warned that many exported minerals from Congo were neither registered, nor recorded, nor taxed. Despite international pressure (from theWorld Bank amongst others), the government did not seriously address the conclusions of this commission, which finally caused its president to resign in despair.
6. For further information in human rights abuses by FARDC, see MONUC Monthly Human Rights Assessments, published by MONUC Human Rights Division, (www.monuc.org).
7. Nicholas Garrett, Sylvia Sergiou, and Koen Vlassenroot, 'Negotiated peace for extortion: The case of Walikale territory in eastern Congo', Journal of Eastern African Studies 3, 1 (2009), pp. 1-21.
8. Thomas Callaghy, 'From reshaping to resizing a failing state? The case of Congo/Zaïre', in B. O'Leary, I. S. Lustick, and T. Callaghy, Right-Sizing the State: The politics of moving borders (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2001).
9. Apparently, Nkunda also asked for a senior position within the FARDC and the command of the Kivu provinces. International Crisis Group, 'Congo: consulting the peace' (Africa Report No. 128, 5 July 2007).
10. This estimate is based on interviews with several stakeholders, Bukavu, February 2009.
11. Hans Hoebeke, Henri Boshoff, and Koen Vlassenroot, 'Assessing security sector reform and its impact on the Kivu provinces' (ISS Situation Report, 26 November 2008).
12. In August 2006, the International Criminal Court had issued an arrest warrant under seal for Bosco Ntaganda for alleged crimes committed in Ituri in 2002 and 2003. The warrant was unsealed in April 2008.
13. Human Rights Watch, 'DR Congo: Brutal rapes by rebels and army. Over 180 civilians killed, most by Rwandan rebels' (Human Rights Watch press statement, 9 April 2009).
14. Such is happening already for example in Ituri, where the Front Populaire pour la Justice au Congo (FPJC) has resumed its attacks against the FARDC since late March 2009.