This chapter has examined the trajectories and nature of the political instability in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), from the Berlin Conference (1884 -1885) through the Belgian colonisation and the Cold War period (1908 - 1989) to the on-going conflict up to 2003, with a focus of the impact of historical and political contexts on the governance of the country and on the stability of its institutions.
The political governance in the DRC has been depicted as weak and unrealistic and the experienced conflict has been described as a ‘multi- layered’ conflict (Prunier 2009) or a ‘complex hybrid’ conflict (Carayannis 2003). This conflict was not easy to resolve because of the number of players involved and the fact that it occurred not only at local level but also at national and regional levels. This was not just one but several conflicts which were intensified and complicated by the interaction between parties involved (Cramer 2006a; Grignon 2006;
Wake 2008).
The analysis provided in this chapter has demonstrated that prior to the conflicts, the DRC political institutions were in a state of apparent collapse and they had lost their political legitimacy. The country’s economy had declined, civil servants and the military were unpaid, and
consequently militaries had to live off the population. They became a source of insecurity rather than a source of security.
The above examination of historical and political contexts has identified the need for Western states to maintain control over the DRC and its natural resources as one among the underlying causes of the political instability in the DRC. International actors failed to tailor state- building approaches to better reflect Congo’s ‘political geography, limited governance capabilities, dearth of infrastructure, and abundant mineral wealth (Kaplan 2007:300).
The analysis has also highlighted the exceptional treatment that the DRC received from the international community since the Berlin Conference and which has impacted on its political and economic development. This geological scandal is strategically important for the West, particularly the US and as such it cannot be left uncontrolled. The United States Agency for International Development, cited in Section 101 (3) of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006, confirms that given its size, population, and resources, the Congo is an important player in Africa and of long-term interest to the United States.
At regional level, the DRC is surrounded by small countries with dynamic demography and limited natural resources. Its vast unoccupied land and the abundant mineral resources have nourished the greed of its neighbours who have decided to get their share by fuelling the conflict.
Destabilizing activities undertaken in the DRC by governments of neighbouring countries are considered as a major impediment that prevents the accomplishment of US policy objectives which include the support to security sector reform by assisting the Government of the DRC to establish a viable and professional national army and police force that respects human rights and the rule of law, is under effective civilian control, and possesses a viable presence throughout the entire
country, provided the DRC meets all requirements for United States military assistance under existing law. 39
To ensure he had total control of the country, Mobutu subjected Rwandan migrants to political manipulation (Mamdani 1998; 2001) and used horizontal elite networks (Putzel et al. 2008) to govern the country.
After equipping Rwandan migrants with citizenship through the citizenship decree of 1972 and after acquiring vast land following the enactment of the land law in 1973 (Huggins et al. 2005; Van Acker 2005; Jackson 2007), the non-indigenous Tutsis Banyarwanda became prominent. But after 1974 the prominence of Banyarwanda was resented by the locals who were now privileged by Mobutu when he replaced the previous patronage system by new vertical networks as the economy was in sharp decline (Putzel et al. 2008).
A new citizenship law was passed in 1981 which removed the citizenship from the Banyarwanda.
The Banyamulenge40 were excluded from the democratic transition attempted in early 1990s and because the National Sovereign Conference did solve the issue of their citizenship, they began to arm themselves and this intensified the situation (Lemarchand 2003; Prunier 2009). They took arms against the DRC during the first Congo War, and with the support of Rwanda, their rebellion successfully allowed them to regain the citizenship.
The Banyamulenge were again involved in the second Congo War and after the war, they occupied key positions in the military and the transitional government but lost their political significance following defeat in the 2006 elections (Prunier 2009). Seeing that the majority- driven political system established after the 2006 elections marginalised the ethnic minorities (Mamdani 2002), the Banyamulenge decided to
39 Section 102 (5) of Democratic Republic of the Congo Relief, Security, and Democracy Promotion Act of 2006
40 Congolese of Rwanda origin who live in the mountains of Mulenge in South Kivu Province
form a new rebel group, the CNDP, and this led to intensified conflict in the Kivus (Autesserre 2008).
The struggle against Mobutu’s dictatorship and for democracy paid off after the signing of the Global and Inclusive Peace Agreement at the end of a long process of peace negotiation. President Laurent Kabila tried his best to spoil the negotiations for fear of sharing power with rebels but after his death his son Joseph Kabila who succeeded him allowed the peace process to move forward and accepted to share power during the transitional period with four vice-presidents – one from the Tutsi-led and Rwanda-backed RDC, one from the Uganda-backed MLC, one from the unarmed opposition and one from the DRC government.
There has been a lack of strategic thinking and planning on the side of Congolese leaders for many years. This has led to wrong definition of strategic objectives that needed to be achieved. When the Cold War ended, President Mobutu did not understand that time had changed. He failed to understand what the relation between his country and the West would be in the post-Cold War period.
Likewise, when President Laurent Kabila requested Rwandan help in his struggle to overthrow Mubutu, he did not understand what Rwanda would want to gain in return. It was obvious that Rwanda could not allow his territory to be used as a rear base and it could not send its soldiers in the DRC to support Kabila’s rebellion if it did not know exactly what strategic objective it was going to achieve. According to Charles Onana (2009:165), Rwanda achieved two strategic objectives:
‘to avenge the killing of Tutsis during the genocide by massacring Hutu refugees in refugee camps in the DRC and to ensure a long term control of eastern DRC and its mineral resources’. The current president of the DRC, Joseph Kabila, seems to have learnt lessons from the mistakes of his predecessors. He has understood the importance of improving relations with his neighbours and for his country to have well-equipped
and disciplined army and police forces as well as professional intelligence services.
Soon after the establishment of the transitional government he began the process of security sector reform which continues with its ups and downs as described in the next chapter.
The table below provides a simplified representation of the complex history of the DRC.
Table 2: Political History of the DRC Important
Dates
Congo Key Events
1871 European explorations
Discovery of the Congo Basin, control of the Congo by King Leopold II and perpetration of human rights violations against the Congolese people particularly during harvest of rubber
1885 Congo Free Sate Involvement of other European states in trade and commerce in the Congo 1908 Belgian colony Administration of the Congo by Belgian
government and continued violations of human rights against the people of Congo 1960 Independence Anti-colonial movement, foreign influence,
assassination of Patrice Lumumba 1965 Mobutu takes
power
Dictatorship, Foreign influence, Congo’s involvement in ideological struggle between the Soviet Union and the West
1997 Kabila Senior takes power
War of liberation, Overthrow of President Mobutu, foreign influence (regional and international, War of Aggression, UN Peacekeeping intervention
2001 Kabila Junior takes power
Assassination of Kabila Senior, signing of peace agreement, Political transition, beginning of security sector, and continued foreign influence
2006 Democratic elections
Establishment of democratic institutions, continued foreign intervention and security sector reform, change in the mandate of UN Peacekeeping force, China-DRC
cooperation
5
SECURITY SECTOR REFORM IN THE DRC:
2003–2011
“The modern state, for a variety of reasons, faces rather serious problem of credibility and acceptability among its citizens”.
Hans Weiler (1983) “The medicine …if not administered under the very strictest and widest supervision [could] … have the effects which are damaging as the disease”.
Porter, cited in Gill & Phythian (2006)