{"id":17384,"date":"2023-07-11T09:42:47","date_gmt":"2023-07-11T07:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.kivuavenir.com\/?p=17384"},"modified":"2023-07-11T09:42:47","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T07:42:47","slug":"drc-violence-the-uns-narrow-is-incapable-to-end-the-conflicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/drc-violence-the-uns-narrow-is-incapable-to-end-the-conflicts\/","title":{"rendered":"DRC violence the UN\u2019s narrow is Incapable to end the conflicts"},"content":{"rendered":"

This narrow approach will perpetuate the cycles of violence in a country whose population hasn\u2019t known peace for\u00a0three decades<\/a>. A failure to account for the other major reasons for the conflict in the experts\u2019 brief to the\u00a0UN Security Council<\/a>\u00a0could lead to the adoption of inappropriate measures to stabilise the DRC.<\/p>\n

I have\u00a0researched<\/a>\u00a0the micro and macro causes of conflict in eastern DRC since 2017 to understand the motivations of individuals, groups and communities. In my view, most of the violent confrontations are consequences of the\u00a0legacy of colonialism<\/a>,\u00a0state fragility<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0dysfunctional and corrupted security services<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From South Kivu to North Kivu and Ituri in the eastern region, the legacy of colonialism has categorised local communities into native and non-native. This has created conflict along the lines of belonging and its associated rights. The Congolese state\u00a0hasn\u2019t tackled this issue<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and state authority is absent in many areas.<\/p>\n

The Congolese army is largely dysfunctional and corrupted. It\u2019s among those\u00a0feeding violence<\/a>\u00a0at local levels. It has\u00a0failed to protect civilians<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0picked sides<\/a>\u00a0in inter-community violence.<\/p>\n

Inside the report<\/strong><\/p>\n

In recent years, the UN group of experts has narrowed all this complexity into inter-communal violence, with limited details on what drives it. Yet the mandate of the group \u2013 established in 2000 \u2013 is to\u00a0investigate and analyse<\/a>\u00a0connections between resource exploitation and the persistence of conflict. Its reports should help the UN understand the bigger picture in eastern DRC.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0latest report<\/a>\u00a0highlights five major events:<\/p>\n

Violence in the west<\/strong>: Maindombe, one of the western provinces, had appeared to be more stable than the north and south Kivus and Ituri in the volatile east. But it\u2019s estimated that more than\u00a0300 civilians have been killed<\/a>\u00a0in Maindombe between June 2022 and March 2023. The violence is between the\u00a0Teke and Yaka ethnic communities<\/a>. The former consider themselves the original inhabitants of the region and the Yaka as non-native.<\/p>\n

The Allied Democratic Forces:<\/strong>\u00a0Designated as a\u00a0terrorist organisation in 2021<\/a>\u00a0by the US, this group is active in Beni (North Kivu) and parts of Ituri province. The group has secured strategic and financial support from other terrorist groups, including Somalia\u2019s Da\u2019esh and IS-Somalia. The report notes that dismantling the terror group\u2019s complex funding mechanisms and networks needs greater collaboration among countries.<\/p>\n

Rwanda and M23:<\/strong>\u00a0In North Kivu, the UN report has called attention to the violence perpetrated by the\u00a0Rwandan-backed M23 rebel group<\/a>. The conflict has forced thousands of civilians to flee, deepening a humanitarian crisis. The UN experts warn that the\u00a0M23<\/a>\u00a0has the military capacity to wage and sustain conflict due to recruitment campaigns in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. This report is the first to name\u00a0high-ranking Rwandan military generals<\/a>\u00a0involved in fighting alongside M23 rebels.<\/p>\n

The rise of the Twirwaneho:<\/strong>\u00a0In South Kivu, the UN report\u00a0documents clashes<\/a>among groups claiming to be protecting their ethnic communities. The report highlights the Twirwaneho, an armed (self-defense) group affiliated to the\u00a0Banyamulenge<\/a>, a minority ethnic group in South Kivu.<\/p>\n

The Codeco threat:<\/strong>\u00a0The report also documents atrocities committed in Ituri province against civilians and internally displaced people. Here, it highlights the rebel group\u00a0Codeco\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0attacks. It terms the violence inter-communal.<\/p>\n

The report\u2019s loopholes<\/strong><\/p>\n

The report is consistent with previous reports in terming ethnic communities\u2019 \u201cantagonism\u201d as the source of violence. The DRC has more than 250 ethnic groups. But based on\u00a0my research<\/a>, it\u2019s my view that violence in the country is intrinsically complex. Using a single lens can be misleading.<\/p>\n

In my view, there are four major loopholes in the report.<\/p>\n

First, the UN experts disregard the prominent roles played by other major actors in the conflict, such as the national army. It also ignores the\u00a0regional ramifications<\/a>of the violence. This includes the support provided by\u00a0Rwanda to Burundian rebel groups in South Kivu<\/a>. State fragility also helps explain why the DRC\u2019s conflict has persisted for three decades. Adding these factors would broaden understanding of the root causes of the conflict and its persistence.<\/p>\n

Second, the UN experts tend to jump to conclusions based on largely questionable premises. For instance, evidence of \u201cmass recruitment<\/a>\u201d and the\u00a0formation of new alliances<\/a>\u00a0between Twirwaneho, M23 and Red-Tabara rebel groups isn\u2019t clear. Since 2017, Red-Tabara, for instance, has been\u00a0attacking the Banyamulenge<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Third, the report shows signs of bias. For instance, it highlights the Twirwaneho and ignores other groups active in South Kivu. I\u2019ve covered this bias in\u00a0a study<\/a>that analyses 324 incidents recorded by\u00a0Kivu Security Tracker<\/a>\u00a0and 29 reports from the UN\u2019s peacekeeping mission in the DRC, Monusco. Monusco is one of the main sources of the UN experts\u2019 information.<\/p>\n

Fourth, in North Kivu, the experts have only documented atrocities and human rights abuses committed by M23 and the Rwandan Defence Forces. They\u2019ve left out those committed by the Congolese military, and other local and foreign militias.<\/p>\n

Way forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

A close look at the UN report indicates that the experts struggle to document atrocities in a timely manner. It took more than a year to document violence in South Kivu and Ituri that erupted in 2017 and this is happening in Maindombe.<\/p>\n

UN experts shouldn\u2019t see violence in eastern the DRC as solely tit-for-tat militia confrontations, and fail to account for their motivations to resort to violence. For instance, some armed groups in the east exist to chase out those seen as \u201cforeigners\u201d.<\/p>\n

A simplified perspective won\u2019t help to bring peace if the negative role played by security services is superficially covered. Moreover, the DRC has failed to establish a comprehensive disarmament and demobilisation scheme.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This narrow approach will perpetuate the cycles of violence in a country whose population hasn\u2019t known peace for\u00a0three decades. A failure to account for the other major reasons for the conflict in the experts\u2019 brief to the\u00a0UN Security Council\u00a0could lead to the adoption of inappropriate measures to stabilise the DRC. I have\u00a0researched\u00a0the micro and macro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":17385,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"1","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_review":[],"enable_review":"0","type":"percentage","name":"","summary":"","brand":"","sku":"","good":[{"good_text":""}],"bad":[{"bad_text":""}],"score_override":"","override_value":"","rating":[{"rating_text":"","rating_number":"10"}],"price":[{"shop":"","price":"","link":"","icon":""}],"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"enable_post_split":"0","post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5314],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17384"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17386,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17384\/revisions\/17386"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kivuavenir.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}