Soldiers, Sacred Waters, and Landscapes: Zimbabwean Soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo War (1998–2002)

Abstract

Zimbabwean soldiers deployed to the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC, 1998–2002) feared death and misfortune, and patrolled the landscape of this war zone largely in terms of terrain they needed to dominate. Yet these soldiers’ guns and military tactics were understood to be challenged by spirits which eventually dictated the ways in which they operated. The paper reveals how the spirited landscapes of the war shaped soldiers’ beliefs. The central analytical argument of this paper is that soldiers do not always dominate and do violence on the landscapes of war, but rather that spirits and enspirited objects can exert power over soldiers and disrupt their activities and tactics. The central belief conveyed by local Congolese civilians was that soldiers had to establish harmony with the spirits in and of the landscape, thereby creating and perpetuating spiritual authority and belonging in the war context.