Conflict In Congo Research Articles

‘Congolité’: Dividing Lines in the Political Life of the Contemporary DRC

The article is devoted to the study of political identity in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The author pays particular attention to the modern interpretation of the concept of ‘Congolité’ – Congolese identity, which is in many ways identical to the idea of national citizenship. The concept of ‘Congolité’ itself is considered in the article as a set of legal norms, as an instrument of electoral struggle and as a symbolic construct. The concept has acquired a new meaning in the context of the 2021 draft law, and its return to domestic politics is significant for understanding the mood of Congolese society. The author also tries to identify the main lines of the identity debate and concludes that one of its constants is the problem of the political-legal status of the Rwandafon minority (Banyarwanda / Banyamulenge), and another is regional-linguistic fragmentation, which is reinforced by economic-demographic specificity. Both of these factors have a significant impact on internal voting patterns. The discourse of autochthonous ‘purity’ is seen as exacerbating this fragmentation and as generating conflict in Congo’s relations with states in the region, particularly Rwanda.

Invisible Congolese Blockage to Peace: Deprivation of Basic Communal Needs Triggers Intractable Conflict in Congo

Protracted conflicts in Africa are often presented in a framework of fragile states, but this article takes a diachronic actor-oriented perspective to analyze the Congolese ethnic conflict. It reveals how ethnic conflict is rooted in Rwandans immigrant's unacknowledged which ties to land and political access exclusion, resulting in recurring conflict between native Congolese versus invisible Congolese—Rwandese immigrants. The focus is on the elite’s strategies and actions vice versa the actions of the invisible Congolese to repel the elite’s oppression; accompanied by negative perceptions towards each other. Deprivation of basic needs is the causal factor that fuels intractable conflict in Congo. The article concludes that needs-based conflict requires problem-solving resolution, nevertheless, the conflict would be static no matter the state’s military dependency to ’The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—MONUSCO.

Everyday Practices of Toleration: The Interfaith Foundations of Peace Accords in Sierra Leone

AbstractUnder what conditions can faith leaders influence peace in civil wars? The ongoing conflict in Congo, Syria, and Yemen indicate that faith leaders can fuel sectarian divide, but also intervene on the side of peace. Drawing on experiences in Sierra Leone's civil war, this paper highlights the role of faith leaders as moral guarantors of peace processes, with respondent former rebels indicating that without interfaith delegations personally bringing the peace accord to their remote jungle camps, they would not have trusted the UN-led process. Ethnographic analysis and over 60 field interviews with former combatants and religious leaders, presents a model for answering why faith leaders were central in terminating this conflict. Combatant's personal experience with a diverse mixture of Christian, Traditional, and Islamic leaders contributed to high confidence in peace accords, due to interfaith practices deeply embedded within the culture and shows the dispositions, rituals, and interfaith practices that provided the cultural foundations for successful interfaith intervention. The paper ends with generalizations for other interfaith groups seeking to intervene in conflict.

The United Nations Force Intervention Brigade: Wither the SADC/ICGLR Synchronised Peace Support Efforts in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Recurring Conflict?

From the time it deployed in the eastern DRC in 2013 up to the first quarter of 2016, arguably no much tangible progress has been made by the United Nations Force Intervention Brigade (UN FIB). The security situation in eastern Congo continues to be unstable. This instability has serious direct security threats and spillover effects on respective neighbouring countries that are either part of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) or the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). There are certain constraints that the FIB has continued to encounter in the context of regional and international political and strategic dynamics surrounding eastern Congo recurring conflict. This paper argues that one of the contributing factors behind the challenges encountered by the UN Force is the fact that both the ICGLR and the SADC efforts at enhancing peace enforcement in the eastern DRC have been overshadowed by the self-interests of international actors. Arguably, this scenario has impacted negatively on the ICGLR/SADC synchronised efforts towards the effectiveness of the FIB. The paper makes some recommendations on how best to attain sustainable synergy between the ICGLR and SADC in order to enhance the strategic and operational efficiency and the effectiveness of the UN FIB in the eastern Congo conflict.

Recurring Armed Conflict in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo: an Insight into the SADC Intervention Problematique

Conflict recurrence in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) provides a litmus test to the Southern African Development Community’s (SADC’s) capacity to sustainably resolve the conflict and build peace. The surrender of the March 23 (M23) rebels, followed by overtures to incorporate the same into the Congolese military and political institutions, seem not to have made much significant impact on the security stability in the eastern part of the country. Armed activities by militia groups such as the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and various Mayi Mayi groups are likely to cause a recurrence of a fully fledged armed conflict in eastern Congo. Whilst the UN Mission for the Stabilisation of Congo (MONUSCO), along with its Intervention Brigade continue to make efforts to support the Congolese government to address the security situation in the country, this article presents a critical analysis on the prospects and constraints of SADC to sustainably resolve the conflict and build peace in the context of conflict recurrence. For purposes of conflict resolution and peacebuilding, the DRC falls within SADC’s area of sub-regional responsibility, which overlaps that of the International Conference of the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). The paper looks at the political/diplomatic and military/ security initiatives that SADC can take to complement the current efforts of critical role players such as MONUSCO and ICGLR in sustainably resolving the recurring conflict and building peace.It also analyses the prospects of such sub-regional initiatives. Considering the conflict matrix of the eastern Congo conflict with specific reference to its recurrence, an examination of the likely constraints that SADC could encounter in trying to resolve the eastern Congo conflict will be presented. Policy suggestions will be proffered on what can be done to encounter such constraints.The research adopted a qualitative approach premised on interviews. Secondary sources, including key policy documents and statements of the SADC, AU, ICGLR and UN, were utilised. To complement the primary sources, structured opportunity interviews were conducted at seminars and workshops with academics and senior political and security analysts conversant with the SADC conflict and peace dynamics.

The Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Recurring Conflict: Whose Conflict Transformation Responsibility?

The recurring conflict in Eastern DRC has had devastating effects on civilians, mostly in Kivus. From the beginning of January 2002 till the end of May 2017, many conflict resolution efforts have been put together by regional and international communities. However, there has not been any sustainable mechanism to resolve the conflict. The situation regarding the security of Eastern Congo continues to be volatile. This paper seeks to identify the responsible party that would help mitigate the recurring conflict in Eastern Congo. Using the three distinct categories of actors in Conflict Transformation, the paper argues that the lack of coordination among these actors who constitutes the three Track levels have affected unity of purpose and the level of commitment as far as transforming the Eastern Congo Conflict. The divergent interests among the respective actors to outmaneuver one another when it comes to agenda setting regarding respective peace initiatives on conflict, could be the rationale behind the absence of a workable formula in transforming conflict in the Eastern DRC. The paper proffer strategic policy suggestions toward a workable Conflict Transformation mechanism that equitably addresses the root causes of the conflict and fairly incorporates the relevant stakeholders in an effort to find a sustainable solution.

Rape and Medical Consequences among Girls and Women Victims during the Post-Armed Conflict Context in Congo

Rape is a criminal, aggressive and violent act to have sexual intercourse with a person without her consent. Few studies have been conducted on rape and sexual assaults related to armed conflict in developing countries. The objective of this study was to assess the magnitude of rape and its medical consequences among victims during armed post-conflict period in Brazzaville from January to December 1999. Rape victim was defined as woman or girl having received medical care from January to December 1999 in care units following reporting having incident of rape. SPSS V 20 software was used for the analyses. A total of 1282 victims were assessed. We documented 106 post-rape pregnancies, of which 58 (54.7%) ended in abortion, 15 (14.2%) in miscarriage and 33 (31.1%) in childbirth. Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were common, with 560 (44%) cases among the 1282 victims. Of these, 301 (23%) had trichomoniasis, 123 (10%) had salpingitis, 89 (7%) had vaginal candidiasis and 38 (3%) had gonorrhea. A large proportion of morbidity 362 (28%) was attributed to vulvovaginal injuries and traumatic pelvic pains. In conclusion, our study highlights that rape practice was common in context of armed conflict in Congo. Medical consequences were unwanted pregnancies leading to unsafe abortions, STIs and physical injuries. Results argue in favor of effective public health interventions for a better prevention and care of victims during and after armed conflict.

The Democratic Republic of Congo: Endeavoring Women Empowerment after a War of Rape

This paper analyzed the use of rape as a weapon in Democratic Republic of Congo conflict zone. Rape usually used by the arm group to weaken their enemy. This strategy did not only targeted to women but also men. Rape gave different effect toward women and men. The purpose of this paper is to explain how rape become the weapon of conflict and their effect to the victims, even men and woman. Feminist perspective used in this paper. In the end, the author found that women have a way to overcome the effect and impact of rape better than men do. Social structure, which placed men in the upper side of women, made the effect and impact on the men who experienced rape victim hard to release their suffering. Therefore, the main goal of this paper is to show how women and men could manage their self as a victim in the conflict zone.

The Congo Trap: MONUSCO Islands of Stability in the Sea of Instability

<p class="p1">2014 was a hopeful year for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The M23 movement had been defeated in military operations in which one of the last peacekeeping experiments, the UN Force Intervention Brigade, had played a decisive role. A third UN stabilization plan, the ‘islands of stability’ was proposed to continue the stabilization of a country considered in a post-conflict phase. However, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) has almost tripled in the country since 2007. This article will argue that DRC is still immersed into an old social conflict that existed before the Congo Wars and the roots of which are not being addressed. It will argue that the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and the ‘islands of stability’ strategy can address some of the secondary causes of the Congo conflict, such as its internationalization, the presence in DRC of foreign armed groups or the ‘blood minerals’, but cannot address its primary causes: land struggles, an old cycle of violence and the fragmentation of the Congolese society and political elite that is jeopardizing the restoration of the state authority. The huge dimensions of each of these factors make the Congo conflict ‘one of the most complex and intricate environments ever faced by a peacekeeping mission’, for which MONUSCO’s mandate, resources and stabilization strategy do not seem powerful enough. When the UN organized the 2006 elections legitimized a ‘spoiler state’, the bottleneck of all the reforms needed to stabilize the country. The UN fell thus into a trap and became part of the conflict. Lessons learned should be taken for future UN operations.

The global, the ethnic and the gendered war: women and rape in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

The purpose of this study was to illuminate the perspectives of women who experienced sexual violence perpetrated in the warscapes of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Civilians are targeted for rape, loot and pillage yielding deleterious effects on the social fabric and the sustenance the community provides. The article is based on 11 qualitative semistructured interviews and 4 written narratives from women of reproductive age, recruited from organizations providing support post-sexual violation. The study departs from a larger ethnographic project investigating the phenomenon of war-rape. Thematic analysis guided the analysis through the theoretical lenses of structural violence and intersectionality. The women expressed total insecurity and a multitude of losses from bodily integrity, health, loss of family, life course possibilities, livelihoods and a sense of place; a profound dispossession of identity and marginalization. Pregnancies resulting from rape reinforced stigma and burdened the survivor with raising a stigmatized child on the margins of society. Perpetrators of rape were mostly identified as Interhamwe (Rwandan Hutus rebels) who entered Congo after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Their goal, according to the women, was to spread HIV and impregnate Congolese women, thereby destroying families, communities and society. The women survivors of war-rape described experiences of profound loss in this conflict which has global, ethnic and gendered dimensions. Congo's conflict thus requires critical reflection on how local wars and subsequent human suffering are situated in a matrix of globalization processes, enabled by transnational actors and embedded in structural violence.

‘They have embraced a different behaviour’: transactional sex and family dynamics in eastern Congo's conflict

The decades-long conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has resulted in major changes to local economies, strained social networks and insecurity. This environment forces many to pursue unconventional and, at times, socially stigmatised avenues for income. This paper explores the ways in which individuals in eastern DRC engage in, and are affected by, the commoditisation of sex within the context of decades of violent conflict. Focus group discussions conducted with men and women in 2009–2010 highlight how the war in the region has placed individuals, particularly women, in dire economic circumstances, while also changing their roles within families. In the face of severe poverty, women and girls may choose to engage in transactional sex in order to support themselves and their families. Discussants detailed how engaging in transactional sex due to an economic imperative has nonetheless damaged women's relationships with family members between spouses as well as parents and their children through breach of trust and failure to provide. These focus group discussions elucidate how transactional sex is both a symptom of, and a catalyst for, changes within family dynamics in eastern DRC.

Applying and assessing free market environmentalism to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s coltan resources: Challenges and possibilities

Coltan is the commonly used term for tantalum, a metal used in electronics, when sourced from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This article considers that a “resource curse,” where a resource-rich country paradoxically experiences low social and economic development, is occurring in the DRC with respect to this mineral. The school of economic thought known as free market environmentalism broadly prescribes free markets, individual property rights, and common-law liability as the incentives to reduce environmental problems. While it is a less-common and sometimes controversial perspective on solving environmental problems, an analysis of a free market environmentalist perspective of coltan mining in the DRC provides alternative perspectives on solving a “resource curse,” such as effective property rights as put forward by Moriss (2009). Considering the practicality of implementing free market environmentalist principles in a war-torn country with weak governance, this article theorizes that the Congolese government could respond to the recent Congo Conflict Minerals Act within the American Dodd-Frank Act (2010) by implementing licenses to mine coltan resources that closely resemble private property rights, drawing on Pearse (1988), in areas of the DRC less affected by conflict.&#x0D; &#x0D; Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo; coltan; tantalum; mining; free market environmentalism; property rights (privatization of)

EU?s Impact on Congo Conflict Through Operation Artemis: An Early Attempt for Crisis Management Capacity?

In June 2003, the European Union (EU) launched 2,000 peacekeeping troops to Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was called Operation Artemis and it was EU’s first European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) operation to be deployed outside Europe and without the NATO assistance. The United Nations (UN) Secretary General called for an interim emergency multinational force (IEMF) to take over the UN’s peacekeeping operation in Bunia, Ituri, for three months until September 2003, when a larger UN force led by Bangladesh would be in place. France was determined to take the lead before it was certain that the IEMF would become an EU military operation. Supported by Britain, the Council adopted a joint action on 4 June, establishing the basis for an EU military operation in DRC. This paper intends to argue, whether Operation Artemis as a solution for Congo Conflict from EU’s perspective, sets a real turning point for crisis management capacity within the strengths and weaknesses of the outcomes of the operation and helped EU to accomplish the real goal and soul of crisis management capacity which lay upon Headline Goals 2003 and 2010 in which EU set the criteria for its crisis management facilities.

Conflict in Congo

Conflict in Congo

Congo Kodaks

Congo Kodaks illustrates new media art's reliance on the suffering of unnamed millions, by using images from the Congo conflict to put cell phone and desktop wallpapers on devices containing coltan possibly/probably obtained from the Congo. The magazine Wallpaper*, as the Bible of Western yuppie design with a healthy gadget obsession, provides the vehicle for the satire.

In Congo's Conflict, a Surprising Twist

It would be foolhardy to believe … that a deal between Kigali and Kinshasa will bring an end to battles for power in North Kivu province.

Central Africa: Crises, Reform and Reconstruction (review)

Reviewed by: Central Africa: Crises, Reform and Reconstruction Goran Hyden Fomin, E. S. D., and John Forje, editors. 2005. Central Africa: Crises, Reform and Reconstruction. Dakar: Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. 258 pp. $29.95 (paper). This is a multidisciplinary book, which addresses two major sets of issues pertinent to Central Africa: (1) nation-building and regional integration, and (2) democratization and governance. Although it focuses more on Cameroon than any other country in the region, it covers a range of issues that are more generally relevant to the contemporary African condition. Thus, among fourteen individual contributions, the coverage includes the problems facing regional economic blocs (Arsene Honoré Gideon Nkama), the paucity of anglophone newspapers (Victor Cheo and Henry Muluh), the management of ethnic diversity (Emmanuel Yenshu Vubo), the NEPAD initiative (Ntangsi Max Memfih), lessons of the DR Congo conflict (Oladiran W. Bello), the tribulations of democratic transition (Valentine Ameli Tabi), and protection against human-rights abuses (Margaret Ayike). The volume is the result of the CODESRIA thirtieth-anniversary conference, held with a focus on Central Africa in Douala in 2003. The contributors, with one or two exceptions, are scholars from the region. It is testimony to the vitality of the academic community, especially in the host country, Cameroon. The editors are senior scholars at the University of Yaounde. Most of the contributors are younger scholars, working in the same university or other institutions of higher learning in Cameroon, including the University of Buea and the University of Tschang. Although the book centers primarily on economic and political issues, contributors represent a variety of disciplines, including history, journalism, economics, sociology, law, and political science. The book is a testimony to the facilitating and catalyzing role played by CODESRIA, which continues to ensure that African academics have a reliable outlet for their research, one that reaches not only countries on the African continent, but also interested fellow academics in Europe and North America. For this reason alone, I am pleased to have had a chance to read and review this book. Like other edited volumes, this volume has its problems. One is the coverage. As the editors point out, Central Africa has never been single political entity. It is more a geographical notion, covering as vast an area as Angola, the Congo Basin, and the Sahelian belt east of Nigeria and west of [End Page 117] the Sudan. It is not easy to find a set of common criteria for comparison—an ambition that the editors also avoid. The contributions are held together by their focus on a single country, Cameroon. The issue that the book does not address directly is how representative the coverage of that country is for the rest of the region. Another problem is coherence. There are some contributions, notably one on youth and environmental education, that really are marginal in relation to the thrust of the book. Even a fascinating narrative, about what happened to a piece of village art with local religious significance—the Afo-a-kom, which was stolen in 1966 and has been lost ever since—is not, despite its focus on the extent to which the theft helped generate a national consciousness in Cameroon, really integrated into the whole. In short, the editors do not strive for a coherence derived from a common theoretical framework. The volume is a loose assemblage of individual contributions, most of which for the benefit of the reader are well researched and interesting in their own right. A third problem is several contributors' tendency to be overly prescriptive. While their concern for recommending reforms and changes in the economic and political systems is understandable, given the frustrations that academics have suffered in Cameroon for many years, their prescriptions typically rest on shallow or insufficient analysis. Even if the reader sympathizes with the authors' recommendations and conclusions, it is usually unclear how they are arrived at and what empirical evidence backs them up. I wish the authors had been more careful and circumspect in treating the economic and political issues that they cover. These reservations notwithstanding, this is a book that deserves attention. It is not necessarily a textbook to be used in...

International law in world politics: an introduction

The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. Iran's plans to build nuclear weapons. Ongoing armed conflict in Congo, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Debates about the responsibility to protect. In each of these headline events, the complex relationship of international law and world politics comes into play. The second edition of International Law in World Politics--thoroughly updated and now including a full chapter on the use of force--introduces the concepts, the rules, and the functioning of international law in a way that is accessible to students of political science. Shirley Scott covers such core topics as the nature of legal argument, the negotiation and implementation of multilateral treaties, and the place of both intergovernmental organizations and nonstate actors in the international legal system. Equally important, she connects the content of laws to current issues and problems, using case studies to bring the subject to life. The result is a rare text that effectively explains the role that international law plays in the changing arena of world politics. Writing an easily accessible but still comprehensive text on the role of international law in current world politics is not easy, yet it is exactly what Shirley Scott has accomplished with this excellent introductory book.--Hanne Hagtvedt Vik, Journal of Peace Research

Women and War in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Previous articleNext article No AccessWomen and War in the Democratic Republic of the CongoNadine PuechguirbalNadine PuechguirbalUnited Nations Headquarters, New York Search for more articles by this author United Nations Headquarters, New YorkPDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Signs Volume 28, Number 4Summer 2003 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/368319 Views: 587Total views on this site Citations: 22Citations are reported from Crossref © 2003 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Karen Culcasi “We are women and men now”: Intimate spaces and coping labour for Syrian women refugees in Jordan, Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 94 (Mar 2019).https://doi.org/10.1111/tran.12292Dalea Bean Introduction, (Dec 2017): 1–25.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68585-4_1Beth Maclin, Jocelyn Kelly, Justin Kabanga, Michael VanRooyen ‘They have embraced a different behaviour’: transactional sex and family dynamics in eastern Congo's conflict, Culture, Health & Sexuality 17, no.11 (Sep 2014): 119–131.https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2014.951395An Verelst, Maarten De Schryver, Eric Broekaert, Ilse Derluyn Mental health of victims of sexual violence in eastern Congo: associations with daily stressors, stigma, and labeling, BMC Women's Health 14, no.11 (Sep 2014).https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-14-106Nicole C. Rodney, Connie J. Mulligan A biocultural study of the effects of maternal stress on mother and newborn health in the Democratic Republic of Congo, American Journal of Physical Anthropology 155, no.22 (Jul 2014): 200–209.https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.22568Demi Simi, Jonathan Matusitz War rape survivors of the Second Congo War: A perspective from symbolic convergence theory, Africa Review 6, no.22 (May 2014): 81–93.https://doi.org/10.1080/09744053.2014.914636Elisabeth Prügl Feminist Interventions in International Relations, (Jan 2014): 149–166.https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137356826_8Ann Laura Stoler Introduction “the Rot Remains”, (Jan 2013): 1–35.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-001Nancy Rose Hunt An Acoustic Register, (Jan 2013): 39–66.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-002E. Valentine Daniel The Coolie, (Jan 2013): 67–114.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-003Greg Grandin Empire's Ruins, (Jan 2013): 115–128.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-004Sharad Chari Detritus in Durban, (Jan 2013): 131–161.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-005John Collins Ruins, Redemption, and Brazil's Imperial Exception, (Jan 2013): 162–193.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-006Ariella Azoulay When a Demolished House Becomes a Public Square, (Jan 2013): 194–224.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-007Gastón Gordillo The Void, (Jan 2013): 227–251.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-008Joseph Masco Engineering the Future as Nuclear Ruin, (Jan 2013): 252–286.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-009Vyjayanthi Rao The Future in Ruins, (Jan 2013): 287–321.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-010 Bibliography, (Jan 2013): 323–353.https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822395850-011COLIN MCINNES HIV, AIDS and conflict in Africa: why isn't it (even) worse?, Review of International Studies 37, no.22 (Jul 2010): 485–509.https://doi.org/10.1017/S0260210510000574NANCY ROSE HUNT AN ACOUSTIC REGISTER, TENACIOUS IMAGES, AND CONGOLESE SCENES OF RAPE AND REPETITION, Cultural Anthropology 23, no.22 (May 2008): 220–253.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2008.00008.xElizabeth A. Castelli Introduction, (Jan 2004): 1–9.https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403981561_1Elisabeth Prügl Les apports féministes aux relations internationales, (): 213–236.https://doi.org/10.4000/books.irdeditions.8786

Complex political emergencies, the international community & the Congo conflict

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is presently confronted with the most severe crisis since its independence. It has been transformed into a battlefield where several African states and national armed movements are simultaneously fighting various wars. Confronted with this acute political emergency, the international community, which has a responsibility in promoting peace and security has given an ambiguous message. In the absence of a clear response, the Southern Africa Development Community played a leading role in the mediation process that ultimately led to the Lusaka Agreement of 10 July 1999. The agreement was, however, signed in a totally different context from the present one. Moreover, the primary objective of the Lusaka Agreement, to topple Laurent Désiré Kabila, has lost its relevance since his assassination and replacement by a (more Western friendly) government led by Joseph Kabila. With the Lusaka Agreement signed by most of the belligerents, the international community had a framework through which to channel its growing involvement. However, confronted by the signatories to the Lusaka Agreement who were not ready for peace and therefore continuously violated established rules of international law and found pretexts to not observe the agreement, the international community remained divided and unwilling to become more involved ‐ particularly in light of the Somalia and Rwanda debacles. In the absence of this commitment, however, the whole idea of African renaissance could be put in jeopardy.