English

On 17 February 2010, UNHCR, Rwanda and DRC signed the Tripartite Agreement1 for the reciprocal repatriation of refugees between Rwanda and DRC. It has raised concerns, however, regarding the land conflicts which had already reached alarming proportions in Masisi and Rutshuru territories and their place in the overall peace process in North Kivu.

Land-based conflicts are at the root of the turmoil in eastern DRC, where land constitutes both an insurance for bad economic times and a foundation of individual and community identity. All land in DRC is owned by the Congolese state, and legally Congolese people only have the right to use it. Customary chiefs receive tribute in exchange for granting to their people the right to use the land, thereby creating a form of stewardship, a collective system of risk management for economic uncertainty.

Current intervention programmes in DRC rarely focus on ‘youth’ as a social subcategory but tend rather to single out children or child combatants as preferable target groups. This is surprising given the current focus on ‘youth bulges’ in Africa and the risk such youth are believed to represent for the outbreak and re-emergence of violent conflict. Besides such negative stereotyping, very little research is done on youth employment and their opportunities for a better life in the aftermath of war.   

Conservation-induced economic and physical displacement cannot be treated as a minor issue since it affects the lives and livelihoods of as many as 17 million people in DRC – nearly 25% of the total population.

30,000: the number of children who have been enrolled, voluntarily or by force, in the armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Although it is one of the most shocking aspects, the issue of press-ganged children (generally called ‘child soldiers’) does not cover all of the problems encountered by children in armed conflicts. They may be abducted, killed, injured, mutilated or uprooted from their original community. They may be orphaned, separated from their parents, subjected to violence or sexual abuse or deprived of education and healthcare.

“At lunchtime we heard gunshots. We left the house as quickly as possible. It was too late. A group of about 80 LRA men arrived and encircled us. They tied us up and then shot and killed my grandfather right in front of me. They took me and my three brothers into the bush, leaving behind my mother and grandmother. After an hour of walking they separated us and I was left with my 14-year-old brother Patrick. My two other brothers were never seen again.

In the UN General Assembly’s review of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), DRC’s MDG indicators are among the worst in the world – and not only in the east of the country where the world is aware of the conflicts and humanitarian crisis but in the west too. It is well known that DRC has all the makings of providing an economic motor for Africa but the brakes on its progress are, most importantly, governance and state authority, security, and infrastructure, all of which are chronically weak.