scholarly journals Implementing DDR in Settings of Ongoing Conflict: The Organization and Fragmentation of Armed Groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Richards
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Republic Of Congo

scholarly journals Navigating social spaces: armed mobilization and circular return in Eastern DR Congo

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koen Vlassenroot ◽  
Emery Mudinga ◽  
Josaphat Musamba
Keyword(s):  
Social Mobility ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Social Spaces ◽  
Dr Congo ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Refugee Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Pendular State

Abstract This article discusses the social mobility of combatants and introduces the notion of circular return to explain their pendular state of movement between civilian and combatant life. This phenomenon is widely observed in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where Congolese youth have been going in and out of armed groups for several decades now. While the notion of circular return has its origins in migration and refugee studies, we show that it also serves as a useful lens to understand the navigation capacity between different social spaces of combatants and to describe and understand processes of incessant armed mobilization and demobilization. In conceptualizing these processes as forms of circular return, we want to move beyond the remobilization discourse, which is too often connected to an assumed failure of disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration processes. We argue that this discourse tends to ignore combatants’ agency and larger processes of socialization and social rupture as part of armed mobilization.

State-Building and Peacebuilding in Somalia

2019 ◽  
pp. 203-214
Author(s):  
Thania Paffenholz ◽  
Constance Dijkstra ◽  
Andreas Hirblinger
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
State Building ◽  
Peace Building ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Informed Decisions ◽  
Building Process

This chapter provides insights on pertinent issues for Somalia's state-building process by examining how other countries have experienced state-building and peace-building, with a particular focus on the inclusion and exclusion of certain actors. The aim is to help policymakers make more informed decisions and avoid mistakes that have been generated in other contexts. The chapter focuses on four key themes that are relevant to the context of Somalia: the role of extremist armed groups, the influence of elites, the devolution of power, and the constitution-drafting processes. It is shown that the peace-building and state-building processes of Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, and Yemen are of particular relevance for Somalia.

The Congo Wars

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Filip Reyntjens
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Wars ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Military Victory

The successive Congo wars (1996–1997; 1998–2003) involved many countries of the region and myriad governmental armies and nonstate armed groups. They were, to a large extent, a spillover from the 1990–1994 Rwandan civil war and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. 1.5 million people who fled the country in the wake of the Rwanda Patriotic Front’s military victory settled in Zaire just across the border, and refugee-warriors among them threatened the new regime in place in Kigali. Uganda, Burundi, and Angola were also attacked by insurgent groups operating, at least in part, from Zaire. This led to a regional alliance in support of a Zairean rebel movement that toppled the Mobutu regime in May 1997. The problems at the origin of the first war were not settled with the installation of Laurent Kabila as the new president of what became the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rwanda, followed by Uganda, launched a new war in August 1998, but this was not a remake of the first. As all actors reasoned in terms of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend,” alliances shifted dramatically and erstwhile friends became enemies. Hostility between Rwanda and Uganda persists up to today. This led to a military stalemate and eventually to a fragile peace deal in 2003. However, the main factors behind the wars have not disappeared, namely the weakness of the Congolese state and the territorial extension of neighboring countries’ civil wars and insurgencies. Eastern DRC remains unstable and widespread violence continuous to claim many civilian lives.

Abetting atrocities? Reporting the perspectives of perpetrators in research on violence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Broache
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Risks And Benefits ◽  
Material Benefits

This chapter explores ethical dilemmas arising from research involving perpetrators of atrocities, specifically the possibility that such research may aid perpetrators and abet future atrocities. Drawing from the researcher’s experiences interviewing members of armed groups involved in atrocities in the Democratic Republic of Congo, this chapter identifies two possible mechanisms through which research involving perpetrators may abet future atrocities. The first mechanism, “direct assistance,” entails provision of money, material benefits, or information to perpetrators. The second mechanism, “dissemination,” involves providing a platform for an individual or organization’s ideology or broader “story,” intentionally or unintentionally. This chapter then concludes by reflecting upon how researchers might mitigate attendant ethical dilemmas by incorporating possibilities for abetting atrocities in analyses of the risks and benefits of research.

scholarly journals Forced, coerced and voluntary recruitment into rebel and militia groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo

2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-326 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanne Richards
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Democratic Republic Of Congo ◽  
International Community ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Republic Of Congo ◽  
Popular Support ◽  
Rebel Group

ABSTRACTWhy do non-state armed groups forcibly recruit civilians? To address this question I develop a conceptual framework distinguishing voluntary, coerced and forced recruitment. I then compare the recruitment tactics employed by ‘Mai-Mai’ militias and the RCD-Goma rebel group in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in order to inductively develop a theory explaining why groups with different initial economic and social endowments resort to force. This comparison draws on interviews with 41 former militia members and 11 former members of RCD-Goma. The theory suggests that forced recruitment is most likely to occur when non-state armed groups experience manpower deficits and when accountability (to local communities, government sponsors and/or the international community) is low. High levels of popular support will not necessarily prevent recourse to force under these conditions, but may mean that force is less necessary because voluntary and coerced recruits come forward to fill manpower gaps.

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