Facing personal and environmental security challenges in post-conflict settings: The case-study of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Since , the Democratic Republic of the Congo (ex Zaire) has
been caught into geostrategic battles, in particular in the Kivu region.
The origin of those conflicts can be traced back to the insurrection of
the Banyamulenge for the recognition of some of their denied civil and
political rights that occurred in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.
Some historians argue that the Banyamulenge are ethnic Tutsis, originally
from Rwanda, who emigrated to the Kivu region prior to the colonial
period. Others suggest that they arrived in Congo after the country had
become a Belgian colony in , which would have disqualified them
from the right to control communal land after the country’s independence,
following the  Congolese constitution. Despite the political deals
recognizing their previously denied civil and political rights signed after
the last two wars (– and –), reports by Freedom House,
the United Kingdom Home Office and the Immigration and Refugee
Board of Canada suggest that some Banyamulenge are perceived by
other Congolese citizens as the main responsible of the Congo crisis.
The purpose of the first part of this paper is twofold. Firstly, it seeks to
understand the extent to which the post–colonial borders of the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, in particular of its Kivu region, account for the recent armed conflicts between Congo and Rwanda, and secondly, it
will examine the strengths and weaknesses of the measures adopted by
the Congolese government for the recognition of the Banyamulenge’s
political and civil rights from a conflict prevention perspective. These
goals will be achieved through a review of available literature on the
topic.
The second part of the paper will cover aspects of emergencies linked
to a Sustainable and Responsible Development in the Democratic
Republic of Congo. In fact, Congo is one of the richest countries in the
world in terms of gold and diamond mines, important minerals in the
electronics industry such as Coltan, and in terms of biodiversity — flora
and fauna. However, Congo is also one of the world’s most troubled
and poorest countries. The major part of the rebels’ activities consists of
abuses against civilians and illegal exploitation of natural resources, be
they metals, ivory or wood.
During the civil war in Rwanda, in the early nineties, over half a
million of Rwandan refugees were forced by the violence of the fighting
to take refuge in the Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic
of Congo: the forests were plundered of their timber and wildlife; even
the mountain gorillas, endangered species, were killed and used as food.
It should be noted that in the north of the Democratic Republic of
Congo there is one of the world’s largest areas of the equatorial forest,
hence, very important in the fight against climate change. One aspect
that is often not fully taken into account in the study and analysis of
conflicts is the fact that in addition to being a human and economic
catastrophe, conflicts represent an ecological disaster.