Congo Publications

The Lord’s Resistance Army continues to pose a severe threat to civilians in Democratic Republic of the Congo. Since the LRA began attacking civilians on Congolese soil in September of 2008 through the end of 2009, it has killed approximately 1,800 civilians.

In December I travelled to Walikale territory, the vast and remote region of North Kivu, scene of much of the fighting during the past year, and home to some of the region’s most lucrative mines. This is the second of two Field Dispatches looking at the crisis in eastern Congo on the ground.

In a trip to Democratic Republic of the Congo in December 2009, Enough researchers found abundant evidence of brutal ongoing violence committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA. This is the first of two dispatches based upon my visit to Haut Uele.

2009 saw optimistic statements about the situation in Congo. However, my experience on the ground in North Kivu seemed to point to a different picture. This is the first of two field dispatches based on my travel to contentious territories in the region.

“I myself was kidnapped by the LRA,” Joseph Bikwalubi Musafiri told me. “My story is especially interesting because it is about a government authority kidnapped by the LRA.”

Congo’s mineral wealth continues to play a central role in the country’s conflict dynamics. Despite the upsurge in displacement and atrocities during 2009, multinational companies continue to purchase minerals from the war zone.

The view from the ground in South Kivu, eastern Congo, reveals a deeply insecure environment as a result of the military offensive Kimia II.

Here in North Kivu province, anxiety about the return of Congolese refugees from Rwanda has long been an especially contentious issue.

Enough experts lead you down the path of the 3Ts—tin, tantalum, tungsten—and gold from the mines of Eastern Congo all the way to your cell phone.

There are now two major sources of insecurity in South Kivu: reprisal attacks by the FDLR seeking to punish civilian populations for ‘supporting’ the government offensive, and a wider climate of abuses and atrocities committed by the Congolese army, local militias with shifting loyalties, and other bandits and armed groups.

The human cost of Operation Kimia II—the ongoing joint offensive by the Congolese army and United Nations peacekeepers against Rwandan rebels in eastern Congo—outweighs its benefits. To prevent this crisis from deteriorating further, and to ensure that those military gains that have been achieved can be secured, the Congolese government should suspend new offensive operations and work vigorously with the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo, or MONUC, and international donors to put in place a more effective counterinsurgency approach.

For 13 years, the people of eastern Congo have been ensnared in a tangled web of armed groups—from foreign rebels to the Congo’s own army—who prey on Congolese civilians and, with collaboration from governments and multinational corporations, strip the country of its immense natural wealth. This conflict can only end when the international community abandons the piecemeal approach it has adopted to deal with this multi-layered and immensely complex conflict and takes a holistic approach to peacemaking.

Testimony of John Prendergast, Co-founder of the Enough Project,
Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

Companies that produce electronics that could contain conflict minerals from eastern Congo have a responsibility to ensure that their business dealings are not inadvertently helping to fuel atrocities. This is not an easy task, but it is achievable.

Companies that produce electronics that could contain conflict minerals from eastern Congo have a responsibility to ensure that their business dealings are not inadvertently helping to fuel atrocities. This is not an easy task, but it is achievable.