Congo Ethnic Conflict Jacob Norby and Atrik Patel

Democratic Republic of Congo

Diversity of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) -Main languages spoken in Congo-French, Kikongo, Lingala, Swahili, and Tshiluba -Religions followed are majorly (75-90%) Christianity, a mix of mostly Catholic and a fair amount of Protestant sects, some Islam, and original tribal spiritism, -Ethnic groups in the DRC is majorly the indigenous Bantu people, which are a conglomerate of the remnants of the Kongo, Teke, Luba, Pende, Yaka, and others. Also there a few non-Bantu groups of nearby African nations: the Hutu, Tutsi, and many other Sudanic groups.

Ethnicities: Where and Why? As seen in the previous slide there are many ethnic groups in the DRC. There are those that are present in the DRC and claim land, and there are also those from outside the DRC (like from Rwanda and other neighboring countries) that also claim land in the DRC. But why are there so many different ethnicities that encompass/claim DRC land from both inside and outside the DRC? This is because the DRC is rich in many resources, such as gold, diamonds, and other resources. There are many ethnic groups that are each trying their best to get a hold of DRC land so they can also get a hand on their resources. Also many of these ethnicities share a country because it was imperialist Europeans who drew the borders, who took little or no account of what ethnicities or cultures lived in the given area.

Major Cause of the Conflicts -DRC has massive amount of untapped resources such as diamonds, zinc, gold, copper, and cobalt. Because the resources of the country aren’t being exploited by its indigenous people, many outside groups come in to try to do so. -Most outside forces, such as South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Uganda, would take a side with the Tutsis or the Hutus, or simply acted as a third party trying to regulate the conflict, but basically used the conflict as a cover to exploit the resources of the area. -The basic conflict of the Tutsis and the Hutus, which acted as a catalyst for the outside forces to enter the conflict, originated as a cultural and ethnic conflict between the two groups, which erupted when the Hutus committed a genocide of the Tutsis. -

The Conflict: In Depth and Connections The conflict of the DRC spreads over many years, all involving the possession of the valuable resources of the DRC. First, the major problem took place in the early 20th century, when Belgian forces invaded the DRC and enslaved the millions of people living on the land. Of course, people were not happy with this and fought for independence in 1960, which almost led to the whole country falling apart. “Luckily”, a Joseph Mobutu took control of this land and unified the nation under the name Zaire (instead of the DRC). However, just by changing the name of county didn’t make the conflict any better.

The Conflict (cont.) Mobutu quickly became greedy and started using the country’s resources to become rich, denying the people he was supposed to watch over and causing the country to plummet out of control. Meanwhile, in the neighboring country of Rwanda, the two ethnicities of Hutu and Tutsis were fighting each other. The Hutus committed a huge genocide of the Tutsis, but the Tutsis were quick to respond and overthrew the Hutu government, making a Tutsi dominated Rwandan government. This forced the Hutu refugees to flee into Zaire (DRC). Now Zaire was added into this Hutu and Tutsi conflict.

The Conflict (cont.) The new Hutus in Zaire allied with Mobutu (the aforementioned corrupt leader) and fought against the Tutsis already living in Zaire. In response, the Rwandan Tutsi government fought against these Hutus and eventually overthrew Zaire leader Mobutu, put in a new leader named Laurent Kabila, and changed the name Zaire back to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). But conflict was not over yet. The Tutsis wanted Kabila to fight against the Hutus again, but since he couldn’t do so, the Tutsis sent another militia to try and overthrow him. Kabila allied with other countries to fight against the Tutsis once more.

Overall Summary Of Conflict This conflict and its aftermath led to 5 million deaths, with many accounts of brutal murders, rapes, etc. “All sides were accused of using the cover of the war to loot the country's riches” (BBC). While the main cause of the conflict may seem like it was cultural disagreeance, it was just an excuse for warlords, corrupt leaders, and ethnic groups to try and take the DRC and neighboring country’s land and resources. However, right now a central government has started to gain control in the DRC and democratic elections have started to rise, partly due to UN intervention. The UN is also present in the DRC under a peacekeeping mission. Some may argue that this is only an excuse to also allow the UN to also exploit the resources of the DRC.

20th Century: Belgian forces invade the Congo 1997 Mobutu overthrown by Tutsis. Kabila takes power, but falls into conflict with the Tutsis 1999-Present: Other groups arise such as the M23, Zimbabwe, and the UN, and try to intervene 1960 Mobutu takes control of DRC 1994: Hutu and Tutsi conflict in Rwanda. Hutus fled to Congo Timeline

5 Themes Location: The major conflict takes place in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is relative to Rwanda (its neighboring country). However, Rwanda is especially relevant to the conflict in the Congo because the conflict from Rwanda (Hutus vs. Tutsis) bled over into the Congo. Place: The Congo is characteristically defined by its wealth of resources, which include gold, diamonds, etc. This was the main cause of the conflict. Human-Environment Interaction: Again, the major part of this interaction is due to the resources of the Congo. Ways that people would get the resources would be mining, drilling, etc., which accounts for the human environment interaction. Movement: Movement would include the Hutus fleeing into the Congo, militia movement inside the Congo, UN patrol missions inside the Congo, etc. Region: The Congo is a part of the Sub-Saharan Africa region. It is also a part of the Central Africa region.

Hypotheses #1- What has been done and its future Right now, the solution that has resulted in a more peaceful time is the institution of a more central government and the involvement of the UN. However, this will not work in the future. This is because what will most likely happen in the future will be that the UN will just try to install a greater hold over the Congo under the term of “peacekeeping”. Not only will this allow for the UN forces to have a greater presence in the Congo, but it will also let them control the other things such as the resources and elections in the reason. This will all be against the public's will, causing more conflict in the region. Furthermore, once the UN forces are stable in the Congo, they will not back down and let the Congo run itself, which is a major problem for the people in the DRC.

Hypothesis #2- What should have been done Throughout the entire Congo conflict, there have been many points in which the dispute could have been solved or put on a better track. One of the more significant of these instances would be when Joseph Mobutu took power. Many of the roots of today’s current conflict stemmed from his actions. Rather, a solution that would have solved the conflict all the way back in 1960, would have been to oust Mobutu and implement a proper democratic government, by means of US involvement, as revolutions to overthrow the despotic leader by the Congolese people were unsuccessful. Having a strong US presence early in the conflict would have been crucial to not only stopping the future disputes but also would have greatly improved as countries rebuilt by the US at that time, such as Germany and Japan, are now thriving and extremely successful core countries now, and following this trend, if the US got involved with the Congo conflict, the Democratic Republic of Congo would be in a much better shape socially and economically, as well as being much better equipped to deal with future conflict of the Tutsi and Hutu, and subsequent reemersions of the issue. Also, as the US has done with the previous countries they have rebuilt, the US would have stepped back once the people were ready to be self-sufficient and thus would lead to the creation of another core country in the world, which could do much good in the future.

Relevant Video This video is great at visually explaining the conflict that has gone on the Democratic Republic of Congo and how it relates to the surrounding countries as well. Vv8llEj0CXw

5 Questions How have the resources in the DRC played a role in the conflict present in the land? What were the roles of the different political leaders in the DRC conflict? How have other countries surrounding the Congo played a role in the conflict? What were critical turning points in the history of Congo that greatly shaped the future of the conflict? Video Question: How have the strengths/weaknesses of the Central African borders affected the rise/fall of different groups such as militias, as well as their ideals?

Sources: mocratic_Republic_of_the_Congo mocratic_Republic_of_the_Congo