The recent Civil War in Congo has been a bloody flight, causing more then 3.3 million deaths in just 4 short years.1 Various rebel and ethnic groups have have been involved in the violence, fighting over Congo's rich natural resources or engaged in a bitter ethnic war. With so many opposing factions, it has made reaching a solution difficult. While a rough peace treaty has been established, sporadic fighting pops up in the country everyday. The people of Congo are being pushed farther into poverty and starvation can't handle the fighting for very much longer. I propose that the solution to the post-Civil War violence in Congo is to rid the country of all foreign nations and their problems, namely the …show more content…
Shortly thereafter, Kabila's son Joseph was sworn in as the temporary President of Congo. Joseph, in contrast to his father, is working hard to successfully achieve peace in Congo. He has already taken a first step by assembling series of peace agreements, including the Lusaka Peace Agreement and the Pretoria Accord. The only problem with these agreements is that not everyone is following them.
Today, with the signing of the Sun City agreement a more permanent government has been set up. Joseph Kabila has remained the President, while 4 new vice presidents have been instated, two of which tried to overthrow Kabila during the war. Rebel groups have been integrated into the country's police force and army, and the state of affairs appears to have improved. However there are still some other rebels who have not signed or followed the agreements. These rebels are mostly based in the east on the border of Rwanda, and have a bad history with the Rwandans. The smallest event could trigger a full out war between Rwandans and rebels on Congo's soil. Furthermore, Rwanda is aggravating the situation by threatening to go into Congo and hunt down the Hutu Rebels based there.7 Along with the Rwandan crisis, another problem concerning
Rwanda is still having conflict now and they are still trying to resolve some problems they have and they are trying to shake off their image of what happened in 1994
Considering the UN’s recent failures to facilitate peace in Africa, more care should have gone into assigning leadership roles. While Dallaire came across as a passionate and enthusiastic leader, he admitted he lacked experience and had no prior knowledge on the history of Rwandan cultural or its ethnic conflicts. Even as Dallaire set up his campaign in a rundown hotel in Kigal the peace agreement was being undermined. His arrival was marked by a slew of riots and assassinations, all of which were tests of his ability to maintain the peace. It soon became apparent to Dallaire and Hutu extremist than the UN was ill prepared to handle the peace keeping mission at hand.
Over a period from 1960-1965, the first Republic of the Congo experienced a period of serious crisis. There was a terrible war for power that displayed senseless violence and the desperation to rule. There were many internal conflicts among the people. The country eventually gained independence from Belgium. For many countries this would be a time for celebration. Unfortunately for the people of the Congo this became a time to forget. Almost immediately after independence and the general elections, the country went into civil war. Major developed cities like Katanga and Kasai wanted to be independent from the Lumumba government. Different factions started to fight the government and Katanga and Kasai tried to secede from the rest
Formerly known as Zaire, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC) is located in the center of Africa bordered by nine different countries and one territory. (Lerner, 10) The bordering countries are Central African Republic and Sudan at the northern boarder, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Burundi on the eastern boarder, Zambia and Angola directly South of DROC and Congo on the Western boarder.
Disease such as malaria are degrading the society and causing a lack of educated youth in the Congo. The children are the future of any society. The main goal of the United States is to have a well educated and effective group of children who will grow up and lead the country to success. The Congo off course would
Sub point 1: Cause 1: According to the journal article The DRC's Crumbling Legitimacy in 2012, written by foreign policy analyst Dizolele and lawyer Kambale, the 2011 presidential election in the DRC have led to a crisis of legitimacy. Over 100 people who were against current Congolese president Joseph Kabila, who has been suspected of fraud in his election result, were wounded in the capital
1909, over one hundred years ago, was the death of King Leopold of Belgium the sole owner of the Congo. Even years after he has left this earth and is no longer in the reign, the long-lasting effects he has had on the people and the land has forever changed the Congo. The memories left behind from the atrocities that occurred and the diminished resources due to extreme exploitation has prompted the author Adam Hochschild to write the novel, King Leopold’s Ghost. Using an Afrocentric point of view Hochschild describes how the events that took place under Leopold’s orders were acts of true terror and inhumanity.
In 2001, Kabila was assassinated, leading to him being replaced by his son Joseph Kabila (ECI). According to the Eastern Congo Initiative, the Congo held its first democratic elections in 2006, with Kabila being elected. At the same time, however, multiple armed groups gained power and began fighting over control of mineral resources in the Eastern Congo, resulting in more civilian lives. To this day they still continue to fight, and despite multiple peace treaties, the violence does not end (ECI).
Rwanda has a long history that has contributed to their experiences of great violence and suffering and therefore the need for a peacekeeping. In pre-colonial times there was a division between the superior people being the Tutsi’ and the peasant people being the Hutu’s. King Ruganzu Ndori, being a Tutsi outlined Hutu’s area and showed no hesitation in treating any Hutu’s who opposed the order with unmitigated harshness.
Over the course of human history, many believe that the “Congo Free State”, which lasted from the 1880s to the early 1900s, was one of the worst colonial states in the age of Imperialism and was one of the worst humanitarian disasters over time. Brutal methods of collecting rubber, which led to the deaths of countless Africans along with Europeans, as well as a lack of concern from the Belgian government aside from the King, combined to create the most potent example of the evils of colonialism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century’s. The Congo colonial experience, first as the Congo Free State then later as Belgian Congo, was harmful to that region of Africa both then and now because of the lack of Belgian and International
The issues that Democratic Republic of the Congo is having today, what has happened since they were colonized during the age of exploration, nothing has really changed to help the people of the Congo’s have better lives. There is less things happening in the Congo, but there is still the fright of getting attacked, people are still labouring all day working for almost nothing and the economy is not making much change from how it started. There has been barely anything done to help heal the Congo, and the scars of colonization’s past remain open, unable to be healed back to good
In the past, many incidents of genocide have occurred, like the Armenian genocide or the Rwandan genocide. While these incidents may seem unrelated to current times, similar incidents are starting to occur in many parts of the world and one such place is Congo. Many sources hint that the conflict that occurs in Congo is a genocide because many elements of genocide appear in the conflict like classification or dehumanization. While what they say has some truth in the sense that this conflict contains some element of genocide but, not enough elements are present to make it a genocide. Although many would believe that the conflict in Congo is a genocide, there is evidence of the conflict being a territorial and power dispute because some countries invading Congo want the resources, others want power, and the cause of the conflict in Congo is the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.
This is a tale of horror and tragedy in the Congo, beginning with the brutal and exploitative regime of King Leopold II of Belgium, and culminating with the downfall of one of Africa’s most influential figures, Patrice Lumumba. The Congo is but one example of the greater phenomenon of European occupation of Africa. The legacy of this period gives rise to persistent problems in the Congo and throughout Africa. Understanding the roots and causes of this event, as focused through the lense of the Congo, is the subject of this paper.
The Republic of Congo’s government will continue to weaken and will not be able to work successfully. To strengthen the economy you must first have balance in the political development and democracy, which in fact is organized by policies modeled by The World Bank (International Monetary Fund 6).
While still struggling to achieve peace with Sudan since its independence in 2011, South Sudan is now rife with inner-conflict. Rebel forces led by the former Vice-President Riek Machar want to overthrow the South Sudanese government, led by President Salva Kiir.