Conflicts in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

In April 2012, the Congolese President Joseph Kabila had deployed some 1,000 soldiers to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the most significant mineral-rich region of the country. In addition to its mineral wealth in tin, cassiterite, coltan and gold deposits, this region, which includes North and South Kivu provinces, is also the most ungoverned part of the country; in recent years it has operated beyond the control of Kinshasa.

Local militants such as National Congress for the Defense of the People and the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, have been more loyal to neighbouring Rwanda and to a lesser extent Uganda despite being nominally under Kinshasa’s purview, and control the area with greater authority than the central government.

• With the troop deployment, Kabila hopes to replace the leaders of these militias with agents more loyal to Kinshasa. However, hundreds within the DRC military have defected to some of the regional militias, which are re-mobilizing their forces to counter what they see as a challenge to their power and financial resources.
• The deployment is also intended to achieve one of Kabila’s economic goals: increasing Kinshasa’s share of revenue raised by the mineral market in eastern DRC, where illicit trading heretofore has favored Rwanda and Uganda. But without assistance from these two countries, which already profit greatly from the mineral trade, the DRC will be unsuccessful in its efforts to assert authority in the Kivu provinces.