DRC: THE BUSINESS OF WAR IN CENTRAL AFRICA

Patrick Burnett, Fahamu

Local government administrations installed in occupied provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by rebel forces backed by Rwanda and Uganda survive through a war economy, with mineral, agriculture and forest resources extracted and sold to multinationals via Rwanda and Uganda, according to a paper on local governance in conflict situations.
The result, figures presented by the paper show, has been a trading boom for Rwanda and Uganda since they became involved in the war that has engulfed central Africa.
For example, between 1994 and 2 000, gold exports increased from 0.22 tons to 10.83 tons. Cobalt exports increased from 67.48 tons in 1999 to 275.98 tons in 2 000. Diamond exports improved from slightly over 1 500 carats in 1994 to more than 9 000 carats in 2 000. Ugandan timber and coffee production also saw drastic increases between the period 1998 and 2 000, with coffee production booming from nearly 145 000 sacs in 1998 to 208 000 in 2 000. Timber production rose from 1 900 cubic metres in 1998 to 3 372 in 2 000.
Rwandan figures show a similar increase. In 1995, the country’s gold production stood at 1kg. This had rocketed to 10kg by 2 000. Crude diamond exports since intervention had risen from just over 13 000 carats in 1997 to 30 000 in 2 000.
The paper containing the figures is entitled ‘Local Governance for Sustainable Development in Conflict Situations: The Congo Example’ by Professor Roger Kibasomba from the Public and Development Management School of Wits University and the University of Kinsasha in the DRC. It was recently presented at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
Detailing the complicated nature of local governance in the region, the paper said rebel forces in occupied territories had established shadow local administrations protected by local armies and the police. These unofficial security forces were opposed by local militia and Burundian, Rwandan and Ugandan rebels in a volatile mix of unpredictable shifting alliances, war dynamics and highly sophisticated informal war entrepreneurship.
Military expenses of these unofficial local administrations and armies were hidden into the defence budgets of Rwandan and Ugandan governments. Like many other countries, the military in Rwanda and Uganda had income sources outside the formal budget and these extra budgetary activities hid personal financial interests behind claims of national and border security.
Identifying the collapse of the governance system in the DRC, the paper says breakdown of central and local government, the institutionalisation of personal rule, privatisation of the state system and marginalisation of rural populations contributed to the problem. There was also increased dependence on external forces in the form of the international finance institutions who influenced domestic policies and the constitution of the political order.
In this context, the local governance system was paralysed due to the dependency of central government on external financial, economic and military forces. Grassroots populations were also disassociated from elites.
While community development could be an effective solution to the current governance crisis, there was the ever-present fear of secession from separatist or tribalist movements as the DRC was inhabited by over 400 ethnic communities and the need to maximise resources through centralised planning.
Reasons for the prevalence of conflict included the over centralisation of power and resources in Kinsasha, the system of personalised rule and corruption institutionalised by the former president, Mobuto Sese-Seko and central government losing control over local government functions. In turn, local government had lost control of local communities and local grassroots populations had developed self-governing systems that were distrustful of a central authority system. - ENDS