CONGO’S PRIVATISED WAR ECONOMY
CONGO’S PRIVATISED WAR ECONOMY
In recent years, Congo has evolved from a military dictatorship to a state in shatters, in which local warlords and foreign actors have taken control over the country’s assets, plundered its infrastructure and dumped it into a state of banditry.
While Rwanda and Uganda initially invaded Congo because of security reasons, their motivation has gradually shifted to pure economic gain.
A UN Panel of Experts concluded that profits from the natural resources of the DRC have become a « primary motive » for the warring parties. Numerous other reports have put the blame on the occupying armies, as they continue to fuel the ethnic strife in eastern DRC for purely economic reasons.
The result of this strategy is a country in chaos, with no clear government or infrastructure, and a population that is under-nourished and on the run.
A number of peace initiatives have been taken to end this conflict, mostly with limited success.
This war economy would not have grown to such an extent without the willing cooperation of some private companies. The UN Panel of Experts on DRC already pointed the finger to various European and other enterprises, which have cooperated with the warring parties to export Congo’s diamonds and other precious resources.
However, it is not just the Ugandan and Rwandan states that profit from the commercial activities of their armies in DR Congo, but the plundering of Congo’s resources is orchestrated by increasingly privatised networks, in which the armies of the occupying countries play a vast role.
Démocratie Chrétienne, D.C. 