Armed Conflict and Human Rights in DRC, July 2015

Armed Conflict and Human Rights in DR Congo 1
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July 2015

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Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................3
Background ...................................................................................................................................................3
Impacts of Ongoing Conflict..........................................................................................................................6
Natural Resources and “Conflict Minerals” ..................................................................................................7
Conclusions .................................................................................................................................................13
By Melissa Jean for Claret Consulting
Graphic design by Natalie Young
July 2015

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Introduction
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (also referred to as DRC or DR Congo) covers a huge
area; it is the third-largest country in Africa and is home to roughly 66 million people from
at least 250 different ethnic groups. It is also home to the deadliest conflict since World
War II. A series of peer-reviewed studies collected in 2008 by the International Rescue
Committee put the death toll at 5.4 million people since 1998.1 If the estimates of 45,000
deaths per month continued to be accurate and consistent, one observer estimated, by
2010 over 7 million people died in connection with the crisis.2 Rape, torture, and slavery
are manifestations of the conflict. Considering the widespread destruction and high death
toll wrought by the conflict, mentions of the crisis—let alone substantive evaluations of the
complex regional and global influences and impacts—are relatively few and far between in
the media outlets of the Global North. However, increasing media coverage often focuses on
the global dimensions of the conflict, informing media consumers in the Global North that
the conflict is being fueled in part by resources that are used to manufacture products that
most Americans and Europeans use regularly: namely, cell phones, computers, videogames,
and other electronics equipment.3
This issue paper will provide background information on the history and current situation
of DR Congo, with an emphasis on some of the most reported negative impacts of ongoing
armed conflict on the region’s inhabitants. Next, the paper will offer an analysis of multiple
perspectives on the relationship between natural resources and armed conflict in general,
and “conflict minerals” in DR Congo specifically.
Background
The current situation in DR Congo can only be understood, as is the case for so many
African countries, with consideration for the context and legacy of European colonialism.
Central Africa has been home to a wide variety of tribes and societies—from small hunter-
gatherer tribes to large empires. In 1492, Portuguese explorers arrived at the mouth of the
Congo river, the first Europeans to contact the Bakongo empire. The initial contact was
mostly peaceful, but over time the Portuguese expanded their slave trade, sending slaves to
Brazil and the Caribbean. Although slavery had existed in the Bakongo empire prior to the
arrival of the Portuguese, the Bakongo rulers were alarmed at the growth in the trade
under Portuguese rule, and after several centuries of regional conflict, the Portuguese were
eventually expelled.4 The land area was claimed by King Leopold of Belgium in 1885,
“organized” as a private corporation, and named the Congo Free State (the setting for
1
International Rescue Committee. (IRC). (2008). Measuring mortality in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Retrieved from http://www.rescue.org/sites/default/files/resource-file/IRC_DRCMortalityFacts.pdf
2
Kristof, N. (2010, February 6). The world capital of killing. The New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
3
Hochschild, A. (2010, March/April). Blood and treasure. Mother Jones. Retrieved from
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/02/congo-gold-adam-hochschild
4
Renton, D., Seddon, D. & Zeilig, L. (2007). The Congo: Plunder & Resistance. Zed Books: New York, NY.

4
Joseph Conrad's famous novella The Heart of Darkness). Leopold first sought to obtain and
export ivory, but when the ivory trade was less lucrative than expected Leopold and his
agents moved onto trade in rubber. The trade came to be known internationally as “red
rubber,” “as if the trees grew on the blood of Leopold’s dead.”5
Under Leopold’s rule, the local population was
ceaselessly exploited; it is estimated that in the first
20 years of colonial rule, half of the local population,
at least 10 million Africans, were killed as a result of
brutal enslavement, displacement, disease, and a
rapidly-declining birth rate.6 King Leopold, on the
other hand, made a fortune in rubber. In fact, the
colonialists pioneered forced labor techniques that
were adopted in neighboring colonies: severed
hands and the chicotte, sharp-edged whips made of
flayed hippopotamus hide, became the symbols of
the iron hand of colonial rule.7 When reports about
the horrendous conditions in the Free State became
known in Europe, an international human rights
movement emerged and joined ideological forces
with Congolese resistance movements that had
been stirring in DR Congo since the arrival of the
Europeans. In 1908 the Belgian parliament took
over the Free State from Leopold, renamed it the
Belgian Congo, and placed the territory under a
“traditional” paternalistic colonial system. Rubber
was replaced by copper as the predominant export,
and exploitative labor practices continued—less brutal than during Leopold’s reign, but
with the roots of the forced labor system still intact.
In 1960, the Congo attained independence, and a period of political turmoil followed.
Nationalist Patrice Lumumba ruled briefly, but within a year of his election he was
overthrown and assassinated with the assistance of the United States CIA.8 Mobutu Sese
Soko, one of the truly corrupt dictators in modern history, came to power and ruled for
three decades. During his presidency, copper was replaced by cobalt as the natural
resource driving the national economy, but so many historical threads were still
interwoven: The looting of natural resources for the benefit of the elites, the rampant
5
Renton, D., Seddon, D., & Zeilig, L. (2007).
6
Hochschild, A. (1998). King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Horror and Heroism in Colonial Africa. Houghton-
Mifflin: New York, New York.
7
Hochschild, A. (2009, August 13). Rape of the Congo. The New York Review of Books.
Retrieved, from http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/aug/13/rape-of-the-congo/?page=3
8
Wrong, M. (2002). In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in Mobutu’s Congo. Harper
Perennial: New York, New York.

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inequality, and always the rich stores of natural resources at the very heart of the heated
conflicts enveloping the Congo.9
The Rwandan genocide occurred in 1994, resulting in the murders of 800,000 people over
the course of just three months. Rwandan refugees, including some of the people who
committed atrocities during the genocide, poured across the border into DR Congo. The
ethnic and political violence continued, and there were reports of massacres and war
crimes committed by Rwandan troops across the border in DR Congo.10 At the end of the
decade, political turmoil in DR Congo erupted into what some argue was a regional battle
for resources. Neighboring countries (Rwanda, Angola, Uganda, Eritrea, Burundi,
Zimbabwe, Namibia) all became involved in the conflict, leading to the First African World
War. In this war, Congolese villages became battlegrounds as the various agents worked on
their own agendas and, frequently, busily looted DR Congo’s mineral wealth.
Since that time a number of peace agreements
have been signed but conflict persists. Although
the war ended in 2003, various government
forces, rebel groups and splinter groups
continue to be involved in a brutal fight with
various roots: entrenched political differences,
poor governance, ethnic conflict, and control
over natural resources—and of course, shared
histories rife with colonialism, slavery, and
economic exploitation, and competing
experiences on different ends of the most
recent episodes of economic exploitation. The
main actors in the conflict are continually
shifting; for example, in 2013 some of the most
devastating attacks on civilians were carried
out by the Rwanda-backed group M23,11 but at
the end of the year the group announced it
would end its insurgency. 12
Other groups, including government troops, the
Democratic Forces for the Liberation of
Rwanda (FDLR), the Mai Mai Kifuafua, the
Allied Democratic Forces (ADF), and the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA) have continued to carry
9
Wrong, M. (2002).
10
McGreal, C. (2010, October 1). Delayed UN report links Rwanda to Congo genocide. The Guardian. Retrieved
from http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/oct/01/un-report-rwanda-congo-genocide
11
Human Rights Watch. (2014). World report 2014: Democratic Republic of Congo events of 2013. Retrieved from
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/democratic-republic-congo
12
Raghavan, S. (2013, November 5). Congo’s M23 rebel group ends its insurgency. The Washington Post. Retrieved
from http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/congos-m23-rebel-group-ends-its-
insurgency/2013/11/05/fdbbf56e-462a-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html

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out attacks over the past several years in different regions throughout DR Congo. As
Maurice Carney said, “all these 125 years must be taken into consideration to fully
understand why Congo is in a weakened state today…what that [history did was] destroy
and eviscerate the Congolese institutions.”13 The Congolese government, in its weakened
state, now seems unable or unwilling (or both) to take the steps necessary to curb the
armed conflict that still rages in the countryside, terrorizing civilians, though there have
been developments toward accountability, including the arrest and prosecution of two
high-profile militia leaders in the International Criminal Court.
Impacts of Ongoing Conflict
The conflict in the Congo has followed a path that is common in modern African warfare.
There is little direct combat between armies, and the majority of deaths result from the
displacement and poverty that are consequences of warfare. In fact, half of the 7 million
dead in DR Congo have been children under the age of five. Starvation, disease, and
frequently, side effects of rape—and of course, the violence perpetrated on civilians by
fighters on all sides of the conflict—kill an estimated 1,500 people every day.14 Outbreaks
of diseases are common in DR Congo, and a lack of health infrastructure makes them
difficult to treat. Measles and cholera epidemics have swept through communities and
camps for internally displaced people.15 At least 1.8 million people are displaced from their
homes, and these internally displaced people are especially vulnerable to disease and
violence, including sexual violence.16
One element of the crisis that has (rightly) attracted some attention in the international
media is the impact of the ongoing crisis on women, specifically in connection to the
widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Rape as a weapon is nothing new—
it has been used brutally and persistently in conflicts since the beginning of recorded
history—but the scale and nature of the sexual violence in DR Congo has horrified many
observers.17 Although there are few reliable statistics on the prevalence of rape—which is
used strategically to destabilize communities and control people—a recent study in the
American Journal of Public Health claimed that the statistics are even higher than had been
previously estimated, with 433,785 women being raped in a 12-month period.18 Of course
sexual violence has inextricable links to health concerns, particularly to the spread of
13
Friends of the Congo. (2011). Video: Crisis in the Congo: Uncovering the truth. Retrieved from
http://www.congojustice.org.
14
Honan, E. (2010, March 10). U.N. to start troop withdrawals from Congo in 2010. Reuters. Retrieved
http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/06/us-congo-democratic-un-idUSTRE62507V20100306
15
IRIN News. (2011, March 29). DRC: Measles epidemic threatens more provinces. Retrieved, from
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92311
16
Human Rights Watch. (2010). Always on the run: The vicious cycle of displacement in eastern Congo. New York:
Author. Retrieved, from http://www.hrw.org/node/92772
17
Ensler, E. (2009, May 18). War on women in Congo. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/eve-ensler/war-on-women-in-congo_b_204949.html
18
Peterman, A., Palermo, T. & Bredenkamp, C. (2011). Estimates and determinants of sexual violence against
women in the Democratic Republic of Congo. American Journal of Public Health, 101(6), 1060-1067.

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HIV/AIDS, and DR Congo has become known as a site where fistulas—not from obstructed
childbirth, as is more typically the case in some parts of the world, but from sexual
violence—are appallingly common.19 Stephen Lewis, former UN Ambassador and Special
Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, summed up the linkages when he said:
…crises driven by the oppression of women do not simply fade away if they’re
ignored. They explode. In the 1980s and well into the 90s, we allowed the
whirlwind of AIDS transmission to tear through the African continent, aided and
abetted by aggressive, often violent male behaviour that has never been targeted for
elimination in a systematic, uncompromising way. The AIDS virus thrives on sexual
violence. Sexual violence thrives on armed conflict. As if either one was not
devastating enough, these two malevolent realities have joined forces to declare war
on the women of the Congo.20
The statistics are grim, and the situation is such that DR Congo has been ranked as one of
the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman or a child.21
Natural Resources and “Conflict Minerals”
One crucial element of the conflict is the
relationship between natural resources
and armed conflict. This is not unique to
DR Congo; armed conflict is often
sparked and/or stoked by issues related
to natural resource access and control.22
Of course a confluence of other factors
influence the occurrence of armed
conflict—poverty, poor governance,
ethnic conflict, and many others—but
natural resources consistently play a role
in the propagation of conflict in
resource-rich areas, many of which are
in Africa.23 Theorists have developed
different ideas as to why this is so, such
19
Nolen, S. (Spring 2005). “Not women anymore…” Congo’s rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS. Ms.
Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.msmagazine.com/spring2005/congo.asp
20
Lewis, S. (2007, September 18). Press release: Stephen Lewis calls for a new UN initiative to end sexual violence in
the eastern region of DRC. Retrieved, from http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/news-
resources/speeches?id=4047
21
Human Rights Watch. (2009). Soldiers who rape, commanders who condone. New York: author. Retrieved, from
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/07/16/soldiers-who-rape-commanders-who-condone?print
22
Lujala, P. (2010). The spoils of nature: Armed civil conflict and rebel access to natural resources. Journal of Peace
Research, 47(1), 15-28.
23
Ross, M. (2001). Chapter 2: The natural resource curse: How wealth can make you poor. In Natural Resources
and Violent Conflict: Options and Actions (Bannon & Collier, eds.) World Bank: London.

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as the rebel greed hypothesis and the weak states hypothesis,24 or the idea of a “specific
political ecology closely linked to the geography and political economy of natural
resources.”25 Though the precise mechanisms vary from one crisis to another, Michael
Ross “suggests that resource dependence can promote civil war through four types of
effects: by harming a country’s economic performance; by making its government weak,
more corrupt, and less accountable; by giving people who live in resource-rich regions
incentive to form an independent state; and by helping to finance rebel movements.”26
Each of these effects has been manifest at some point in the past few decades of Congolese
history. DR Congo is an instructive case study that illuminates not only the role of natural
resources in armed conflict and economic crisis, but also the relationship between
producers and consumers in a global economy where forced labor is omnipresent.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, cobalt, coltan, copper, diamonds and gold are
produced with forced labor, child labor, or both, in DR Congo.27 Many other natural
resources are present in DR Congo as well, including niobium, tantalum, petroleum, silver,
zinc, manganese, tin, uranium, coal, hydropower, and timber.28 These resources are
integrated to varying extents into the global economy. Some natural resources, such as
timber and charcoal, form the basis of small local economies in DR Congo. Other resources,
though, are critical components of the global market in electronics. Coltan, for instance, is a
mineral that is refined into a powder called tantalum. Roughly 65 percent of the world's
coltan reserves are located in DR Congo.29 In addition to coltan, DR Congo has rich supplies
of minerals like gold, tin, and tantalum, all of which are used in the manufacture of cell
phones, laptop computers, and other electronics equipment. After the minerals are
extracted from Congolese mines, they are smuggled over the border, into the international
market, and eventually to Asia, where they are mixed with legally-produced minerals and
manufactured into electronics equipment.30 The widespread use of “conflict minerals”—a
term used when the extraction of minerals creates revenues that sustain the illegal
activities of armed groups— has gained international attention, and for good reason:
Metals extracted from coltan, cassiterite and wolframite are all used in the manufacture of
electronic goods. But mined materials find their way into other products used throughout
the world as well. For instance, tungsten derived from wolframite is used in the
24
Humphreys, M. (2005). Natural resources, conflict, and conflict resolution: Uncovering the mechanisms.
The Journal of Conflict Resolution, 49(4). 508-537
25
Le Billion, P. (2001). The political ecology of war: Natural resources and armed conflict. Political Geography,
20(5), 561-584.
26
Ross, M. (2001)., p. 35.
27
U.S. Department of Labor (2009).
28
CIA World Factbook. (2011). The World Factbook. Retrieved, from https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-
world-factbook/fields/2111.html
29
Essick, K. (2001, June 11). Guns, money and cell phones. The Industry Standard Magazine. Retrieved from
http://www.globalissues.org/article/442/guns-money-and-cell-phones
30
Prendergast, J., & Lezhnev, S. (2010). From mine to mobile phone: The conflict minerals
supply chain. Washington, DC: Enough Project. Retrieved from
http://www.enoughproject.org/files/publications/minetomobile.pdf

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manufacture of light bulbs, and tin extracted from cassiterite is used in the manufacture of
tin cans.31
As a result of the extensive global demand for electronics equipment, production of these
minerals is extremely profitable for those who can exert control over the mines and civilian
populations. This fight over DR Congo's rich natural resources therefore forms some of the
roots of the deadliest conflict in the world. DR Congo, once known for the prevalence of
forced labor during the period of Belgian colonialism, is still a hotbed of forced labor today.
Modern-day slavery in DR Congo takes three main forms: forced soldiering and portering,
sex slavery, and forced labor in illegal mines.32
Militias and armed groups rely on control of local populations to reinforce their dominance,
so there are widespread reports of brutal murders, torture, mutilations, looting, and
abductions. There are also plentiful reports of civilians being forced to labor in behalf of
armed groups. Some of these civilians are child soldiers. Children, both boys and girls, are
forcibly conscripted and forced to participate in military activities and propagate acts of
violence against family members, community members, and strangers. Since 2004, 30,000
of these child soldiers have been removed from armed forces and militias, but forced
recruitment continues.33 Citizens, especially men and adolescent boys, are also press-
ganged to work for armed groups as porters, carrying military supplies through the bush,
and sometimes forced to perform agricultural labor to produce food for the militias.34
Roaming militias and Congolese
military forces also commonly
capture women and girls—and, to a
lesser extent, boys—and enslave
them for sexual purposes. Last year
Oxfam International and the
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative
released a report filled with stories
from survivors of sexual violence in
eastern DR Congo. Amongst the
descriptions of gang rapes, brutal
instrumentation rapes, rapes of
pregnant women, forced rapes
between victims, and trauma-
induced fistulas, there are stories of women who are kidnapped and forced into sexual
slavery. One woman said, “My husband, children and I were in the house when the soldiers
31
Global Witness. (2009). ‘Faced with a gun, what can you do?’ War and the militarization of mining in eastern
Congo. London: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/report_en_final_0.pdf
32
Ward-Lambert, M. (2015). Manuscript in preparation.
33
Curry, A. (2008, August 29). Armed and victimized: Congo’s child soldiers. NBC News. Retrieved from
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26424020/
34
Oxfam International. (2009). Waking the devil: The impact of forced disarmament on civilians in the Kivus.
Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/drc-waking-the-devil

10
arrived. They killed my husband because he was Tutsi. Then they took me to the forest
where I became their ‘femme’ (wife) for four years. During this time, they raped me as
routinely as one changes one’s clothes.”35 Narratives by survivors—many of them children
and teenaged girls, some of them adults with children of their own—echo these themes of
abduction and force.
In addition to the reports of forced soldiering, portering, and sex slavery, there are
widespread reports of forced labor, including forced child labor, being used in the illegal
mines that ultimately supply the international community with inexpensive electronics
products. U.S. Department of State reports indicate that human trafficking occurs, and
forced labor is utilized, in the Congolese mining sector.36 In addition to adults, children are
often forced to work in the mines because they can fit into smaller tunnels and holes; as a
result of this dangerous work, it is believed that thousands of young slaves have already
died. An estimated 5,000-6,000 children are forced to work in the mines.37
The relationship between “conflict minerals” and the armed conflict in DR Congo has led to
a growing international desire to mitigate the impact that Western corporations and
consumers have on the perpetuation of the conflict. Numerous advocacy groups in the
United States and Europe have strongly promoted efforts to increase corporate
transparency and “clean up the supply chains” of companies that use minerals sourced
from DR Congo, particularly from the illegal mines operated by armed groups. A number of
scholars consider this to be an overly simplistic narrative of the conflict—the “conflict
minerals lead to gang rape” narrative—and are concerned with the impact of this narrative
on the ability to craft effective and appropriate policy in dealing with the Congolese mining
sector.38 Moreover, it is important to note that though most available information—and
certainly the dominant media constructions—focus on mineral production as the bedrock
of ongoing conflict, a growing body of academic literature is depicting alternative
perspectives on the relationship between various natural resources and armed conflict in
DR Congo.39
Nonetheless, advocacy groups (such as Global Witness in the U.K. and the Enough Project in
the U.S.) have developed multi-dimensional strategies purporting to change the cost-
35
Harvard Humanitarian Initiative & Oxfam International. (2010). ‘Now, the world is without me:’ An investigation
of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Retrieved from
http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/DRC-sexual-violence-2010-04.pdf
36
U.S. Department of State. (2010a). Democratic Republic of the Congo: Country reports on
human rights practices—2009. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/country,,,,COD,,4b9e52ffc,0.html;
U.S. Department of State. (2010b). Trafficking in persons report. Washington, DC: Author.
37
Lavery, C. (2008, July 6). Plight of African child slaves forced into mines—for our mobile phones. Sunday Mail.
Retrieved from http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/real-life/2008/07/06/plight-of-african-child-slaves-forced-
into-mines-for-our-mobile-phones-78057-20633548/
38
Texas in Africa. (2011, April 28). The unintended consequences of Congo advocacy. Retrieved from
http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com/2011/04/unintended-consequences-of-congo.html
39
Laudati, A. (2013). Beyond minerals: Broadening ‘economies of violence’ in eastern Democratic Republic of
Congo. Review of African Political Economy, 40(135), 32-50.

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benefit analysis for armed groups operating in DR Congo.40 In 2010, partially in response
to pressure from activist groups and concerned citizens, the United States legislature
passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act. Embedded in the act was a small provision
requiring public companies to take measures to clean up their supply chains and avoid
sourcing minerals from illegal mines in DR Congo. (The American electronics industry
responded to these legislative efforts by spending $2 million a month lobbying for relaxed
legislation41--despite the fact that industry reports estimated it would cost only one cent
per product to ensure conflict-free supply chains.42)
Dodd-Frank was
controversial from the
beginning, and
contradictory reports on its
impact began to pour in
soon after its passage.
Some observers wrote that
the Dodd-Frank act had
decimated local economies
in DR Congo by putting
artisanal miners out of
work.43 Others, such as
those affiliated with the
Enough project, promoted
the act’s effectiveness to
provide "the leverage
needed to instill and impose ethical business practices in the Great Lakes region."44 Some
were ambivalent, noting that even if the law was problematic in practice, “the status quo
was hardly tenable.”45 And others took a more pragmatic approach, indicating that
although early implementation was imperfect, the bill itself still had potential to improve
the situation.46
40
Global Witness. (2010a). A guide for companies: Do no harm. London: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.globalwitness.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/do_no_harm_global_witness.pdf
41
Prendergast & Lezhnev (2010).
42
Russell, J. (2010, June 23). The most important day for Congo in Congress in years. The Enough Project. Retrieved
from http://www.enoughproject.org/blogs/most-important-day-congo-congress-years
43
Aronson, D. (2011, August 7). How Congress devastated Congo. New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/08/opinion/how-congress-devastated-
congo.html?_r=2&scp=1&sq=david%20aronson&st=cse
44
Lezhnev, S. (2011, August 9) What conflict minerals legislation is actually accomplishing in Congo. The Huffington
Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sasha-lezhnev/what-conflict-minerals-le_b_922566.html
45
The Economist. (2011, September 24). Democratic Republic of Congo: Digging for victory. Retrieved from
http://www.economist.com/node/21530110
46
Stearns, J. (2011, August 10). Thoughts about conflict minerals. Congo Siasa. Retrieved from
http://congosiasa.blogspot.com/2011/08/thoughts-about-conflict-minerals.html

12
The debate goes on. Advocacy campaigns continue to report signs of success47 even as a
group of academics and researchers published an open letter decrying the negative impacts
of Dodd-Frank’s implementation in eastern Congo.48 Amongst academics, there is a call for
increasing accuracy and nuance when discussing the situation in DR Congo—and, in
particular, when crafting policy. For example, in 2013, Review of African Political Economy
published a special edition entitled Neither War Nor Peace in the Democratic Republic of
Congo (DRC): Profiting and Coping Amid Violence and Disorder that incorporated a variety of
perspectives on protracted conflict in central Africa. There is indication that this less-
simplistic narrative is beginning to enter the public square, too; for example, in February
2015, Foreign Policy magazine published an article critiquing the effects of Dodd-Frank on
Congolese miners.49 However, it remains to be seen whether increased nuance in public
perception will affect the international community’s level of commitment to understanding
supply chains and promoting peace in DR Congo.
Despite the ongoing debate over the necessity and nature of various Western interventions,
a few facts are clear. DR Congo’s rich natural resources have made it a site of contention
for centuries, and it continues to be the site of one of the world’s deadliest conflicts. King
Leopold was attracted to DR Congo for its vast resource wealth, and today international
actors (including governments, armed groups, and multi-national corporations) are
similarly attracted. As Renton, Seddon & Zeilig wrote in 2007:
There were no mysteries to the [Second Congo] war, or the recent history of the
Congo. The war was not simply an African affair, a regional war fought on
Congolese territory. Behind the countries and the rebel groups involved in fighting
it were Western companies and interests which played a crucial role in setting these
forces into motion. The war, so often characterised as primitive, barbaric and
inexplicable, was inherently regional and global… Behind the dead stood the profits
of regional powers and multi-nationals.”50
In the midst of all the competition for resources, women, children and men are caught in
the crossfire—and often perceived as being resources themselves.
47
Bafilemba, F., Mueller, T., & Lezhnev, S. (2014, June). The impact of Dodd-Frank and conflict mineral reforms on
Eastern Congo’s conflict. The Enough Project.
48
An open letter. Retrieved from https://ethuin.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/09092014-open-letter-final-and-
list.pdf
49
Wolfe, L. (2015, February 2). How Dodd-Frank is failing Congo. Foreign Policy. Retrieved from
http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/02/02/how-dodd-frank-is-failing-congo-mining-conflict-minerals/
50
Renton, D., Seddon, D. & Zeilig, L. (2007).

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Conclusions
This issue paper has contained an analysis of the history and current situation of DR Congo,
focusing on the impacts of ongoing armed conflict on the region’s inhabitants. In the
context of this history, the paper has presented multiple perspectives on the relationship
between natural resources and armed conflict in general and “conflict minerals” in the
specific case of DR Congo. The ongoing pattern of human rights violations in the context of
protracted armed conflict requires continued attention and action from the international
community, particularly because international supply chains of goods are connected to the
conflict. Policymakers and economic actors, as well as individual citizens, all have a role to
play in changing the nature of these economic interactions in order to influence local
dynamics and protect the safety and well-being of civilians affected by the conflict.

Armed Conflict and Human Rights in DRC, July 2015

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Armed Conflict and Human Rights in DRC, July 2015