Rumours of Peace, Whispers of War : Assessment of the Reintegration of Ex-combatants into Civilian Life in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo

Lamb, Guy ; Alusala, Nelson ; Mthembu-Salter, Gregory ; Gasana, Jean-Marie

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ABUSE;    AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION;    ALLIANCE;    ALLIANCES;    ARMED CONFLICT;   

RP-ID  :  67570

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

The eastern Democratic Republic of theCongo (DRC) is poised on the edge of a machete blade.Despite the achievement of considerable peace-buildingsuccesses throughout much of this central African state inrecent years, the current activities of armed groups and theCongolese armed forces in North Kivu, South Kivu, and Ituri,have the potential to further destabilize the easternprovinces, and possibly even neighboring countries. Formercombatants are prominent in the security and stabilityequation in the eastern DRC. The reason is that if thissection of society has not been effectively disarmed,demobilized and reintegrated into civilian life, then theyhave the potential to return to arms. In this region, over100,000 ex-combatants have been demobilized over the pastdecade in successive waves of disarmament, demobilizationand reintegration (DDR) interventions. Assessments andspeculation about the reintegration of ex-combatants inNorth Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri have suggested that theseindividuals have become marginalized, and theirreintegration into civilian society is precarious, thusmaking them vulnerable to further recruitment by armedgroups. Some reports have even suggested that numerousformer fighters have remilitarized in the mining areas inorder to access mineral wealth. Consequently, research onthe socio-economic reintegration of ex-combatants in theeastern DRC was undertaken by the Institute for SecurityStudies (ISS), and funded by the Transitional Demobilizationand Reintegration Program (TDRP) of the World Bank. NorthKivu, South Kivu and Ituri were the three geographical areasof focus, given the volatility and potential pivotal role ofthese areas in promoting and consolidating peace in theeastern DRC. The specific objectives of the research wereto: 1) assess the processes of the socio-economicreintegration of former combatants into civilian life; 2)analyze the causes and dynamics of the current securitysituation (or lack thereof) in the three areas, and theimplications for current and future DDR processes; and 3)evaluate the extent to which demobilized former combatantshave been re-recruited into armed groups, includingmotivating and resilience factors. The research took placebetween February and September 2011, with the findings andanalysis being presented in this report.