![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The conflict that has embroiled the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for decades has been one of the most vexing problems in the political history of Africa and the larger international community. The grave clashes predominantly in the eastern parts of the country have occasioned various challenges for the state and the world at large, chief among them a record of the internally displaced persons in the state. The forces that have led to internal displacement vary but this paper takes the view that it is a result of the identity crisis, a colonial sarcoma triggered by the arbitrary drawing of borders in the African continent, and in the context of the DRC, forcing 250 different ethnic groups to be embedded in a new state. The paper divulges that the identity crisis is one of the key attributing factors to the unending skirmishes in the DRC, which has led to the escalation of the forcibly displaced people. Without giving attention to such a convoluted historical problem through the establishment of a system based on equality at the national level, the DRC will continuously be infused with unending conflicts which will further precipitate numbers of the forcibly displaced in the country.
Notes on contributors
Norman Pinduka is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cape Town. He holds an MSc in International Relations Degree, a BSc Honours in Political Science Degree and an Executive Certificate in Humanitarian Assistance. He lectures in the Department of Political and Administrative Studies at the University of Zimbabwe. He is a Committee Member of the Zimbabwe Political Science Association (ZAPS).
Alfred G. Nhema, PhD, is a Professor at the School of Government, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa.
Notes
1 Couldrey and Herson, Migration Review (FMR), 2.
2 Groleau, ‘Conflict Spotlight’, 2.
3 United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, ‘DRC: Number of Internally Displaced People’.
4 Lututala, ‘The Role of Governance and Research’.
5 Prendergast, ‘What is the Main Cause of the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?’.
6 Orogun, ‘Crisis of Government, Ethnic Schisms, Civil War, and Regional Destabilization’, 25.
7 Rift Valley Institute (RVI), Ituri: Gold, Land, and Ethnicity in North-Eastern Congo, 8.
8 Ibid.
9 Ibid., 13.
10 Ibid.
11 The United Nations, ‘Refugees’.
12 Norwegian Refugee Council, ‘DRC Shelters 1 in 10 of the World’s Internally Displaced People’.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Mercy Corps, ‘The Facts: The Humanitarian Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo’.
16 Ibid.
17 Lee, ‘A Theory of Migration’, 49.
18 International Migration Law, Glossary on Migration, 77.
19 International Committee of the Red Cross Society, ‘Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement’.
20 The Global Protection Cluster, ‘Fact Sheet on Internal Displacement’.
21 The Oxford Refugee Studies Centre, Dynamics of Conflict and Forced Migration in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 3.
22 United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees, ‘The DRC Emergency’.
23 Fukuyama. Political Order and Political Decay.
24 Stearns, The Background to Conflict in North Kivu Province of Eastern Congo, 11.
25 Lututala, ‘The Role of Governance and Research’, 9.
26 Onyango, ‘Structural Causes of Conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo’, 13–14.
27 Ibid.
28 Cordell et al., ‘Democratic Republic of the Congo’.
29 Ibid.
30 Englebert et al., Researching Livelihoods and Services Affected By Conflict, 6.
31 Découpage – This literally translates as ‘cutting up’ in French. The term refers to the 2015 process by which six of the previous 11 provinces were partitioned into 21 new ones, bringing the total number of the country’s decentralised provinces to 26.
32 Londoni, ‘Understanding the Longstanding Conflict’, 156.
33 Mercy Corps, ‘The Facts: The Humanitarian Crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo’.
34 Onyango, ‘Structural Causes of Conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo’, 67.
35 The Human Right Watch, ‘Ethnic Militias Attack Civilians in Katanga’.
36 Stearns and Voge, The Landscape of Armed Groups in the Eastern Congo, 6.
37 Londoni, ‘Understanding the Longstanding Conflict’, 157.
38 Ibid.
39 Lange, ‘Refugee Return and Root Causes of Conflict’, 48–9.
40 Ibid.
41 Stearns, The Background to Conflict in North Kivu Province of Eastern Congo, 28.
42 Médecins Sans Frontières, MSF Report, ‘Populations in Danger 1995’, 28.
43 Ngoy-Kangoy, ‘The Political Role of the Ethnic Factor Democratic Republic of the Congo’, 235.
44 Onyango, ‘Structural Causes of Conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo’, 57.
45 Stearns, The Background to Conflict in North Kivu Province of Eastern Congo, 10.
46 Ibid.
47 Zeender and Rothing, ‘Displacement trends in DRC’, 11–12.
48 Ilorah, ‘Ethnic Bias, Favouritism and Development in Africa’, 695.
49 The Human Right Watch, ‘Ethnic Militias Attack Civilians in Katanga’.
50 Groleau, ‘Conflict Spotlight’, 2.
51 Mutambara, In Search of the Zimbabwean Dream Volume 1, 240.
52 Ilorah, ‘Ethnic Bias, Favouritism and Development in Africa’, 704.
53 Baker, Arguing for Equality.
54 Gumbo, ‘Zimbabwe Identity Crisis of 2013’.
55 Maslow, ‘Theory of Human Motivation’.
56 The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
57 Ibid.
58 Groleau, ‘Conflict Spotlight’, 12.