Manuel Macias
World Lit H. 6.
Ms.Bennett
03/20/18
Internal conflict in the DRC.
Imagine going home one day, laying in your bed, relaxing but never being able to truly feel peaceful, even at your own house well, this is a reality that many in the DRC have to face as they can be attacked by a neighboring tribe at any second.
Ethnic clashes in Africa are not a recent topic in fact, there are 15 states in Africa with listed “on going” ethnic conflict, each differing from a two to four ethnic battlefront. So how did the DRC, a great place of diversity ever come to such a tragedy? delineating the ethnic clash between the Tutsi and the Hutu tribe servers as a great general illustrator for understanding the reason and the existence of ethnic clashes in the DRC. 1996 to 2003, the DRC faced the “Second Congo War”. This was an effect of the Belgian government gaining dominion over the DRC in 1906 after, Leopold II was forced to surrender the Congo. With Belgian dominion, the DRC economic structure came to crumble as there was a sudden decolonisation from Europe, stagnating the growth and system of the state (Springerlink). With their premature and unanticipated liberty, the citizens of the congo had limited education on all topics which left the country with a huge shrug on what to do next. The Congolian leaders had no leadership, economic, or government skills to implement into the new free state (Crash Course). The poor leading, along with a colony based economic structure, that was never meant to bring prosper upon a liberated situation, designated the DRC as chaotic and disorganized. Such extremities rendered the ethnogenesis to host a war for resources and income. The ethnic conflict between in the Second Congo War left 5.4 million individuals of all ages dead (Global Conflict Tracker).
Inadequate leading rendered the Congolian people into internal conflict as it was the most profitable course of action for them. War meant purpose and provided a living in a failed economy for the Congolians. In retrospect the DRC suffered the cumulative effect of 4 awful leaders before their first democratic elected president took reign (Springlink).
The implemented economy in the DRC was colony based meaning that, it wasn't meant for a nation state but for a colony whose resources were meant to be extracted for wealth by the colonizer (Crash Course). From the start the DRC was meant to fail if the Europeans left and without education for the Congolians, they were left with a “try” at playing house which corrupted leaders took advantage of, leaving the state in debt and impoverished. This failed economy motivated the Congolians to fight as they could earn money to provide for themselves and for their family (Pulitzer Center).
The tribes are facing horrible internal conflict that was caused by the inexperienced government and their deficient economy but, there is progress being made. China has invested 9 billion dollars for the construction of the Congo in exchange for future revenue (Crash Course). While the Congo may be in really bad shape, they are starting to grow.
Works cited
Pulitzer Center:pulitzercenter.org/projects/africa/roots-ethnic-conflict-eastern-drc.
Crash course: https://youtu.be/4uArRzwKHvE
Global Conflict Tracker: https://www.cfr.org/interactives/global-conflict-tracker#!/conflict/violence-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo
Springlink:https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4614-0448-4_1
My favorite aspect of your piece was your clairty and conciseness, your article was to the point and got your messgae and the information accross clearly. My main take away is what an imapcat interference of outside political parties can make on a developing country. My question is, how can a country adequetely support the growth of another country without having detrimental effects?
ReplyDeleteMy favorite aspect of your article was the historical connection between colonization and the economic struggles that the DRC faces today. I liked how you first explained how the colonization of the Congo left the republic in a state that was not self-governable; it was interesting to read about the historical context of this issue. The takeaway that I got was that due to colonization, the DRC has faced severe economical challenges which has resulted to ethnic conflict. A question that came up for me after I read your piece was: does the citizenry in the DRC have a desire to resolve these ethnic conflicts, or would they prefer to continue with war?
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