The Hema-Lendu Conflict E-Book

Tim Pfefferle

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2014

Beschreibung

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2013 in the subject Politics - Region: Africa, grade: A, University of Miami (Department of Political Science), course: Conflict in the Middle East and Africa, language: English, abstract: Analysis of the Ituri conflict between Hema and Lendu, focusing on an evaluation of land and resources, institutional fragility, and the role of Uganda.

Leseprobe

Impressum:

Copyright (c) 2015 GRIN Verlag / Open Publishing GmbH, alle Inhalte urheberrechtlich geschützt. Kopieren und verbreiten nur mit Genehmigung des Verlags.

Bei GRIN macht sich Ihr Wissen bezahlt! Wir veröffentlichen kostenlos Ihre Haus-, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten.

Jetzt beiwww.grin.com

CONTENTS

Introduction

Historical Background

The Puzzle: Why Did the Conflict Escalate?

Resource Conflict?

Institutional Factors

Uganda’s Role

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

In March of 2012, Thomas Lubanga became the first individual to be convicted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, having been charged on the three counts of recruiting children, enlisting children into rebel militia and using children in combat (ICC, March 14, 2012). Having been arrested in 2005 in Kinshasa, Lubanga spent several years in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a rebel leader, purportedly fighting the central government headed by Laurent Kabila, and subsequently by his son Joseph Kabila.

Since the Rwandan genocide in 1994, conflict has swept over into the DRC, precipitating the breakdown of the longtime dictatorial regime headed by Mobutu Sese Seko. In the fall of 1998, conflict reached the Ituri region of northeast DRC. The strife was categorized as an inter-ethnic conflict between the Hema group and the Lendu group. While some argue that it was catalyzed precisely by the differences in ethnicity, others maintain that the Ugandan presence in the region facilitated the outbreak of conflict.

What is the relationship between endogenous reasons for conflict, such as the factor of ethnicity, and the exogenous causes leading to instability, as in this case perhaps Uganda’s role? Why did the conflict escalate to engulf the entire Ituri region and contribute to the destabilization of the eastern territories of the DRC? This essay will aim to provide an overview addressing these questions. Following a brief review of the conflict’s background and a statement on the research question, it will present an engagement with the themes outlined above in terms of the question of resources and land, institutional fragility, as well as Uganda’s motivations.

Historical Background

The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been a hotbed of conflict for several decades. Kisangani notes that there have been seventeen recorded civil wars between 1960 and 2010, leading to an estimated four million deaths (2012: 1). The period under review in this essay can be seen as a particularly troublesome time, This has led some commentators to term this period as “Africa’s World War” (Gettleman, April 2 2005), with several African countries and numerous rebel groups implicated in a struggle for power, resources, and security.