Resources and Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo: A Case Study of the Eastern Kivu Region

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, and especially in the eastern part, people die from violence, hunger, disease, and other effects of displacement as a result of war. The country is often said to be plagued by a resource curse. During each period in history since its discovery by the West, the Democratic Republic of Congo has possessed the world craves and the world has sought these without regard for the consequences to the Congolese people. The catastrophic consequences of Congo’s history of natural resources exploitation are direct and indirect death of millions of Congolese people. The method used in this research was the qualitative approach and the secondary source of data collection or desk research of analyzing data, which involves the use of newspapers, bulletins, journals, internet and textbooks. The objectives of this study is to examine the relationship between resources and conflicts, the conflicting actors and their interests as well as the consequences of the conflict in the eastern DRC/Kivu region. The key findings of this study reveals that armed conflict in Africa in general and particularly in DRC/Kivu region is usually the competition and control over natural resources which fund and sustain the war through illegal trade. There is a need for the Great Lake Regions countries to put efforts and work together in order to achieve political, economic and social development of their respective countries. This study aims to investigate on the link or relationship between resources and the conflict in eastern Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of Congo and therefore determine the extent to which mineral resources play a role in sustaining the conflict.