Responses

Policy
Beginning almost as soon as the conflict itself, international diplomatic activity to halt the violence produced an accord signed in Lusaka, Zambia in 1999. The Lusaka Accord set a timetable for the removal of foreign forces from Congo and established an interim Congolese government that included representatives of the Congolese rebel groups in the east. In 2003, foreign forces officially withdrew and a transitional government was established.

In July 2006, the Congo held its first election in more than forty years. In advance of the elections, various political and armed groups jockeyed for power. While the political struggles were often played out in the capital of Kinshasa, in the war-torn eastern region the scramble for power produced violence, much of it ethnically based. Many actors, including individual Congolese leaders and the neighboring governments of Rwanda and Uganda, manipulated ethnic grievances and fear in eastern Congo to achieve political, military, and economic advantage, contributing to regional insecurity and instability.

International observers deemed the elections free and fair despite allegations of fraud by some opposition leaders and limited violence by opposition members attempting to keep some voters from the polls. More than 25 million Congolese -- 85 percent of those eligible -- came out to vote. Laurent Kabila's son Joseph, who first assumed power after his father's assassination in 2001, won the presidency.

Sustaining life
Numerous international and local nongovernmental and governmental organizations sustain a large-scale humanitarian effort in eastern Congo, struggling to provide food, shelter, and medical aid to hundreds of thousands of refugees and displaced persons caught in upsurges of violence. There are also organizations working on development, disarmament and demobilization, education, and other social sectors. However, continuing waves of violence in the region have drastically impaired the ability of relief organizations to serve vulnerable populations.

Armed Force
Another element of the Lusaka Accord was a peacekeeping force authorized by the UN Security Council. Called MONUC after its French acronym, it was initially under-equipped, undermanned, and outgunned. MONUC was buttressed by a French-led force in June 2003 and was soon given a more robust mandate with increased numbers of troops.

But these steps did not substantially alleviate the crisis in the east. In fact, in 2003, the violence spiked upon withdrawal of the Ugandan forces. One reason that the withdrawal of foreign forces did not improve the situation was that Uganda and Rwanda, as well as the DRC government, continued to exercise control through the use of proxy militias. Additional armed groups, including forces composed of former genocidaires from Rwanda, also remained active.

Although at 17,000 troops MONUC is the largest deployment of UN troops in the world, it remains small in comparison to the tasks it faces and the area it covers. Its troops have also been accused of committing sexual abuses against the civilians they are charged with protecting.

The military allegiances of the various parties to the conflict--militias, the Congolese army and outside forces, particularly the Rwandans--have shifted over the years. Various among these parties have fought against each other or with each other as their interests and opportunities have evolved.

Prosecutions
On June 23, 2004, Luis Moreno Ocampo, the International Criminal Court [ICC] prosecutor, announced that the Court's first-ever investigation would probe crimes committed throughout DRC. The investigation was triggered by a request from the Congolese transitional government.

In March 2006, Thomas Lubanga, a rebel commander operating in eastern Congo, became the first person ever arrested under an ICC arrest warrant. He was charged with war crimes for recruiting child soldiers during the Second Congo War. Two rebels who fought against Lubanga's militia, Germain Katanga and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui, were also arrested on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In May 2008, former vice-president and presidential candidate Jean-Pierre Bemba was arrested in Brussels by Belgian authorities and transferred to The Hague. The ICC arrest warrant charges him with several counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for leading Congolese rebels in a widespread and systematic attack against the Central African Republic's civilian population in 2002 and 2003.

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