Essay Example on DRC Soldiers' Hostility and Corruption: Inhumane Acts

Hostility by Soldiers and Corruption

The armed militia present in the DRC was made up of tribal soldiers from a regular army known as the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) who instead of putting the situation under control, rose against the civilians of the rival tribe. This was because they had been originally formed from previous militia groups responsible for causing violent attacks in the DRC. They kidnapped them and performed some inhumane acts against them like rape, torture, decapitation, mutilation and even cannibalism. The DRC is one of the wealthiest African countries with abundant resources. It is however unfortunate that these resources have not been beneficial to the citizens. The education system in the DRC, as well as infrastructure, is lying in ruins. Instead of benefiting the civilian population, abundant resources have brought about corrupt governments with individuals who are only after their self-interests. After gaining independence from the Belgian colonial rule, every citizen hoped that they would be finally free and able to build themselves up with the aid of their abundant resources. The dreams and aspirations of the Congolese people were shuttered after Joseph Mobutu took power after independence in 1965. At first, he took office and aimed at promoting unity in the nation and even changed the country's name to Zaire. He was, however, lured and enticed into being corrupt by wealth. Instead of unifying the country which was to be his main achievement and aim, he used the wealth and resources he had acquired to ensure that he stayed in power. His continuous selfish and corrupt rule gradually plunged the country into a disastrous violent attack. The 1994 Genocide which took a toll on the Rwandese community aided his downfall and brought the DRC into a very severe kind of war.

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Tribal Hatred

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 has been responsible for the conflict facing the DRC even in the present day republic. The eastern part of the DRC has borders which can allow illegal immigrants into the country. Since Rwanda is one of the countries bordering the DRC; more than two million Hutus illegally entered the DRC through the porous border. They were the vulnerable population who had been overthrown by the Tutsi government after the genocide. Among the Rwandan Hutu immigrants were the militiamen responsible for the genocide. They partnered together with the government under Mobutu's regime and planned a revenge attack on the Tutsis who had lived in the DRC for long. The Rwandan government chose to reiterate on the rival militia and fought back the Hutus as well as the troops from the Congolese government. The Mobutu government was then overthrown after the Tutsi army in collaboration with other forces from Uganda. After ousting Mobutu in 1997, Mr. Laurent Kabila took office and restored Zaire to DRC. However, he forgot to expel the Hutu militia who had heightened the war. He called upon the help of six countries to help in the expulsion of the Hutu militia, who then fought on the Congolese soil and left almost six million people dead. It has been difficult to end the war because of the tribal clash between the Hutus and the Tutsis who found themselves in the DRC and still possess great hatred amongst each other.

Poor Leadership and Hunger for Power

The Transfer of power from Laurent Kabila to his Son Joseph has also made it challenging to end the war in the DRC. Many arguing that it should not be a family thing and that there should be a democratic election system which allows citizens to elect a leader of their choice. Looking at the kind of ruling exhibited by Mobutu, it was a dictatorial kind of rule which included assassinations like in the case of Patrice Lumumba, the first prime minister of the DRC. Therefore, the hunger for power and the exploitation of resources exhibited by poor leadership skills also escalated the war that has been experienced by the DRC for over two decades. There has been intimidation when it comes to the opposition parties whereby the ruling party uses intimidation as well as violence to eliminate potential opposition side. Aside from the transfer of power and poor leadership, the competition for the natural resources present in the country has resulted in constant conflicts. President Kabila uses a strategy of delaying elections to prolong his stay in power which angers the citizens and brings them to unending violence. The competition comes from both internal and external forces. Ordinary citizens are finding it unfair for the resources to be distributed among the higher authority, living them in extreme poverty levels. This has led to the overall economic collapse of the country to date and has left the citizens with no option other than fighting for what they perceive as theirs. The war that erupted as a result of this was regarded as Africa's First World War because it led to several deaths. Since the year 1998, an estimated population of about four million citizens is said to have succumbed to the war. There has been an increase in the cases of insecurity resulting from increased poverty levels.

Exploitation of Resources Internally and Externally

The Congo wars were categorized into two; the 1996-1997 and the 1998-2002 wars. Some regarded the as civil wars while others referred to them as international battles aimed at ending the dictatorship kind of government. These wars have been evident up to the recent 2016 elections as a result of Kabila's unwillingness to step down. Having open and porous borders poses a challenge to the DRC. Other neighboring countries looking at the external resource exploitation forcefully want to take advantage of the abundant resources in the country. This has made it challenging to end the war because the Congolese citizens feel as if their resources are benefiting other people and not themselves. Therefore the fighting back by the Congolese citizens was a sign of self-defense and protection of what belongs to them.

It has been difficult for the Army of the DRC to put the security situation under control as well as putting an end to the violence brought about by various rebel groups in the country. They have been unable to bring peace in the eastern DRC province because of insufficient and inadequate training. Aside from receiving poor practice, the army has become corrupt and has itself partnered with some of the rebel groups from the east responsible for the security threats in the country. The Army then fails to eradicate these militia groups because of their partnership and has become part of the problem rather than solution givers since they are now more of human rights violators. Many of the Tutsis had to go through the agony of losing their jobs and were discriminated and sidelined. Being aware of this kind of issue, the DRC citizens are not happy with them, and thus they fight to ensure that change in the armed forces is realized by the government which is also in itself corrupt.

Dictatorship Rule

The violent protests practiced by Congolese citizens have made it a culture anytime general elections are held. The protests in 1997 after Laurent Kabila declared himself president lead the citizens to engage in battles with the police, and many of them end up injured and even dead in the process. These protests, however, arise because the DRC from Mobutu's regime has been known to fall under a dictatorial kind of rule. Therefore, until the republic becomes democratic and ends dictatorship kind of rule whereby the president oppresses the minority and finds, his way into the ballot, it will be difficult for normalcy to return in the DRC.

To conclude, ending the violence that has engulfed most of the parts in the DRC has been difficult from time immemorial as discussed above. This results from tribal hatred between the Hutus and Tutsis who found their way into the DRC during Mobutu's time. During Kabila's regime, he forgot to expel the Hutus who caused violence in collaboration with the Mobutu Government. It has also been challenging to end the war because of the participation of the soldiers in violent and hostile attacks and acts such as kidnapping members from the rival tribe. This angers the citizens prompting them to gang up and fight to try and protest against this inhumanity. Corruption and poor governance in the central government resulting from dictatorship over the years has also made it difficult for the war to end. The corruption starts right from the president to other government leaders down to the armed forces. Corruption is a sign of poor leadership and therefore, the citizens only fight because of their desire for ethical leadership which allows them to be opinionated and open to choose good governance. The citizens also struggle because of their inability to exploit resources present in their own country. Instead of gaining benefits from the available resources, many of the citizens are languishing in poverty. This makes them angry and prompts them to fight to receive change. With the above reasons available, the fight and violent attacks in the DRC are unlikely to come to an end because of the unwillingness of the central government to try and understand them. If at all the government will allow citizens to participate in free and fair elections, the war will end, but until then normalcy is very unlikely to return in most areas of the DRC.

Bibliography

Baaz, Maria Eriksson, and Maria Stern. "Making sense of violence: voices of soldiers in the Congo (DRC)." The Journal of Modern African Studies 46, no. 1 (2008): 57-86.

De Bibo, Anthony "Congo The World's Deadliest War." Hrw.Org. https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/features/congo_for_launch/index.html, 2008

OHCHR, UN. "Democratic Republic of The Congo, 1993-2003." (2010): 1-566

The Human Rights Watch "Democratic Republic Of Congo "Human Rights Watch. http://www.hrw.org/africa/democratic-republic-congo, 2017

Turner, Thomas. The Congo wars: conflict, myth, and reality. Zed Books, 2007.Young, Crawford. "Contextualizing Congo Conflicts Order And Disorder In Postcolonial Africa." In The African Stakes of the Congo War, pp. 13-31. Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2002.