North Kivu
This Usalama Project report sketches the historical background to the proliferation of armed groups that have emerged in the North Kivu province of the DRC over the past two decades. It serves primarily to demystify the numerous factions and the cleavages between them, as well as to outline the complex mix of grievances that drive […]
Usalama Workshop in the DRC
The Usalama Project (meaning ‘peace’ or ‘safety’ in Swahili) by the Rift Valley Institute was created in response to the ongoing violence in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Billions of dollars have been devoted to the resolution of conflict in order to end the prolonged suffering endured by the people of this region for […]
FNI and FRPI
This report by Henning Tamm examines the precipitous decline in armed violence in Ituri, a district that manifests all of the Congo’s main challenges to stabilization. The report focuses on the Front des nationalistes intégrationnistes (FNI, Front of Integrationist Nationalists) and the Force de résistance patriotique en Ituri (FRPI, Ituri Patriotic Resistance Force), formally established in late 2002. While the […]
Raia Mutomboki
This Usalama Project report describes the origins, rapid evolution, expansion and activities of this diverse force. The group began as a local response to rampant insecurity but profited from flaws in the various peace deals in the eastern DRC, which helped it evolve from a parochial militia into a violent franchise deployed across large parts […]
UPC in Ituri
This report by Henning Tamm examines the convergence of factors that helped create and then broke apart the Union des patriotes congolais (UPC, Union of Congolese Patriots), one of Ituri’s most powerful armed groups. Created in the context of Ugandan occupation, which led to an increased militarization of politics, the UPC represented a local attempt to regain […]
Ituri
This Usalama report by Dan Fahey sets out the background to the years of conflict in Ituri district of the north-eastern DRC. The particularly vicious nature of war in Ituri––including large-scale massacres, widespread sexual violence, and the use of child soldiers––led to interventions by the European Union and United Nations, and prompted the International Criminal […]
Strongman of the eastern DRC
About this publication This Usalama Project Briefing presents a profile of one of the M23’s most important commanders, General Bosco Ntaganda. Despite his indictment by the International Criminal Court on charges of recruiting child soldiers, murder, rape, and sexual slavery, Ntaganda still has a considerable following in M23 ranks. The latest fighting comes in spite […]
M23’s operational commander
This Usalama Project briefing presents a concise biography of the M23’s senior commander, Sultani Makenga, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It describes his rise through the ranks, his earlier membership of the Rassemblement congolais pour la démocratie (RCD) and the Congrès national pour la défense du people (CNDP), and his relationship with […]
From CNDP to M23
This Usalama Project report explores the 2012-2013 M23 rebellion in the eastern DRC. It also discusses the implications of the rebellion for the DRC’s eastern neighbours, Rwanda and Uganda, who have been accused of aiding and abetting the M23. ‘Despite the Congolese army’s sporadically strong resistance, well-armed M23 soldiers have dealt it several humiliating defeats and […]
The perils of peacekeeping without politics
This Usalama Briefing Paper sets out the history of UN involvement in the eastern DRC and analyses the challenges that continue to face the mission, even as it prepares to deploy a new intervention brigade, charged with neutralizing and disarming rebel groups and bolstering Congolese state reform. ‘The UN’s ability to play a constructive role […]