APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 46 46 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL spective, is a fight for control over resources, and the war should be characterized, some argue, as ‘international, not local’11 (leaving this school of thought open to criticism for ignoring the Congolese people’s responsibility in sustaining the conflict).12 The mismanagement and bad governance argument draws on issues of colonialism and the cold war.13 Unlike African nations occupied by the British, whose imperialist approach was more pragmatic and less paternalistic than Belgium’s, Congo suffered under such severe paternalism and suppression that when the nation became independent in 1960, there were few Congolese prepared to take on the responsibility of managing the country’s affairs.14 This situation opened the door to mismanagement, chaos, and ultimately the series of civil wars that devastated the country. Paulin Manwelo points to the role that the geostrategic power equation of the cold war played in exacerbating Congo’s problems in that as a ‘friend’ of the West, Mobutu Sese Seko’s regime received large amounts of financial support, but neither he or the western powers did much to promote a political climate of peace and democracy in the country.15 The politico-cultural explanation of the conflict follows a path similar to that of the mismanagement and bad governance school. Congo’s recent history has been overwhelmingly shaped by the more than three decades of dictatorial rule by Mobutu. Although Mobutu is acknowledged as the builder of unity and nationalism among Congolese in the early post-colonial period, he also created a culture of fear, corruption, terror, and division and denied basic human rights.16 The Congo conflict tends to be described as driven by historical rivalries between ethnic communities because of its politics of nationality and citizenship and lack of clear land ownership policies, fostering disputes over territorial boundaries and traditional administrative power.17 The conflict has come to be epitomized by the proliferation of small arms and light weapons mostly due to weak Congolese state security and poor governance structures.18 Conflict actors were able to manipulate populations because of poor management of social communication and the subsequent processing of information among communities based on stereotypes and accusations.19 A. Mwaka Bwenge and Hélène 11. See Lanotte, République Démocratique du Congo; Human Rights Watch, ‘Ituri: “Covered in Blood”. Ethnically targeted violence in Northeastern DR Congo’, Research report, vol. 5, no. 11, Washington, D.C., 2003. 12. Hélène Morvan, Réinventer le quotidien: la cohabitation des populations civiles et des combattants Mai-Mai au Kivu (Uppsala, Life and Peace Institute, 2005), 15. 13. Marie-France Cros and François Misser, Géopolitique du Congo, RDC (Paris, Tournai, 2006). 14. Adam Hochschild, King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (London, Mariner Books, 1998). 15. Manwelo, ‘Ethical reflections on the intervention of the UN and EUFOR in the DR Congo’; J.-F. Bayart, State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly (New York, Longman, 1993). 16. Bayart, Ellis, and Hibou, La criminalisation de l’état en Afrique. 17. Séverine Autesserre, ‘D.R. Congo: Explaining peace building failures, 2003–2006’, African Political Economy, 34:113 (2007), 423–41; Azarias Ruberwa Manywa, Notre vision de la République Démocratique du Congo (Paris, L’Harmattan, 2006); C. Nguya-Ndila Malengana, Nationalité et citoyenneté au Congo/ Kinshasa: le cas du Kivu (Paris, L’Harmattan, 2001); S. Mugangu Matabora, ‘Terre, territoire et nationalité: les enjeux des conflits ethniques dans le Kivu montagneux’ in S. Mugangu Matabora (ed.), Les Droits de l’homme dans la Région des Grands Lacs (Louvain-la-Neuve, Academia-Bruylant, 2003), 46–53. 18. Jean-Claude Willame, Banyarwanda et Banyamulenge: Violences ethniques et gestion de l’identitaires au Kivu (Brussels, Institut Africain–CEDAF/L’Harmattan, 1997). 19. Vlassenroot and Raeymaekers, ‘Kivu’s intractable, security conundrum’.