Democratic Republic Of Congo Essay

Introduction:

There are a lot of reasons given to as to why the Democratic Republic of Congo remains a conflict inflicted and divided country to this day. Some argue that the DRC’s conflicts are direct results of cruel and unjust practices carried out by their Belgium colonizers (Achberger, n.d.). Others contend that the DRC, like several other African nations, are the victims of exploitation carried out by their very own government (Smith, 2010). There are also those who claim that the DRC remains in a cycle of conflict because of a recipe of colonialism, slavery, and corruption rather than one exclusively (Snow, 2013). Though many arguments exist as to why conflicts are still prevalent in the DRC, few would point to foreign aid as another potential agitator of the various conflicts. Yet, there is a preponderance of evidence to suggest this to be true. Despite all of the aid that has been given to the DRC over the past decade, the DRC finds itself at the lower bottom of the Human Development Index ranking at 178/188 (“Human Development Reports,” n.d.). Foreign aid’s failures in the DRC have spurred more conflicts which have led to more division within the country. The shortcomings of aid must be taken into account

Return power back to local governances: In order to foster long term cooperation and peace in the DRC, it is imperative to the UN makes the vitality of local communities a focal point of their missions. By giving power back to local governances, the way it was before colonialism, the UN incentivizes their cooperation in the peace-building process. By ignoring the DRC’s constitutional limit of two terms, President Joseph Kabila has made it very clear that he and his administration can’t be trusted with the full responsibility of ushering the nation into a cooperative and peaceful nation (Fielding, 2017). It is time the UN encourage humanitarian organizations to work with local organizations already on the ground in the DRC to build from the ground