DISARMAMENT, DEMOBILIZATION AND REINTEGRATION (DDR) PRACTICES PEACE OPERATIONS IN THE EASTERN DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

Abstract

Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs during the 1980s come up to manage war to peace transitions. Initially, DDR consisted of a set of activities, interventions and operations carried out primarily by international agencies, particularly the United Nations (from an emphasis on security issues) and the World Bank (from a predominantly development perspective, DDR has evolved from a country-level to transnational activity. The recognition that regional conflicts may form interlocking political complexes and war economies has led to regionally-focused, multi-actor programs such as the Multi-Country Demobilization and Reintegration Program (MDRP) in the Great Lakes region of Africa which is led by the World Bank in partnership with the United Nations and several bilateral donors. The United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, MONUC, was deployed following the signing of the Lusaka Ceasefire Agreement in July of 1999. A core pillar of the mission, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration(DDR) programs have attempted to address the issue of multiple armed no state actors operating, primarily in the country’s eastern districts of Ituri, North and South Kivu. MONUC’s DDR initiatives can be subdivided into the national DDR program for Congolese combatants and the disarmament, demobilization, repatriation, reintegration and resettlement (DDRRR) of foreign armed groups. Although there has been some success in the DDR(RR) programs over the past 12 years of UN deployment, rampant insecurity attributed to the presence of armed groups in the DRC continues to plague the East.