The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced patterns of mass victimization since the country’s inception. As a private domain of King Leopold ii of Belgium, a Belgian colony or an independent state; the country has undergone numerous episodes of violence affecting not only individuals but also entire communities. Socio-political and economic crises have been accompanied by inter-ethnic violence, mostly in eastern provinces. Over the last decade, various mechanisms have been explored in attempts to address past atrocities. In addition to ongoing prosecutions before the International Criminal Court, a number of domestic initiatives have been or are still being explored. The present article examines the suitability of these mechanisms against the backdrop of the politically and ethnically fragmented landscape in the country. The inquiry examines whether domestic or international peace-building processes address not only individual forms of victimization but also subjective experiences and perceptions of collective victimhood.
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Strobl, supra note 10, p. 19.
Findlay, supra note 15, p. 188.
Louis, supra note 23, p. 101.
Hochschild, supra note 25, p. 294.
Hochschild, supra note 25, p. 233; Louis and Stengers, supra note 28, p. 7; Gewald, supra note 33, p. 485. Again based on previous research, Hochschild supra note 25, pp. 226–232 identified (1) murder; (2) starvation, exhaustion, and exposure; (3) disease; and (4) plummeting birth rates as the four sources of population decrease in the Congo Free State. See also J.-P. Sanderson. ‘Le Congo belge entre mythe et réalité. Une analyse du discours démographique colonial’, 55:2 Population (2000) pp. 331–355.
Louis, supra note 23, p. 117. On the terms of Leopold’s Cession and Belgian annexation of the Congo Free State, see Anonymous, ‘Treaty of Cession and Annexation’, 3:1 American Journal of International Law (1909) pp. 73–75; Anonymous, ‘Bill Approving the Additional Act to the Treaty of Annexation of the Independent State of the Congo to Belgium’, 3:1 American Journal of International Law (1909) pp. 89–94.
Keith, supra note 35, p. 186.
Lemarchand, supra note 51, p. 39.
Nzongola-Ntalaja, supra note 18, p. 37. For further details, see J.-P. Peemans, ‘Capital Accumulation in the Congo under Colonialism: The Role of the State’, in L. H. Gann and P. Duignan, Colonialism in Africa 1870–1960, Vol. 3 (The Economics of Colonialism 1870–1914) (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1969) p. 165 et seq.; B. Jewsiewicki, ‘Le colonat agricole européen au Congo belge, 1910–1960: Questiones politiques et économiques’, 20:4 Journal of African History (1979) pp. 559–571.
Lequm, supra note 58, p. 39.
M.C. Young, ‘Background to Independence’, 25 Transition (1966) p. 34.
Lemarchand, supra note 51, pp. 168–174.
Lemarchand, supra note 51, pp. 168–172.
Nzongola-Ntalaja, supra note 18, pp. 81–89; Lemarchand, supra note 51, p. 167 et seq.; H. F. Weiss, Political Protest in the Congo: The Parti Solidaire African during the Independence Struggle (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1967).
Edgerton, supra note 47.
Fox, de Craemer and Ribeaucourt, supra note 74, pp. 78–109; J. Klinger, ‘Stabilization Operations and Nation-Building: Lessons from United Nations Peacekeeping in the Congo, 1960–1964’, 29:2 Fletcher Forum of World Affairs (2005) pp. 83–102.
Young and Turner, supra note 90, pp. 30–31, 47–77.
Young and Turner, supra note 90, p. 276 et seq.; C. D. Gondola, ‘Jeux d‘argent, jeux de vilains: rien ne va plus au Zaïre’, 65 Politique Africaine (1997) pp. 96–111.
Willame (1997b), supra note 106, pp. 62–68 and 87–99.
As in Mamdani, supra note 102, pp. 234–263; Nzongola-Ntalaja, supra note 18; T. Turner, The Congo Wars: Conflict, Myth and Reality (Zed Books, London, 2007); G. Prunier, Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe (Oxford University Press, New York, 2008); R. Lemarchand, The Dynamics of Violence in Central Africa (University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2009).
Rusamira, supra note 104, pp. 147–163; B. Mararo, ‘Land, Power, and Ethnic Conflict in Masisi (Congo-Kinshasa), 1940s–1994’, 30:3 International Journal of African Historical Studies (1997) pp. 503–538.
Pourtier, supra note 121, p. 137.
As elaborated in Lemarchand, supra note 109; Mamdani, supra note 102; Nzongola-Ntalaja, supra note 18; Turner, supra note 109; Prunier, supra note 109.
Lemarchand, supra note 109, pp. 4–5.
Lemarchand, supra note 109, pp. 4–5.
As documented in Jackson, supra note 105, pp. 95–123; Willame (1997b), supra note 106; Ruhimbika, supra note 116; Mamdani, supra note 102, pp. 234–263.
Edgerton, supra note 47; and Doyle, supra note 43, are evocative. See also O. Olsson and H. Congdon Fors, ‘Congo: The Prize of Predation’, 41:3 Journal of Peace Research (2004) pp. 321–336.
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The Democratic Republic of Congo has experienced patterns of mass victimization since the country’s inception. As a private domain of King Leopold ii of Belgium, a Belgian colony or an independent state; the country has undergone numerous episodes of violence affecting not only individuals but also entire communities. Socio-political and economic crises have been accompanied by inter-ethnic violence, mostly in eastern provinces. Over the last decade, various mechanisms have been explored in attempts to address past atrocities. In addition to ongoing prosecutions before the International Criminal Court, a number of domestic initiatives have been or are still being explored. The present article examines the suitability of these mechanisms against the backdrop of the politically and ethnically fragmented landscape in the country. The inquiry examines whether domestic or international peace-building processes address not only individual forms of victimization but also subjective experiences and perceptions of collective victimhood.
All Time | Past Year | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 747 | 106 | 2 |
Full Text Views | 187 | 7 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 95 | 14 | 0 |