Initiating transitional justice in the Democratic Republic of the Congo : opportunities for stability and reform

Abstract

Since gaining independence in 1960, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has endured decade-long cycles of political instability, military coups, authoritarian rule and violent conflict. Despite multiple peace agreements and international interventions, the Congolese state has struggled to assert lasting authority, particularly in the eastern provinces. This policy brief places the current crisis in historical context and outlines actionable transitional justice responses to help support long-term peace and governance. Five days after gaining independence on 30 June 1960, the DRC faced its first military crisis. Soldiers of the national army, the Force Publique, mutinied, demanding promotions and social benefits equal to those of their white counterparts. Since then, the country has experienced numerous popular rebellions. In response to early unrest, Army Chief General Joseph-Désiré Mobutu staged a military coup d'état against President Joseph Kasavubu, seizing power and ruling for 32 years. On 17 May 1997, the Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaïre (AFDL), led by Mzee Laurent Désiré Kabila and supported by Rwanda and Uganda, overthrew Mobutu. However, on 2 August 1998, Kabila faced a new rebellion from the Rassemblement Congolais pour la Démocratie (RCD). On 17 December 2002, the war formally ended with the signing of the Global and Inclusive Accord in Pretoria, South Africa. Between 2003 and 2006, the DRC underwent a political transition marked by the election of President Joseph Kabila. During this transition, a new military movement, the Congrès National de Défense du Peuple (CNDP), led by Laurent Nkundabatware, emerged in the eastern DRC. On 23 March 2009, the Congolese government (GDRC) signed a peace agreement in Goma with the CNDP to end the rebellion.3 In mid-2010, the CNDP rebranded itself to the March 23 Movement (M23), claiming that they sought to enforce the terms of the 2009 agreement. In November 2012, M23 briefly took control of Goma with great flair before withdrawing under international pressure. In 2013, the Congolese national army (the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo; FARDC), with the support of the Force Intervention Brigade (FIB) of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), comprising soldiers from South Africa, Malawi and Tanzania, launched a military offensive, defeating M23.