Violent Conflict

In 2016, the Kasaï region of DRC, which had previously been seen as a peaceful area, erupted into violent conflict. A disgruntled customary chief who had had difficulty obtaining the official state decree recognizing his status (arrêté), started a movement which came to be known as “Kamwina Nsapu” The movement began by targeting symbols of the Congolese state before it degenerated into an ethnic conflict as violence spread from Kasaï Central to Kasaï province.

In July 2018, CRG published a report on the origins and consequences of the violence in Kasaï. It detailed how a conflict that emerged as a consequence of government manipulation of customary authority quickly became a vehicle through which long-standing frustrations in Kasaï surrounding the region’s lack of development and isolation were projected. We launched a long-term project on the Kasaïs in May 2019 called “Kwetu Kundela” (There’s no place like home). This project will continue to shed light on the political and security dynamics in Kasaï, providing analysis via monthly reports, as well as a number of thematic reports and a series of online biographies of key actors from the region.

The provinces of North and South Kivu are the epicenter of violence in the Congo. They host a majority of all displaced people and armed groups, and the bulk of military operations.

Since August 2018, northeast Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing the country’s tenth official outbreak of the Ebola virus disease (EVD), and the second-largest ever outbreak worldwide.