Conflict in Eastern Congo When the Democratic Republic of Congo
held its first multiparty elections in over 40 years in June
2006, there was widespread optimism that the country would
emerge out of years of brutal war. Congolese citizens in the
densely populated provinces of North and South Kivu in eastern
Congo on the border with Rwanda, an area deeply affected by two
consecutive wars from 1996 to 1997 and again from 1998 to 2003,
were desperate for peace. They voted overwhelmingly for
presidential candidate Joseph Kabila, who promised to end
conflict in this troublesome region. Yet in the three years
following the elections, eastern Congo has remained locked in
brutal conflict. In 2009 alone, botched peace attempts combined
with badly organized and abusive military operations have led to
nearly a million people fleeing their homes, hundreds massacred,
and thousands more women and girls raped. As one resident of
eastern Congo told Human Rights Watch, “We voted for peace, but
all we got was more war. When are