ABSTRACT
The political situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continued to be crucial to the country’s dynamics of armed violence in 2018. A prime example is the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, which emerged from the Hutu population and security forces that fled Rwanda after the 1994 genocide. The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo started as a small observation mission in 1999 and gradually became the biggest and most expensive peacekeeping mission in the world. The government also repressed civil-society and political opposition, with 1,054 restrictions of democratic rights documented by the United Nations alone. The political class, government institutions and civil society all operate in established ways that require long-term engagement, possibly over decades. The new government might address some of the issues more effectively, starting by streamlining the administration and leveraging its unique position in the global commodity market.
