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E-book Liberal Peace : On Conflict, Gender, and Peacebuilding: Democratic Republic of Congo Case Study

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Penilaian

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The DRC has faced significant instability since its colonisation by the King Leopold II of Belgium in the 1870’s. King Leopold II’s barbarism and occupation were characterised with massive abuses and exploitation of its population and natural resources, two violent civil wars, social and political upheavals, deterioration, and sexual violence on an enormous scale. Therefore, the ongoing violence in the east, which escalates concomitant to the global demand for Congo’s minerals traces its origin to King Leopold II’s barbarism and brutalities (Mhango, 2018c, 2023a). The DRC is rich with human capital, the total is estimated at 85,281,024, out of whom 62.71% are between 1 and 24 years - 26,564,328 female and 26,920,568 male (CIA, 2024). The country is also rich in minerals – zinc, uranium, silver, gold, diamonds, cadmium, manganese, and cobalt, estimated at US$24 trillion (Kors, 2012), which, in 2010, equalled the GDP of Europe and the United States (US) combined (ModernGhana.com, 2010).Besides its vast mineral reserves, the country exports coffee, cotton, timber, rubber, tea, fish, and palm oil. It is also wealthy with fertile soil (Mhango, 2023b), hydroelectric potential from the gigantic Inga Dams, and the Congo Basin. The DRC also boasts of being home to the second largest tropical forest in the world after the Amazon Rainforest. Instead of these resources enriching the DRC’s own people, they have helped the international community and its elites to prosper, and in some cases, served as a source of incessant wars and armed conflict. Thus, instead of being a blessing, the DRC’s resources have largely been a curse to the country. As noted above, the history of the DRC conflict can be traced back to the tragic era of slave trade, the tyrannical rule of King Leopold II, whose agents infiltrated the DRC in the 1870s. All started at the Berlin Conference of 1884-85, where European nations scrambled and partitioned Africa for their political and economic interests. These countries divided, partitioned, and demarcated the Africa we know today by drawing the modern-time borders. While colonial boundaries were not established at the time, the Conference made two brutal and fatal decisions that would adversely and perpetually affect the DRC and Africa in general. First, the Conference recognised and authorised the International African Association (IFA), which was led by Leopold II as the sole legitimate authority over the Congo Basin, subsequently called the Congo Free State (CFS) (Graham, 2014).

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

327.16 MHA l

Penerbit

South Africa : UJ Press., 2024

Deskripsi Fisik

344 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9781776489527

Klasifikasi

327.16

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

International Conflict

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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