Who Belongs Where? Conflict, Displacement, Land and Identity in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
Published: 28 Jun 2010
Who Belongs Where? Conflict, Displacement, Land and Identity in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo
In a research published titled “Who Belongs Where? Conflict, Displacement, Land and Identity in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo” by the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) in partnership with the New York-based Social Science Research Council (SSRC), views of the ongoing conflict in the east of the country are presented from the perspective of those displaced by it – both refugees and internally displaced.
This paper is the third in the series Citizenship and Displacement in the Great Lakes region. The previous two papers may be found in the 2008 and 2009 archives.
Based on 157 qualitative interviews conducted in North Kivu and western Uganda, the paper explores the interaction between identity, access to power and, in turn, access to resources – including land.
The findings show that the conflict is seen as having been imported from Rwanda in the aftermath of the 1994 genocide: it is a conflict from “out there” that is now being fought on Congolese soil.