The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is the site of one of the world’s worst ongoing humanitarian crises. Although the country emerged from what has been called “Africa’s first world war” in 2003 when the former belligerents came together to form a transitional government, mortality studies estimate that up to 1,200 people continue to die each day from conflict-related causes, mostly disease and malnutrition but ongoing violence as well. Rampant corruption and pervasive state weakness allows members of the national army and members of armed groups alike to perpetrate abuses against civilians.

With the help of the world’s largest and most expensive peacekeeping operation, MONUC, the country overcame major logistic and political challenges to hold its first free and fair elections in 40 years in July and October 2006. However, the country faces substantial challenges, including the creation of state institutions that are accountable to the Congolese people and the construction of an integrated and professional army that protects civilians rather than abuses them. Renewed violence in the east, as well as brutal government crackdowns in the west, underscore the country’s continued fragility.

The principal short-term threat to stability in the DRC stems from continued fighting, displacement, human rights abuses and sexual violence in the eastern provinces. Despite the election of President Joseph Kabila in 2006 and the presence of some 17,000 United Nations peacekeeping, the national government has been unable to exert control in this region, in large part because of a weak and abusive national army. This crisis has been exacerbated by the legacy of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, including the presence of Rwandan Hutu rebel Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR), and the illegal exploitation of the region’s rich natural resources by foreign parties.

Last November Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame reached an agreement under which Rwandan-supported Tutsi rebel soldiers (Le Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple, CNDP) would integrate into the Congolese national army, and a joint Rwandan-Congolese military action would take place against the FDLR. The ensuing 35-day operation in early 2009 dispersed the FDLR rebels but did not significantly weaken them. After Rwandan troops withdrew, the FDLR regrouped and carried out attacks against civilians that displaced hundreds of thousands of villagers.

The problems in the eastern Congo are part of a broader problem: the inability of the government in Kinshasa to extend its authority throughout the country. The government is centralized, suffers from a lack of leadership by Kabila, a lack of capable civilian and military personnel from bottom to top, and endemic corruption. With a per capita gross domestic product of $147, the DRC is among the world’s poorest country, physical infrastructure is in a disastrous state, and corruption and illegal exploitation has stifled the potential growth effects of production of key mineral resources, including diamonds, cobalt, coltan and copper.

To address these challenges in the unstable east and beyond, the DRC government and its international partners must adopt a comprehensive approach for disarming the FDLR, promote security sector reform to ensure a professional and non-abusive military force, encourage reconciliation and human security by holding individuals accountable for past abuses and restoring rule of law and competent governance, return displaced persons to their homes in a secure process, and improve governance through economic transparency, equitable taxation, decentralization, strengthening of legislative and judicial systems and holding of local elections.