SKIMMING THE EAST AFRICAN COMMUNITY REGIONAL FORCE IN THE KIVU: ANOTHER TEST CASE OF ‘AFRICAN SOLUTIONS TO AFRICAN PROBLEMS’

OUTRO CASO DE TESTE DE "SOLUÇÕES AFRICANAS PARA PROBLEMAS AFRICANOS”

Abstract

The end of the Cold War witnessed the decline in interstate conflicts but it also caused many poor countries to fall from within. Even though many economic communities were established to boost regional integration and foster peace on the African continent, externally-backed armed conflicts have continued to defy regional initiatives for peace and security. This desk study is concerned with the perennial conflict in the Great Lakes Region, going back to the 1994 Rwandan genocide as it affected many countries, particularly the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). It intends to address the question as to whether the adhesion of DRC into the East African Community (EAC) will improve the country’s relationships with its eastern neighbours and support peace in the sub-region or if it is another false start. Using the theoretical framework of international cooperation, the paper adopts a content analysis method of available documents (EAC Treaty and Protocols) to make sense of this regional community’s disposition to mutate into an intervention force.  It has been found that the consensus-based decision-making process and the absence of enforcement mechanisms constitute major stumbling blocks to the political federation and they reflect the traditional hub-and-spoke relationship between rich and poor nations. Given that economic integration does not imply the silencing of guns within the community, each member state must strengthen its defence system against aggression.