Whilst the role of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) programs was to neutralize armed groups and restore sustainable stability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the proliferation of armed groups witnessed between 2013 and 2018 in the Kivu region interrogate the efficacy of implemented DDR programs. The DRC faces serious setbacks in terms of socio-economic and political development due to the presence of many armed groups oscillating in the eastern parts of the country, particularly the Kivu region. This situation poses peace and security problems not for the DRC alone but for the Great Lakes region. To stabilize this region, the DRC government and its International partners employed DDR programs as mechanisms to neutralize armed groups and reinstate sustainable peace and security. However, despite these efforts, there has been a rapid increase of non-state armed groups between 2013 and 2018 and an increase in violence against civilians leading to the displacement of millions of people. This study investigates the dynamics of various factors behind the creation of armed groups, their proliferation and resistance to DDR programs. The study reveals that there have been long grievances and unresolved crises behind armed groups’ resistance in the Kivu region including ethnic antagonism and resentment between autochthonous citizens and Kinyarwanda speakers; and the socio-economic deprivation, hardship of life and feeling of marginalization by the central government. This dissertation delineates better approaches to address the problem of armed groups and succeed in future DDR programs such as the establishment of a long-term reconciliation mechanism to address ethnic resentment created by war within communities in the Kivu region; and a national development plan guaranteeing socio-economic opportunities (income generating activities) to citizens in the Kivu region. This study uses a qualitative research approach to investigate the dynamics of non-state armed groups and disarmament challenges in the DRC. / Dissertation (MA (Political Sciences))--University of Pretoria, 2020. / Mastercard Scholarship foundation / Political Sciences / MA (Political Sciences) / Unrestricted

The eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been described as the ‘rape capital of the world’ due to the severity and brutality of sexual violence that Congolese women experience. Sexual violence as a weapon of war in conflict-torn areas takes the form of rape, sexual slavery and the insertion of objects into cavities (such as knives, rifle barrels, pieces of glass, sticks, wood, bottles and pestles coated in chili pepper). It predominantly targets girls as young as two years old and women as old as eighty years old. Perpetrators of such illegal and immoral acts of violence in eastern DRC (North Kivu and South Kivu provinces) include members of the national army, members of rebel groups and United Nations Peacekeeping personnel. Congolese women’s rights are constantly undermined and violated. This is despite the country’s legal obligations to protect Congolese women through its ratification of a number of international and regional conventions and treaties which promote the rights of women and prohibit sexual violence. The Congolese Constitution contains provisions aimed at promoting and protecting women’s rights, including the protection of women against sexual violence. Despite various pieces of legislation and calls by human rights activists to halt acts of sexual violence, Congolese women continue to face unwanted pregnancies, abortions, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV/AIDS, destroyed reproductive organs, injuries and even death. Sexual violence continues unabated in eastern DRC as a tactic used by various armed groups to terrorise and control the population living in conflict-torn eastern DRC. This mini-dissertation is a cry for justice in that it highlights sexual violence crimes and other human rights abuses faced by women in eastern DRC and calls for perpetrators to be held accountable. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Centre for Human Rights / MPhil / Unrestricted

yes / The proliferation of irregular armed actors which defy simplistic definition has caught public and academic attention alike, not least in the pages of this journal. To move the debate on non-state armed groups (NSAGs) forward, this article seeks to enhance our conceptual understanding of parochial armed groups which are not primarily driven by ideological or religious objectives. Thus, this article clarifies similarities as well as differences between subtypes of community-based armed groups (CBAGs) on the one hand, and between CBAGs and other NSAGs, on the other hand. By doing so, a typology is developed that classifies militias, gangs and vigilantes on the basis of their political, economic and security-related dimensions. The resulting ideal types are discussed through the lenses of different explanatory frameworks and policy debates in the field of contemporary security studies. A major typological issue is the tendency for CBAGs to ‘turn bad’ and become threats to the stability they were expected to transform, becoming a serious problem in countries where they operate. It is concluded that the challenge of CBAGs ultimately needs to be addressed by putting in place a functioning state that can tackle the underlying woes that led to their proliferation in the first place.

La relation des groupes armés non étatiques à l’Etat ne relève pas nécessairement d’une alternative exclusive entre l’affaiblissement étatique ou la délégation de la violence. Cette thèse prend comme objet la relation entre l’Etat et les groupes paramilitaires en Colombie afin d’étudier le lien entre la violence privée et la formation de l’Etat. L’histoire de ces groupes se caractérise à la fois par des alliances collusives avec des secteurs des élites politiques et administratives et par des processus de dénonciation qui rendent ces relations inavouables. Il s’agit donc d’une situation dans laquelle le pouvoir des armes échoue à se transformer en pouvoir légal. Une double perspective est mobilisée. Une première approche analyse le traitement des groupes paramilitaires par les institutions étatiques centrales, dans les termes d la politique de sécurité, de l’action judiciaire ou encore des politiques de sortie de conflit. Elle montre que ces groupes font l’objet d’une multiplicité de formes d’intervention étatique. Celles- ci ne peuvent se comprendre comme une forme univoque d’action publique, mais plutôt comme le signe de conflits intra-étatiques portant sur le contrôle et la régulation de la violence. Une seconde approche analyse l’action locale des groupes paramilitaires, à la fois dans leur intervention dans le jeu électoral, leur rôle d’entrepreneurs de violence, leur positionnement face aux guérillas et leur relation au marché. Elle montre que les groupes paramilitaires constituent des formes d’autorité locale. Loin de s’opposer à l’Etat, ils cherchent à tirer des bénéfices de leur position dans le maintien de l’ordre et l’exploitation des ressources. / The relation between non-state armed groups and the state should not be necessarily interpreted as a mutually exclusive alternative between state weakness and violence sub- contracting. This thesis mobilizes a research on the relations between the state and paramilitary groups in Colombia in order to analyse the link between private violence and state formation. The history of these groups is characterized by the existence of collusive alliances with sectors of the political and administrative elites, but also by forms of denunciation and disclosure that delegitimize these relations. This thesis examines a situation in which the power of weapons fails to turn into legal power. From a double perspective, it mobilizes the conceptual tools of the historical sociology of the state. A first approach analyses the treatment of paramilitary groups by central state institutions, in terms of security policies, judicial action or peace-building policies. It shows that these groups are subject to multiple modalities of state intervention. These cannot be understood as a univocal form of public action, but rather as a sign of intra- state disputes over the control and regulation of private violence. A second approach analyses the local action of paramilitary groups: their intervention in the electoral process, their role as violent entrepreneurs, their positioning relative to the guerrillas and their relation to the market It shows that paramilitary groups are forms of local authority; far from being opposed to the state, they seek instead to benefit from their position as key actors for resource extraction, as well as in the construction and maintenance of local orders.

This thesis studies the effect of education on youth within vulnerable settings to resist joining armed groups. Two alternate causal mechanisms are derived from existing research. The first explanation hypothesizes that higher education increases the resistance among youth to join armed groups, since it reduces grievances by promoting social cohesion and equality. The second explanation posits that higher education increases the risk of youth to join armed groups, since raised awareness of injustices and discrimination fosters grievances. To test these hypotheses and further explore the causal relationship, the thesis is designed as a qualitative case study. Palestinian youth living in refugee communities in Lebanon who attend schools are compared to those who do not attend school. A field study to Lebanon was conducted in late spring of 2018 to interview representatives of organizations working with Palestinian youth. Eight in-depth interviews serve as material, which are analyzed using the method of structured, focused comparison. Considering the empirical evidence within the limitations of the study, I evaluate the explanatory power of the two causal mechanisms and provide an account of additional factors that may inform the foundation for future research.

Doctor of Philosophy / Security Studies Interdepartmental Program / Emizet N. Kisangani / This study examines the effects of regime type on support to foreign insurgent groups. Theoretically, it relies on structural and normative characteristics of democracies by arguing that leaders in these regimes tend to encounter multiple disincentive mechanisms generally not found in non-democracies. Thus, leaders of democratic regimes are less likely to actively support foreign insurgent groups as a component of strategy below the threshold of military intervention. When they do choose to lend their support, they tend to choose either low-level types of support (simple material support) or high-level support (full military intervention). Leaders of non-democratic regimes, however, can employ the full spectrum of support types to seize strategic opportunities and tailor strategies that are more costly and more risky. The dissertation tests this theory by using both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The statistical analysis of a dyadic, cross-sectional, time-series dataset of 179 countries from 1975 to 2009 provides some support for the proposed hypotheses. Structured, focused comparison of three conflicts with multiple within-case observations (cases) also reveals modest support for the hypothesis that democracies are unlikely to support insurgent groups in general and have multiple disincentives toward providing mid-level types of support that expose the democratic leaders to additional costs and risks. Unexpectedly, the qualitative case studies reveal that in addition to the structural disincentives initially identified, leaders of democratic regimes may have a harder time managing the principal-agent relationship between the supporting state (principal) and the insurgent groups (agents). The need to maintain a large winning coalition to survive as a leader in a democracy presents multiple principal-agent problems and allows rebel leaders and rebel factions to resist integration, prevent the loss of autonomy, and facilitate the establishment of alternative avenues of resource mobilization. While previous literature in political science and international relations provides evidence that structural characteristics of democratic regimes make them good at winning interstate wars, this study provides initial evidence that those same structural characteristics make democracies’ success more elusive when applying unconventional strategies short of war.

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The issue of child soldiering continues to be a significant part of armed conflicts. The research on children in conflict has not fully been able to understand how children not only experience but also actively participate in war. This thesis is premised in the pre-condition of low civilian support which in varying rates of child soldiering are expected to explain different outcomes in rebel violence against civilians. The examination is done through the lens of socialization theory. During the 1990’s the rates of child soldiering were extreme, causing rise to groups such as the RUF, AIS and brought attention to the KNU. These three cases are compared using Mill’s method of difference and structured focused comparison. The thesis finds that low civilian support is instrumental but ultimately inefficient to explain the variation in outcomes and proposes to look further into the influence of natural resource dependency and political ideologies.

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