Jeroen Cuvelier

Doing business out of war. An analysis of the UPDF's presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract This paper analyses how Ugandan army commanders have mobilised transborder economic networks to exploit economic opportunities in eastern DRC during the military intervention of the Ugandan Peoples Defence Force (UPDF) in Congos wars (1996–97; 1998–2003). These transborder networks are the starting point of our evaluation of the informal political structures and networks linking Ugandas political centre to Congos war complex. While it is often claimed that military entrepreneurismalism in the DRC has undermined political stability in Uganda, we argue that the activities of Ugandan military entrepreneurs and networks under their control were an integral part of Ugandas governance regime. Crucial to the development of this entrepreneurialism was the existence of pre-war transborder networks of economic exchange that were connecting Congo to eastern African markets. Military control over these highly informalised networks facilitated UPDF commanders’ access to Congos resources. Rather than operating as privatised sources of accumulation, these military shadow networks were directly linked to the inner circles of the Ugandan regime.

Digging Deeper: the Politics of ‘Conflict Minerals’ in the Eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo

But the dominant understanding of the reasons behind Congos war is not without critique. Different experts have raised their concerns about the too narrow scope on conflict dynamics in the DRC.

Money, migration and masculinity among artisanal miners in Katanga (DR Congo)

ABSTRACT The Katangese artisanal mining sector has grown spectacularly since the late 1990s. Faced with political instability and economic crisis, tens of thousands of men have moved to the mining areas in order to find new sources of income. This article offers a detailed ethnographic description of how male migrant workers experience and cope with the challenging realities of life on the mines against the backdrop of recent changes in Katanga’s political economy. More specifically, it examines the relationship between money, migration and masculinity through an extended case study of a money dispute among a group of artisanal miners working in the Kalabi mine near Lwambo, a small town situated 20 kilometres north of Likasi. It is found that the conspicuous consumption of money plays a vital role in the mining subculture; that credit and debt dominate life on the mines; and that artisanal mining has given rise to significant changes in gender relations and household organisation.