Christoph Vogel. Operational Stalemate or Politically Induced Failure?

Christoph Vogel Operational Stalemate or Politically Induced Failure?

Christoph Vogel Operational Stalemate or Politically Induced Failure? On the Dynamics Influencing Humanitarian Aid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Tectum Verlag

Christoph Vogel Operational Stalemate or Politically Induced Failure? On the Dynamics Influencing Humanitarian Aid in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Umschlagabbildung: Christoph Vogel Tectum Verlag Marburg, 2012 ISBN 978-3-8288-5585-4 (Dieser Titel ist zugleich als gedrucktes Buch unter der ISBN 978-3-8288-2960-2 im Tectum Verlag erschienen.) Besuchen Sie uns im Internet www.tectum-verlag.de www.facebook.com/tectum.verlag Bibliografische Informationen der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Angaben sind im Internet über http://dnb.ddb.de abrufbar.

5 Acknowledgements An earlier version of this book has been written 2011 as a MA thesis at the Chair of International Relations, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences, Cologne University. I am therefore deeply grateful for Prof. Dr. Thomas Jäger s & Dr. Kai Oppermann s continuous and valuable input, their methodological advice and their permanent willingness to respond every question I had. In addition, this book could not have been written without the thorough and frank collaboration of all my interview partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo whom I cannot namely mention for reasons of confidentiality. Special thanks go to my friend Nico Nassenstein who made me discover the Congo from 2008 on and accompanied me in almost every trip there since then, including the fieldwork that this book is based on. In addition, I want to thank my Congolese parents Louis Kitenge Muyembe & Marcelline Kitenge Kuta (in place of all their family) for adopting me as their muzungu son and lovingly training me to meet the challenges of daily Congolese life while doing research. Aksanti sana in particular to their third son Bobo Kitenge Mwilambwe, without whose assistance I would never have been able to manage my tight research schedule using public transportation in Kinshasa. Further, I have to give thanks to Götz Heinicke & Richard Zink for their technical and logistic support and for teaching me how to work in the Democratic Republic of Congo as a foreigner without losing respect towards the country and its citizens. Philipp Sandner & Benjamin Schlüter deserve many thanks for offering me accommodation and conversations in Goma & Bukavu, respectively. Lastly, I want to express my deep gratitude to Dr. John Emeka Akude, Joschka Havenith, Marilena Thanassoula, Alexander Tacke-Köster & Lucia Speh for critically reviewing the manuscript and unveiling its intermittent weaknesses, as to Meg Goettsches who did a great job in proofreading my English. I thank my parents Michèle Ethuin & Oskar Vogel who made me study and gain that little bit of knowledge of this world. This book is dedicated to my grandparents and the Congolese people.

Content List of abbreviations...9 1 Introduction...11 2 Description and history of the DRC case...17 2.1 Explanation of case study choice...17 2.2 The history of conflict and humanitarian aid in DRC...20 2.2.1 Independence and the Mobutu era...21 2.2.2 The 1990s Collapse and Regionalisation...23 2.2.3 The Rwandan genocide and its consequences for DRC...24 2.2.4 Africa s World War...27 2.2.5 The perpetuation of civil war after 2003...31 3 Theoretical and conceptual framework...35 3.1 The Concept of Complex Emergency...36 3.2 Principles of humanitarian action...38 3.3 Institutional economics of aid...40 3.3.1 The system of agency and delegation in the world of aid...40 3.3.2 Multilateralism versus bilateralism in the world of aid...43 3.3.3 Problems arising due to the agency system...44 3.3.4 Principal-agent relations in the humanitarian world...50 3.3.5 Intermediate summary...52 3.4 State failure...53 3.4.1 Provision of (political) goods...54 3.4.2 Shadow statehood and disorder as a political instrument...56 3.4.3 Politics of the belly...58 3.4.4 Intermediate summary...59 3.5 War economy...59 3.5.1 Sub-types of war economy...62 3.5.2 Humanitarian war economies...66 3.5.3 Aid (and its manipulation) in war economies...69 3.5.4 Intermediate summary...71 3.6 Humanitarian aid as a means of international politics...71 3.7 Summary of hypotheses...73

4 Empirical analysis of humanitarian aid in DRC...75 4.1 Methodology and operationalisation...75 4.1.1 Methodology...75 4.1.2 Operationalisation of hypotheses in the questionnaire...77 4.1.3 Choice of discussion partners and conduct of interviews...77 4.2 Empirical research...79 4.2.1 Results for aspects related to institutional economics of aid...79 4.2.2 Results for aspects related to state failure...89 4.2.3 Results for aspects related to war economy...92 4.2.4 Comparison and assessment of the initial hypotheses...98 4.2.5 Identification and control of intervening variables...100 5 Conclusion...105 6 Bibliography and Interviews...109

9 List of abbreviations AFDL Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération BMZ Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere CERF Central Emergency Response Fund CHF Common Humanitarian Fund CIA Central Intelligence Agency CNDP Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple CNR Comité National des Réfugiés CPIA Comité Provincial Inter-Agences DfID UK Department for International Development DPKO Department of Peacekeeping Operations of the UN DRC Democratic Republic of the Congo DWHH (Deutsche) Welthungerhilfe ECHO European Commission Humanitarian Office EU European Union EUFOR RDC EU-Mission for the securitisation of the 2006 elections FAC Forces Armées Congolaises (until 2001) FARDC Forces Armées de la Rép. Démocratique du Congo FAZ Forces Armées Zairoises (until 1997) FAR Forces Armées Rwandaises (until 1995) FDLR Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda GDP Gross Domestic Product GHD Good Humanitarian Donorship Group GNI Gross National Income GO Governmental Organisation HAP Humanitarian Action Plan HAP-I Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International HC Humanitarian Coordinator HDI Human Development Index HRW Human Rights Watch IASC Inter-Agency Standing Committee ICC International Criminal Court ICG International Crisis Group ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IFRC International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies IDP Internally Displaced People IMF International Monetary Fund INGO International Non-Governmental Organization IO International Organisation

10 IOM IRC IRIN LRA LRRD MDB MGA MINT MLC MONUC MONUSCO MPR MSF NGO OCHA ODA ODI OECD OXFAM PF RCD RDF RPA RPF SGBV (D)SRSG UK UN UNAMIR UNDP UNDSS UNHAS UNHCR UNICEF UPDF USA USAID USD WFP WHO WVI International Organisation of Migration International Rescue Committee Integrated Regional Information Network Lord s Resistance Army Linking Relief, Rehabilitation, and Development Multilateral Development Bank Multilateral Grant Agency Malteser International Mouvement pour la Libération du Congo Mission de l Organisation des Nations Unies au Congo Mission de l Organisation des Nations Unies pour la Stabilisation du Congo Mouvement Populaire de la Révolution Doctors without Borders/Médecins sans Frontières Non-Governmental Organization Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Official Development Assistance Overseas Development Institute Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development Oxford Committee for Famine Relief Pooled Fund Rassemblement des Congolais pour la Démocratie Rwandan Defence Forces Rwandan Patriotic Army Rwandan Patriotic Front Sexual and gender based violence (Deputy) Special Representative of the Secretary-General United Kingdom United Nations UN Assistance Mission for Rwanda UN Development Programme UN Department for Safety and Security UN Humanitarian Air Service UN High Commissioner for Refugees UN International Children s Emergency Fund Ugandan Peoples Defence Forces United States of America United States Agency for International Development United States Dollars UN World Food Programme World Health Organisation World Vision International

11 1 Introduction In the eyes of many people, humanitarian aid has lost much of its moral currency. Once an undisputed symbol of solidarity with those struck down by misfortune and adversity, humanitarian assistance is now vilified by many as part of the problem, feeding fighters, strengthening perpetrators of genocide, creating new war economies, fuelling conflicts and perpetrating crises. 1 Since the Biafra war 2 for secession in the late 1960s and more recently, after the Ethiopian famine in the 1980s, these changes have become virulent. The Rwandan genocide and its epilogue in the former Zaire finally revealed that humanitarian aid has the potential to do harm. 3 The introductory quote addresses one of the problems inherent in the contemporary systems of aid and relief: the latent negative influence of aid in humanitarian emergencies. This development is accompanied by a gradual retreat of the former paradigm of charity in favour of political considerations and business opportunities. 4 Nowadays, humanitarians find themselves constantly questioned about their political connection 5 whereas they used to consider themselves as genuinely ethical-moral and apolitical. Economic phenomena such as the 1 2 3 4 5 Clare Short, former British Secretary of State for International Development, in: MacFarlane, Neil (2001): Humanitarian action: the Conflict connection. Occasional paper No. 43. Providence, Watson Institute & UNU, p. ix. The Biafra war for secession from Nigeria between 1967 and 1970 has been a turning point in the modern history of aid. It was the starting point for a new kind of aid agency movement, notably through the creation of Médecins sans Frontières (MSF). In the aftermath, different discourses about how to react to humanitarian emergencies were initiated, especially in terms of ethical behaviour but also the political contexts and media linkages. Cf. Rieff, David (2002): A bed for the Night. Humanitarianism in Crisis. Vintage, London, pp. 83 et seqq. This was not part of the humanitarian mindsets before. Cf. ibid., p. 115. For the do no harm approach, see Anderson, Mary B. (1999): Do No Harm. How Aid can support Peace or War. Lynne Rienner, Boulder/London. On those business opportunities: Calhoun, Craig (2008): The Imperative to reduce suffering, in: Barnett, Michael/Weiss, Thomas G. (eds.): Humanitarianism in Question. Politics, Power, Ethics. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, p. 89. Cf. also: Stockton, Nicholas (2005): The Accountable Humanitarian. Paper presented at a Luce Lecture at Tufts University, at: http://hapinternational.org/pool/files/the-accountable-humanitarian-2-12-05.pdf, p. 2. Vaux, Tony (2006): Humanitarian trends and dilemmas, in: Development in Practice, Vol. 16, No. 3/4. Taylor and Francis, London, p. 240. Other scholars also emphasise that humanitarian action is a highly political activity. MacRae, Joanna (2004): Understanding integration from Rwanda to Iraq, in: Ethics & International Affairs, Vol. 18, No. 2. Wiley-Blackwell, New York, p. 29.