csillagkohó’s Reviews > The War That Doesn't Say Its Name: The Unending Conflict in the Congo > Status Update
csillagkohó
is on page 121 of 328
"The extreme poor in Sub-Saharan Africa increased from 276 million in 1990 to 413 million in 2015. ... Economic liberalization played a role in the shift in conflict dynamics, creating new sources of profit. The civil wars of Sierra Leone and Liberia were examples of this: the state apparatus was weakened, creating regulatory vacuums that criminal networks could exploit, all the while social safety nets were eroded."
— Jan 30, 2026 06:26AM
2 likes · Like flag
csillagkohó’s Previous Updates
csillagkohó
is on page 228 of 328
"Donors framed the conflict in terms of peacemaking models that privilege technocracy over politics and abstract institutions over lived reality ...The liberal peacebuilding model triggered the rapid privatization of state assets, in particular mining concessions, allowing the ruling elite to illegally accumulate massive resources without having to employ taxation that could have rendered the state more accountable."
— Feb 03, 2026 02:57AM
csillagkohó
is on page 201 of 328
Ernest Wambia dia Wamba, one of the rebel commanders of the pro-Ugandan UPC, was a Claremont-educated political philosopher with an expertise in Badiou. While we idly scroll on goodreads, Congolese academics are actively realizing the science of Badiouism-Musevenism through armed struggle
— Feb 01, 2026 01:15PM
csillagkohó
is on page 194 of 328
The paradox of vigilante "self-defense" groups such as the Raia Mutomboki militias: "The widely reported abuse of civilians and the links between Raia factions and the M23 in southern Masisi are indications that the self-defense militias themselves were becoming a security threat for locals." There's not really any situation in which grassroots vigilante groups maintain a high moral standard as they grow powerful.
— Feb 01, 2026 04:40AM
csillagkohó
is on page 164 of 328
In refugee camps in Rwanda, the M23 used a mixture of coercion and consent to recruit. Consent, by capitalizing on ongoing discrimination of the Tutsi in Congo and claiming to combat this. Coercion: "The CNDP and the M23 carried out forced recruitment of soldiers, including child soldiers, in these camps, and descriptions of the camps suggest a high degree of militarization and intimidation by Rwandan officials."
— Jan 31, 2026 11:11AM
csillagkohó
is on page 95 of 328
"Rwanda did not need to have its troops physically present in the eastern Congo to benefit from the gold trade. Rather, it was able to leverage its lower taxes and arrangements with Congolese traders. In other words, it benefited not so much from conflict in the Congo but from disorder. It was that country's inability to properly regulate and tax its mining industry that became a boon for Rwanda."
— Jan 29, 2026 02:36PM
csillagkohó
is on page 65 of 328
"In an interview in 2009, Kabila said: 'Sometimes I feel overwhelmed.'" same
— Jan 29, 2026 01:37AM
csillagkohó
is on page 56 of 328
Milities in Kivu hebben er sinds de jaren 2000 eerder een gedeeld belang bij dat het conflict blijft duren dan dat ze "echt" tegen elkaar gekant zijn: "Insurrection became an open-ended endeavour, a lifestyle, in contrast with the 1996-1997 and 1998-2003 wars, which had concrete objectives."
— Jan 28, 2026 12:45AM
