The Regional Security Complexes in the Great Lakes Region (GLR) and the Big Dilemma for the EAC Regional Force to the DRC Conflict

Milestones, Challenges and Lessons

Abstract

This article analyses the key topics and concepts that have fueled scholarly and policy discussions on the Regional Security Complexes (RSCs) in the Great Lakes Region (GLR). Following the 1993 Burundian civil strife and the 1994 Rwandan genocide that marked the beginning of decades of warfare, numerous regional and international endeavours have supported peacebuilding and stabilisation in the Great Lakes Region. Large-scale refugee flows have been produced by conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the years, while the conflict has deepened into the Congolese society and culminated in an intense regional conflict involving several nations (due to buffer zone effects of conflict). This article argues that the GLR conflict intricately affects the countries in the region and cannot be isolated or addressed independently without involving all the countries in the region. This paper uses a desk review to examine the regional security complex in the GLR. The analysis of the R.S.C.s systematically outlines the internally triggered vulnerabilities in the Great Lakes Region, the state-to-state relations that shape the region, the region’s interactions with other regions, and the dynamics between global and regional security structures. The paper contends that the Great Lakes Region must be recognised as a collection of states constantly distressed by one or more external security forces and, as such, ought to find a collective solution to the conflict in the DRC.