DRC: Opportunism Trumps Peace (ISN)

Brent Pearson, a first year graduate student here at Mercyhurst, has just published (at ISN) a very interesting analysis of the situation in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo. He claims that "The Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) and the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) are unlikely to be able to enforce Security Council resolutions and ceasefire agreements between the government and armed groups in the country's eastern provinces due to ethnic loyalties and opportunities to profit from illicit trading in minerals." The reasons for his position are worth the read (full text article here).