Divergent Interests of Actors in the Great Lakes Region:: A Threat to Peace and Development in the Eastern DRC and in the whole Region, A Systemic Approach

This book shows that the divergence of actors in the Great Lakes Region triggers conflict and wars in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and in the whole region torn by wars, genocide, rape etc. This book answers the following questions: 1) Who are the actors in the region and what are their interests? 2) How divergent and convergent are they? 3) How can we harmonize them, or have them converge? Using a systemic analysis, we find out that: 1) The interests of the local, regional and global actors diverged and this led to the failure of durable peace and development. 2) Eastern DRC is a centre of strategic, political and economic interests of all actors. Each actor tries to maximize his own interests at the expense of the others. 3) The GLR and the DRC will continue to be a centre of conflict as it is a reservoir of minerals such as cobalt, tantalum, copper, etc. that are highly needed by Western and Eastern powers as well as MNCs. Only convergence can lead to peace.