Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Economic opportunities and local governance on an African frontier: the case of the Semliki Basin (Congo–Uganda)

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17531050902972964

1753-1063

Timothy Raeymaekers, Luca Jourdan,

Agriculture and Rural Development Research

Abstract Abstract The Semliki Basin historically represents a dynamic borderland between the interlacustrine kingdoms of the African Rift Valley (the Toro and Buganda) and the mountain people of the Western Rwenzori slopes and the Mitumba Mountains, in the contemporary Democratic Republic of Congo. Typically an agro-pastoralist area, it has hosted a lively trade between the Toro kingdom, around lake Katwe, and the neighbouring Bakonzo and Banande, living respectively in Kasese and Bundibugyo districts (Uganda) and Beni and Lubero territories (Congo). More recently, since the mid-twentieth century, the Semliki valley has served as a base for rebel movements and political guerrillas fighting against the Ugandan and Congolese regimes. The analysis offered here is inspired by Igor Kopytoff's 1989 work on the African frontier. Building on his argument, this article looks at the opportunities and obstacles generated in the Semliki area in terms of cross border "governable spaces", focusing on the emerging actors that use and transform conventions about identity, labour and rule. The hypothesis is that the border is not just a space of "opportunity, of vibrant, desperate inventiveness and unrestrained profiteering", but also forms a constitutive element in producing what is to be governed, i.e. a space where new forms of governance emerge, challenging the ruling conventions about what politics is and where it is to be found. Keywords: frontierUgandaDemocratic Republic of Congogovernanceboundary conflictboundary economy Notes 1. Turner Turner , F.J. The Frontier in American History . American Historical Association , 1893 . [Google Scholar], The Frontier. 2. Le Galès Le Galès , P. "La nuova political economy delle città e delle regioni." Stato e Mercato , no. 52 1998 : 53 91 . [Google Scholar], "La nuova political economy," 79. 3. Hogan Hogan, R. 1980. The Frontier as Social Control. Theory and Society, 14(1): 35–51. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "The Frontier." 4. See Kopytoff Kopytoff , I. The African Frontier. The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies . Indianapolis, IN : Indiana University Press , 1989 . [Google Scholar], The African Frontier; Escobar Escobar, A. 2001. Culture Sits in Places: Reflections on Globalism and Subaltern Strategies of Localization. Political Geography, 20(2): 139–74. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Culture Sits in Places." 5. Kopytoff Kopytoff , I. The African Frontier. The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies . Indianapolis, IN : Indiana University Press , 1989 . [Google Scholar], The African Frontier, 7. 6. Le Meur Le Meur , P-Y. "State Making and the Politics of the Frontier in Central Benin." Development and Change 37 , no. 4 2006 : 871 900 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "State Making," 872. 7. See Prunier, "L'Ouganda"; Perrot, "Entrepreneurs"; Reno, "War, Debt and the Role of Pretending"; Clark Clark, J. 2001. Explaining Ugandan Intervention in Congo: evidence and explanations. Journal of Modern African Studies, 39(2): 261–87. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Explaining Ugandan Intervention." 8. United Nations, Report. 9. United Nations, Report. See also Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch . Covered in Blood: Ethnically Targeted Violence in Northern DRC . HRW Index No. A1511, July 8 , 2003 . [Google Scholar], Uganda in Eastern DRC and Covered in Blood. 10. Vlassenroot and Raeymaekers Vlassenroot, K. and Raeymaekers, T. 2004. The Politics of Rebellion and Intervention in Ituri: The Emergence of a New Political Complex?. African Affairs no., 103: 385–412. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "The Politics of Rebellion." 11. Kopytoff Kopytoff , I. The African Frontier. The Reproduction of Traditional African Societies . Indianapolis, IN : Indiana University Press , 1989 . [Google Scholar], The African Frontier. 12. Leopold Leopold , M. Inside West Nile: Violence, History and Representation on an African Frontier . Oxford : James Currey , 2005 . [Google Scholar], Inside West Nile. 13. Raeymaekers, "Protection for Sale" 14. Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch . Covered in Blood: Ethnically Targeted Violence in Northern DRC . HRW Index No. A1511, July 8 , 2003 . [Google Scholar], Uganda in Eastern DRC. 15. Reno Reno, W. 2004. Order and Commerce in Turbulent Areas: 19th Century Lessons, 21st Century Practice. Third World Quarterly, 25(4): 607–25. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "War, Debt and the Role of Pretending." 16. Clark Clark, J. 2001. Explaining Ugandan Intervention in Congo: evidence and explanations. Journal of Modern African Studies, 39(2): 261–87. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Explaining Ugandan Intervention." 17. According to Reno ("War, Debt and the Role of Pretending," 7), for example, "a key strategy for consolidating domestic political bargains has been to steal from outside a state's territory." 18. Clark Clark, J. 2001. Explaining Ugandan Intervention in Congo: evidence and explanations. Journal of Modern African Studies, 39(2): 261–87. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Explaining Ugandan Intervention," 276. 19. Dietrich Dietrich , C. "The Commercialisation of Military Deployment in Africa." African Security Review 9 , no. 1 2000 .[Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "The Commercialisation of Military Deployment." 20. Perrot Perrot, S. 1999. Entrepreneurs de l'insécurité: la face cachée de l'armée ougandaise. Politique Africaine no., 75(1999): 60–71. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Entrepreneurs," 65. 21. Perrot Perrot, S. 1999. Entrepreneurs de l'insécurité: la face cachée de l'armée ougandaise. Politique Africaine no., 75(1999): 60–71. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Entrepreneurs," 65. 22. General James Kazini (who led the offensive against the Allied Democratic Forces [ADF] in the West of Uganda) and Salim Saleh (a first-time National Resistance Army [NRA] soldier and half-brother of the President) conveniently made use of their involvement in Uganda's regional wars to haul in a number of lucrative defence contracts that were supposedly meant for the modernization of the army, but mostly involved the payment of vast illegal commissions (Wood and Peleman Wood , B. , and J. Peleman . The Arms Fixers. Controlling the Brokers and Shipping Agents . BASIC Research Report, November 1999 . [Google Scholar], The Arms Fixers). In the meantime, Salim Saleh also expanded his business activities elsewhere. He became the reported shareholder of Banff Resources, a Canadian company that owned the Kilembe copper mines in western Uganda, and he acquired 25% of the British mining company Branch Energy for the exploitation of the gold reserves in the park of Kidepo (Executive Intelligence Review, January 8, 1999). Branch Energy is associated with the private military company Executive Outcomes, in which Saleh held another 45% through its Ugandan branch Saracen Uganda, and which notably defended the Kidepo mines in the face of the LRA menace (Chapleau and Misser Chapleau, P. and Misser, F. 1998. Mercenaires S. A, Paris: Desclée de Brouwer. [Google Scholar], Mercenaires). 23. United Nations United Nations . Report of the Panel of Experts on Illegal Exploitation of Natural Resources and Other Forms of Wealth of the Democratic Republic of Congo . New York : United Nations Security Council , April 12 , 2001 . [Google Scholar], Report, 59. 24. A good example of the merging between military and economic agendas was the so-called Victoria Group. According to the Porter Commission, which investigated UN claims about Uganda's "illegal" exploitation of Congolese resources, this fictitious company was founded in 1999 by Salim Saleh, his wife Jovia and a Lebanese diamond trader to organize their diamond traffics from occupied territory in eastern DRC. The United Nations Expert Panel on the DR Congo refers to the activities of the Victoria Group as a combination of illegal diamond and gold selling, the production of counterfeit currency and the provision of a cover for the UPDF's commercial operations in eastern DRC. In particular, it served to illegally export commercial goods and resources from the DRC under a safe conduit General Kazini had himself issued to UPDF and Congolese rebel headquarters in Kisangani in 1999. While Saleh continued to expand his business, General James Kazini functioned as "the master in the field; the orchestrator, organizer and manager of most illegal activities related to the UPDF presence in north and north-eastern DRC" (UN, Report, 89). 25. Ballentine and Sherman Ballentine , K. , and J. Sherman The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance . Boulder, CO and London : Lynne Rienner , 2003 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], The Political Economy. 26. Berdal and Malone Berdal, M. and Malone, D.M. 2000. Greed and Grievance: Economic Agendas in Civil Wars, Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Greed and Grievance. 27. Berdal Berdal, M. 2005. Beyond Greed and Grievance – and not too soon. Review of International Studies, 31(3): 687–98. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Beyond Greed." 28. Menkhaus Menkhaus, K. 2004. Vicious Circles and the Security Development Nexus in Somalia. Conflict, Security and Development, 4(2): 5–6. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar], "Vicious Circles," 5–6. 29. Prunier Prunier , G . "Sudan's Regional War. " Le Monde Diplomatique , February 1997 . [Google Scholar], "L'Ouganda." 30. See Stacey Stacey , T. "The Snows of Rwenzururu and the Kingdom." In Rwenzori. Histories and Culture of an African Mountain C. Pennacini and H. Witteneberg . Kampala : Fountain , 2008 [Google Scholar], "The Snows of Rwenzururu." 31. Vlassenroot, "Violence." 32. The most important leader was Muvingi Nyamwisi, He was murdered in Beni by Mobutu's henchmen /thugs in May 1993. He was the brother of Mbusa Nyamwisi who became the leader of RCD-ML in 1999, a rebel movement initially supported by Uganda which controlled North-Kivu during the second war (1998–2003). Nowadays Mbusa Nyamwisi is the minister of regional cooperation in the Congo government (Willame, L'odyssée Kabila; Jourdan, Congo; Raeymaekers, "The Power of Protection"). 33. Jourdan Jourdan , L . "Congo: fame di guerra. Giovani e violenza nel primo conflitto 'mondiale' africano." Phd thesis, University of Turin , 2004 . [Google Scholar], Congo. 34. A complete analysis of the causes of the Congo war is beyond the scope of this article. For an overview, see for example, Turner, The Congo Wars. 35. Prunier, "Sudan's Regional War." 36. Furthermore, some terrorist acts were attributed to this movement: in 1998 two bombs exploded in Kampala in the Nile Grill restaurant and in the Speke Hotel. The same year a bus going to Rwanda was blown up, killing 30 people. After 1998, the ADF actions became more brutal: for example, in February 1998, 30 students were kidnapped at the Adventist College in Kasese. On June 8 of the same year, about 80 students of the technical college in Kaborole died after the rebels had set fire to their dormitory, and in the same month many children were kidnapped from a school in the Hoima district. 37. In one such case, Col. Peter Kerim was caught while stealing two pick-up trucks loaded with fuel from a Zaïran businessman. Following this incident, Kerim was forced to go on leave. Nevertheless, he managed to reappear, first as the commander of the anti-ADF offensive, and then as a military trainer for Jean-Pierre Bemba's MLC and commander in Mahagi District during the second war in 1998–2003. In the end he became the overall commander in the DRC after the dismissal of Gen. Kazini in 2003. 38. Prunier Prunier , G . "Sudan's Regional War. " Le Monde Diplomatique , February 1997 . [Google Scholar], "L'Ouganda," 51. 39. Prunier Prunier , G . "Sudan's Regional War. " Le Monde Diplomatique , February 1997 . [Google Scholar], "L'Ouganda," 51. 40. The Monitor, May 22, 2000, "Uganda's Sweet Talk not Enough to Woo Canadians"; I would like to thank Dan Fahey for bringing this article to our attention. 41. De Herdt and Marysse De Herdt , T. , and S. Marysse "L'économie informelle au Zaïre: (sur)vie et pauvreté dans la période de transition ." Cahiers CEDAF , no. 21–22 1996 [Google Scholar], "L'économie informelle," 29 42. Vwakyanakazi Vwakyanakazi , M . "African Traders in Butembo, Eastern Zaire (1960–1980): A Case Study of Informal Entrepreneurship in a Cultural Context of Central Africa." PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 1982 . [Google Scholar], "African Traders," 177. 43. Mobutu himself declared "Article Quinze," the fifteenth article of Zaire's constitution, as "Débrouillez-vous!," or "fend for yourselves." In the 1980s this system emerged as a popular reaction against rapid official economic decline that had made Zaire's official system come "crashing down" on the Zairian citizenry (Schatzberg Schatzberg, M.G. 1988. "The Dialectics of Oppression in Zaire". Bloomington". In Indiana University Press [Google Scholar], The Dialectics of Oppression, 138). Système D represented a massive disengagement of citizens from the state at a time of criminalization and privatization. 44. Tilly, State Making. 45. MacGaffey MacGaffey, J. 1987. Entrepreneurs and Parasites: The Struggle for Indigenous Capitalism in Zaire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. [Google Scholar], The Real Economy of Zaire; see also: Jourdan, Congo. 46. De Boeck De Boeck, F. 2000. Borderland Breccia: The Mutant Hero in the Historical Imagination of a Central-African Diamond Frontier. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 1(2): 1–44. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Borderland Breccia." 47. Prunier Prunier , G . "Sudan's Regional War. " Le Monde Diplomatique , February 1997 . [Google Scholar], "L'Ouganda." 48. Willame Willame , J.C. L'odyssée Kabila: trajectoire pour un Congo nouveau . Paris : Karthala , 1999 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], L'odyssée Kabila. 49. This city, in the last decades, has become a crucial centre for trade in East Congo Butembo. It is full of shops that sell all kind of goods: food, clothes, motorcycles, electronics etc. The businessmen of Butembo supply the north and east Congo with their goods, and even partially the Central African Republic. Their influence has increased during the war since the navigation on the Congo river, that connects the capital Kinshasa with the central town of Kisangani, has been blocked. 50. For more details, see Raeymaekers, "The Power of Protection" and ''Protection for Sale.'' 51. Tull Tull , D. "A Reconfiguration of Political Order?: The State of the State in North Kivu (DR Congo)." African Affairs no. 102 2003 : 429 46 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "A Reconfiguration"; Tull and Mehler Tull D. , and A. Mehler . "The Hidden Costs of Power-Sharing: Reproducing Insurgent Violence in Africa." African Affairs no. 104 2005 : 375 98 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "The Hidden Costs of Power-sharing." 52. Reno Reno, W. 2004. Order and Commerce in Turbulent Areas: 19th Century Lessons, 21st Century Practice. Third World Quarterly, 25(4): 607–25. [Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Order and Commerce," 611. 53. Mirembe Mirembe , O.K. "Autour de l'économie informelle en période de guerre en République Démocratique du Congo." Parcours et initiatives , no. 1 2002 : 18 35 . [Google Scholar], "Autour de l'économie informelle." 54. Part of this produce also served to pay of the Great European Depression, but that is an entirely different story (Jewsiewicki Jewsiewicki , B . "The Great Depression and the Making of the Colonial Economic System in the Belgian Congo." African Economic History no. 4 1977 : 153 76 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "The Great Depression"). 55. Dickie Dickie, J. 2004. Cosa Nostra. A History of the Sicilian Mafia, New York and Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. [Google Scholar], Cosa Nostra. 56. Vwakyanakazi Vwakyanakazi , M . "African Traders in Butembo, Eastern Zaire (1960–1980): A Case Study of Informal Entrepreneurship in a Cultural Context of Central Africa." PhD thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison , 1982 . [Google Scholar], "African Traders," 183. 57. De Boeck De Boeck, F. 2000. Borderland Breccia: The Mutant Hero in the Historical Imagination of a Central-African Diamond Frontier. Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History, 1(2): 1–44. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Borderland Breccia." 58. De Soto, The Mystery of Capital; MacGaffey, Entrepreneurs and Parasites and The Real Economy; Mirembe, "Autour de l'économie informelle." 59. Roitman Roitman, J. 2005. Fiscal Disobedience: An Anthropology of Economic Regulation in Central Africa, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Fiscal Disobedience. 60. Clastres Clastres, P. 1974. Society against the State, Oxford: Blackwell. [Google Scholar], Society against the State. 61. Roitman Roitman, J. 2005. Fiscal Disobedience: An Anthropology of Economic Regulation in Central Africa, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar], Fiscal Disobedience. 62. Hart Hart, K. 1973. Informal Income Opportunities and Urban Employment in Ghana. Journal of Modern African Studies, 11(1): 61–89. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar], "Informal Income Opportunities." 63. Migdal and Schlichte Migdal, J.S. and Schlichte, K. 2005. "Rethinking the State". In The Dynamics of State. The Formation and Crisis of State Domination, Edited by: Schlichte, K. 1–40. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Google Scholar], "Rethinking the State," 2. 64. Migdal and Schlichte Migdal, J.S. and Schlichte, K. 2005. "Rethinking the State". In The Dynamics of State. The Formation and Crisis of State Domination, Edited by: Schlichte, K. 1–40. Aldershot: Ashgate. [Google Scholar], "Rethinking the State,", 4. 65. Magnussen Magnussen, W. 1990. "The Reification of Political Community". In Contending Sovereignties. Redefining Political Community, Edited by: Walker, R.B.J. and Mendlovitz, S.H. 45–60. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner. [Google Scholar], "The Reification of Political Community," 46. 66. Hannerz Hannerz, U. 2003. Transnational Connections: Culture, People, Place, s. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar], Transnational Connections, 26. 67. Kassimir Kassimir , R. "Producing Local Politics: Governance, Representation, and Non-state Organizations in Africa." In Intervention and Transnationalism in Africa. Global-Local Networks of Power T. Callaghy , R. Kassimir , and R. Latham , ?–? . Cambridge , Cambridge University Press , 2001 .[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], "Producing Local Politics," 103. 68. Asuman Bisiika, "Rwenzururu a Kingdom only in Hearts of People," New Vision, July 21, 2008.