COMPETITION FOR DRC'S NATURAL RESOURCES - BETWEEN MEDIATION AND DIPLOMACY (2017-2024)

Abstract

This article analyzes competition for natural resources in the DRC - between mediation and diplomacy (2017-2024). The research typology is descriptive and exploratory in nature, adopting a qualitative approach. The research reveals that the AU has faced institutional limitations, lack of resources, geopolitical challenges, lack of coordination and overlapping mandates between the AU and subregional organizations, compromising its effectiveness in resolving the conflict. Based on theorists of International Relations and conflict mediation, this study questions the effectiveness of the AU as a mediator and highlights the role of states that have unilaterally been more pragmatic in mediating the conflict. Natural resources are characterized as the greatest instrument for the propagation of conflicts in Africa, especially in the east of the DRC between the South and North Kivus and Boma, where there is a greater concentration of the world's vital and strategic resources. Such resources need to be used to compete between rebel groups and the DRC government for control of the same, as well as several international organizations and several States in the process of mediating the conflict through diplomatic means.