The Great Lakes Region highlights the interconnected nature of conflict. This is particularly true for the four focus countries of the Great Lakes Project (GLP), namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. This interconnectedness forms the basis of the GLP’s regional approach.
Introduction
While the name ‘Great Lakes Region’ was derived from the freshwater lakes and river basins within the central and eastern part of Africa,1 for the purposes of this article the Great Lakes Region is defined within the context of the regional entity known as the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR). In the ICGLR context, the area of focus is therefore the countries located in the east and central Africa – namely Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Republic of Congo, Central African Republic (CAR), South Sudan, Kenya and Sudan. Thus, the Great Lakes Region constitutes a complex network of political and economic interactions with significant implications for peace, security and governance. It is also a region with interlinked conflicts and common fundamental problems that emanate from postcolonial challenges to state-building and nation-building. This article analyses the main conflict dynamics in the Great Lakes Region. The causes, dynamics and effects of conflicts are summarised, but the scope of the article does not allow for the exhaustive delineation of the conflict in each country. Rather, the purpose here is to provide an overview of the root causes of conflicts in Great Lakes Region countries, their maintenance factors, their interconnectivity and their consequences on people.