Expertise for Central Africa

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E-CA — CRE-AC Rotunda Policy Talks 2010 : Survey

March 15, 2010
“Belgian-Congolese relations”

These issues include most notably:

  • Issues of political leadership;
  • Governance (including ethnicity, political will, corruption and perceptions of democracy);
  • Congo’s relations with its neighbors and strategies for regional integration;
  • The role of the CIAT during the political transition 2001-2006;
  • Reform of the security sector and the role of MONUC;
  • The debate about ‘peace and justice’ or ‘peace or justice’;
  • International budgetary support;
  • Macro-economic considerations including Inga and Chinese investments;
  • Decentralization.

June 14, 2010
“Security Sector Reform in DRC”

Under the umbrella of security sector reform, these issues include most notably:

  • History of conflict in the Great Lakes Region with emphasis on the eastern provinces
  • Actors in conflict and peace-making and peace-keeping
  • The United Nations Peacekeeping mission (Monuc – Monusu)
  • The instrumentalization of insecurity as political strategy
  • Human and financial costs of ongoing low intensity violence
  • Links between security and other state-building initiatives
  • Links between security and elections
  • Prospects for peace / prospects for renewed violence

September 20, 2010
“China and the DRC”,

These issues include most notably:

  • Role of China in Africa in general
  • The China-DRC convention (terms, imbalances, lack of transparency)
  • The social cost of the ‘barter’ deal (infrastructure for minerals)
  • Links between debt relief and the terms of the convention (role of World Bank and Paris Club)
  • Pertinence of China’s proposed infrastructure development for national development
  • World Bank and private Western companies’ views on the emerging role of China in Africa
  • Links between China ‘deal of the century’ and national politics (especially in the run up of elections): Who wins ? Who losses ?

December 5, 2011
“The role of the IMF in the Democratic Republic of Congo”

These issues include most notably:

  • IMF programs under Mobutu (1963-1994)
  • Development impact (1963-1994)
  • Renewed IMF engagement (2001-...)
  • Surveillance and concessional lending
  • Debt relief
  • Technical assistance
  • Challenges
  • Conclusions