A slow rollout of the Disarmament, Demobilisation, Community Recovery and Stabilisation Programme in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been undermined trust. Although President Felix Tshisekedi first called for a new DDR programme in 2019, the initiative is not yet operational, even with provincial and national coordinators appointed over a year ago.

Initially, it was blamed on funding.

“We don’t feel the political will on the part of the Congolese state to actualise this programme, more than a year after facilitators were appointed,” said Xavier Macky, executive director of Justice Plus, a local rights group, “We’re still going in circles.”

Trust is especially low at cantonment sites where surrendered combatants have been waiting for several years to be demobilised. Hundreds tried to leave a camp near Goma, North Kivu’s capital, in July, but were urged by authorities to stay and wait.

“Patience is running out because the conditions aren’t good,” said Sadock Assani, an ex-combatant who has been living at Mubambiro cantonment site near Goma since 2019. “If the programme is delayed longer, there will be a catastrophe.”

Analysts warn the new scheme may face the same problems as past ones. A weak economy, for example, makes it hard to find lasting livelihoods for rebels, while a militarised political system means elites often use armed groups to further their interests.

Unresolved local conflicts and the presence of foreign armed groups may also leave Congolese combatants wary of disarming: Few have much trust in army soldiers who are poorly paid and regularly responsible for abusing the rights of civilians.

In recent months, meanwhile, the military has been providing support to a number of local and foreign armed groups willing to support its offensive against the M23, raising questions about the force’s commitment to demobilisation.

Earlier this year, even cantoned fighters who were awaiting DDR in North Kivu were asked by the army to reinforce their positions 100 kilometres away, according to a local human rights activist who asked not to be named citing security risks.

“Why would we demobilise when the government needs youth to defend the country, which is under attack?” said Jules Mulumba, spokesperson of a rebel group called the Collective of Movements for Change, which is currently allied against the M23.

Rules around amnesty and army integration may further weaken the motivation of combatants to demobilise. This is especially the case for rebel leaders seeking the same rewards and ranks that armed groups and commanders enjoyed in the past.

A combatant with the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri (FRPI) said that rebel officers who return to civilian life rather than the military are likely to recruit people again.

The combatant, who asked not to be named, was part of a local demobilisation initiative in 2019 and 2020 that was based on promises of army integration and amnesty. However, the deal fell apart in late 2020 with only a few weapons handed over.

“The militiamen were no longer reassured that their demands were taken into account… namely general amnesty and integration into the army with recognition of ranks,” said an employee of a local NGO in Ituri. They asked for anonymity due to security fears.

If the programme does move forward – some analysts fear elections scheduled for next year will get in the way – government officials said combatants will initially be received at the Mubambiro cantonment site near Goma.

Yet this camp already hosts around 1,600 ex-fighters, and officials there worry they won’t be able to receive more. When The New Humanitarian visited in September, people were sleeping in shared tents on muddy ground and lacked food and medicine.

A spokesperson for the UN’s peacekeeping operation, MONUSCO, said the mission is not currently providing “life support” to government-run DDR sites, though it does run its own sites in the east.

Daniel Owen, a development specialist at the World Bank – which has spent some $190 million on demobilisation in DRC since 2003 – said the organisation was preparing a new “investment project” focusing on the community-based reintegration of fighters and “local institutional capacity building”.

However, other donors are reluctant to directly support the government’s efforts. The senior diplomat said the “major donor position” was to only release funds when authorities take tangible steps to support the programme.

If rebels agree to disarm but don’t receive benefits and timely assistance, they may commit even more abuses against civilians, cautioned Chober Agenonga, an international relations professor at the University of Kisangani in northern DRC.

“All commitments not accompanied by support are followed by relapses [from the combatants],” Agenonga told The New Humanitarian. “It pushes them to commit atrocities.”

• The New Humanitarian report