IPIS publishes first cartographic conflict analysis

"Mapping interests in conflict areas: Katanga” reports on the presence and motives of (ex-) combatants in the Congolese province of Katanga. The ‘Mapping interests in conflict areas’ reports are the fruit of a new and experimental research method.

The reports relate to the situation in March-April-May 2007 and focuses on two conflicting parties: the “Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo” (FARDC) and the Mai Mai militia. IPIS concludes that the remaining Mai Mai elements are looking for a way to survive within the current constellation where they have no reason of existence and where many cannot return to the lives they lived before the war. The ill-paid and ill-disciplined FARDC soldiers try to stretch their deployment so they can continue to make a profit in the mining sector.From a general perspective, the security situation in the Katanga province has improved considerably during the last year. After the surrender of the warlord Gédéon in May 2006, the large majority of the remaining Mai Mai groups in Katanga have demobilised and disarmed.

They have chosen to reintegrate into civilian life which has proven to be a difficult process. The FARDC are still represented all over the province although its numbers have been significantly reduced. It is an amalgam of the former government army (FAC) and the different rebel armies that fought during the Congo wars.
IPIS has focussed on 4 areas where security problems persist: In the territory of Nyunzu, situated in the North of Katanga, the FARDC have taken a specific interest in the gold mine of Lunga.

The Centre harbours many of the demobilised and disarmed Mai Mai. Some of them are regrouping in the Upemba Park where they can hide and know how to survive. In the Copperbelt the FARDC still deploy several units who have no pressing reason to be there except for pinching some of the money circulating in the mining business. Concerning the East of Katanga the territory the report focuses on Pweto where the army brigade is implicated in serious human rights violations and in the illegal exploitation of natural resources at the Cassiterite mine in Kapulo. The report consists of two elements: a textual part and a map collection.

The map collection comprises:
- a general map of Katanga which is used as a background on which all other information is projected.
- a set of dynamic maps that portrays the presence of armed men in the region.
- a set of static maps representing the possible interests of the (ex-) combatants, notably power, profit, grievance and security/survival.
- a map with hyperlinks to other security related studies on the region.
The digital maps allow the visitor to change the level of detail on the maps by zooming in or out. Additional information on map elements can be summoned in a separate table. The conflict analysis, the conclusion and the recommendations are based on general insights generated by the maps, complemented with knowledge gathered through field research and a classic desktop study.

Read more about the mapping project at www.ipisresearch.be/mapping

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