Emergency in Ituri, DRC: Political complexity, land and other challenges in restoring food security

This paper explains the political and economic complexities of the ongoing Ituri crisis, focusing on the role of land. In Ituri, mineral-rich land is at the core of the crisis and therefore, at the core of the longer-term programming needed to restore food security. But food insecurity in eastern DRC has a history. The paper argues that the ambigous Bakajika land law, introduced in 1973 and responsible for the emergence of a vast class of landless people, lies at the root of large-scale poverty, insecurity and spiralling violence. Implementation of this law in Ituri, and subsequent contestations by food insecure farmers in 1999, caused the initial upheavel that led to full-scale war with the foreign participation of the armies of Uganda and Rwanda, and atrocities not seen before. The paper advocates an overhaul of the Bakajika law that will respect people’s right to ancestral land and thus enhance livelihood and food security. Appropriate land reform will also reduce the likelihood of a recurrence of Ituri’s complex emergency.