The Annual Kleh Lecture featuring Harrison Mbori | Beyond, Within, and the Margins of International Lawfare: The “Never ending war” in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Please join us on Monday, November 16th for the Annual Kleh Lecture featuring Professor Harrison Mbori, Professor Mbori will discuss "Beyond, Within, and the Margins of International Lawfare: The “Never ending war” in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)." "The armed conflict affecting most intensively the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been going on intermittently for more than 30 years now. The humanitarian, socio-economic, environmental, and cultural cost has been enormous. One commentator has labeled it as “Africa’s never ending war,” another as “the war that doesn’t say its name.” In this lecture, I will argue that the armed conflict has been fought on the battle ground with troops but also within, beyond, and in the margins of legal circles, in diplomatic arenas, in sporting events legitimation (sportswashing), and in mainstream and social media engagements. My focus will be on the outsized and many cases underrated role that the Rwandan government through its current President Paul Kagame, with his over 25-year grip on power, has played in the conflict. Since 2005 the UN Group of experts on the DRC appointed by the UN Security Council has directly and indirectly linked the Rwandan government to waging a proxy war through the current leading armed group in the region: M23. M23 has since 2023 fully occupied large parts of Eastern DRC in North and South of Kivu. Yet the origins of Rwandan (and Banyarwanda) engagement in the wider region go further into history before and post its 1994 genocide."