Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration and Local Ownership in the Great Lakes: The Experience of Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo

Rwanda is at the centre of one of the key areas for the United Nations’ Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) activities: Africa’s conflict- prone Great Lakes region. Yet Rwanda has adopted a unique and, in many ways, radically different DDR program to that of its neighbors, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), one that finds the UN playing no direct role. In part, this is a consequence of circumstances and experiences. Above all, it reflects sharp contrasts in the quality of leadership and strategic vision within the region. That Rwanda has proved a model for the continent as a whole poses a number of challenges not just to current thinking on DDR in Africa but more especially to wider Security Sector Reform (SSR). Rwanda’s successful program begs the question of other conflict-affected countries in the region where peacebuilding has proved less successful: ‘How important is local ownership of DDR in the Great Lakes?’