Abstract
This chapter traces the historical underpinnings of the insecurity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Beni and Butembo, two towns located in North Kivu, have experienced varying levels of exposure to the conflict, yet are otherwise comparable in terms of development and size. This chapter looks at the consequences of the violence, political overcentralization, and the administrative oversight offered to the financial sector in the DRC as a post-war country. It presents further evidence that not all transactions are recorded in the formal financial sector, and didactically traces the structures and processes observed in different groupings of financial service types. It goes beyond previous arguments in that it compares formal and informal structures against each other, reaching the conclusion that the informal sector does fare worse in a sizeable number of indicators of efficiency and success. In summary, claims made by either actor can be adjudicated through comparing hard data; and in collecting this data, the research demonstrates a perhaps more realistic picture than qualitative evidence alone can provide.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Change history
13 December 2018
Chapter 4 in: J. Smith-Omomo, African Indigenous Financial Institutions, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98011-9_4
Table 4.2 has been inadvertently published with a wrong format which is now updated in the proof as given below.
Notes
- 1.
As quoted in Stathis N. Kalyvas, 2006. The logic of violence in civil war. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1.
- 2.
These have largely gone underreported—indeed the main source for these headlines is Radio Okapi, which is a national radio station and thus limited in its reach.
- 3.
Prunier, G., 2008. Africa’s world war: Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe. Oxford University Press.
- 4.
Prunier, Gérard. “The catholic church and the Kivu conflict.” Journal of religion in Africa 31, no. 2 (2001): 139–162.
- 5.
Prunier, 2009.
- 6.
Vlassenroot, K., & Van Acker, F., 2001. War as exit from exclusion? The formation of Mai-Mai militias in Eastern Congo. Afrika Focus, 17(1), 2.
- 7.
Belgian colonizers declared all uncultivated property of the state in order to distribute it to colonial families, sell it, or transform it into parks.
- 8.
Autesserre, Séverine. The trouble with the Congo: Local violence and the failure of international peacebuilding. Vol. 115. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
- 9.
Autesserre, 2010.
- 10.
Referring to creating a peaceful oasis in the midst of a conflict zone.
- 11.
Anonymous. “Superficie et densié de la population en 2013.” Bulletin Annuel des Statistiques Sociales, Province du Nord-Kivu, 2013. North Kivu: INS.
- 12.
Michael Jobbins. Local peace in civil war: The case of Butembo in eastern DRC. Georgetown University, 2008.
- 13.
The movement, led by the son of a Nande politician who was assassinated by Mobutu, actually enjoyed broad popular support.
- 14.
Patience Kabamba, Business of civil war: New forms of life in the debris of the Democratic Republic of Congo. African Books Collective, 2013.
- 15.
Jobbins, 2008.
- 16.
This is pointed out as ironic since Museveni had received early support from the same community (Prunier, 2009: 84).
- 17.
Gérard Prunier. Africa’s world war: Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe. Oxford University Press, 2008, 86.
- 18.
Koen Vlassenroot and Timothy Raeymaekers, eds. Conflict and social transformation in Eastern DR Congo. Academia Press, 2004, 51.
- 19.
Bandit usually refers to unidentified criminals in DRC; they may also be militia members.
- 20.
UNCDF, 2007. Programme de Bonne Gouvernance Sous-Programme: Appui à la Décentralisation et au Développement Local (PADDL). s.l. [online] Available at: http://uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Documents/PADDL_41198_PRODOC.pdf.
- 21.
Unofficial translation.
- 22.
World Bank, 2016. Country Overview. World Bank: DC. [Online]. Available at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/drc/overview. Accessed July 2016.
- 23.
Patricia Cohen. 2016. At the World Bank, a Shortage of Concrete (Language). NY Times: New York. [Online]. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/15/upshot/at-the-world-bank-a-shortage-of-concrete-language.html?_r=0. Accessed July 2016.
- 24.
Anna Ohanyan, 2008. NGOs, IGOs, and the network mechanisms of post-conflict global governance in microfinance. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 19.
- 25.
Anastaze Bilakila. The Kinshasa Bargain. In: T Trefon, ed 2006. Reinventing Order in the Congo, How People Respond to State Failure in Kinshasa. 2006. New York: Zed Books, Chap. 2, 23.
- 26.
Described by Anastase Nzeza Bilakila as including “corruption, theft, extortion, collusion, embellishment, fraud, counterfeiting and prostitution”.
- 27.
Eric Tollens. Food Security in Kinshasa: Coping with Adversity. In: T. Trefon, ed. 2006. Reinventing Order in the Congo, How People Respond to State Failure in Kinshasa. 2006. New York: Zed Books, Chap. 4, 53.
- 28.
Iniguez de Heredia, M. I. Everyday Resistance in Post-Conflict Statebuilding: The Case of Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Doctoral dissertation. 2013. London: London School of Economics.
- 29.
Gérard Prunier. Africa’s world war: Congo, the Rwandan genocide, and the making of a continental catastrophe. Oxford University Press, 2008, 86.
- 30.
Shirley Ardener and Sandra Burman. “Money-go-rounds: the importance of rotating savings and credit associations for women.” (1995), 143.
- 31.
Ibid., 5.
- 32.
Ibid., 81–82.
- 33.
Michael Woolcock. “Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework.” Theory and society 27, no. 2 (1998): 151–208.
- 34.
Erik Ringmar, and Jude L. Fernando. Microfinance perils and prospects. Abingdon-on-Thames: Routledge (2005).
- 35.
For example, Siebel and Massing, 1974; and Gow and Vansant, 1983.
- 36.
Suresh Sundaresan, ed. Microfinance: Emerging trends and challenges. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009.
- 37.
Mark Schreiner. “Informal finance and the design of microfinance.” Development in Practice (2001): 637–640.
- 38.
Ardener and Bureman, 175–176.
- 39.
Ibid., 175.
- 40.
Claudio Gonzalez-Vega. The Efficiency of Informal Finance. [online]. Available at: http://www.gdrc.org/icm/efficiency-icm.html. n.d.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Smith-Omomo, J. (2019). Shadows Are Weaker. In: African Indigenous Financial Institutions. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98011-9_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98011-9_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-98010-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-98011-9
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)