The trouble with Ituri.

The case of conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC) Ituri district both supports and challenges Severine Autesserre's contention made in The trouble with the Congo, namely that conflict persists in the eastern DRC because the dominant United Nations (UN) peacebuilding culture does not adequately address local conflicts. Local conflicts that started in 1999 in a small corner of Ituri grew into a brutal, prolonged conflict because of manipulation and mismanagement by local, national, and regional powers. The UN Organisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) succeeded in bringing peace to Ituri through robust military and diplomatic actions, but unresolved local conflicts could lead to a resumption of war. The failure to address local disputes has less to do with the UN, however, than it does with the poor governance by Kabila loyalists that has characterised the post-conflict phase in Ituri. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]