A critical descriptive analysis of the role of track I and track II diplomatic interventions: the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo (1998-2002)

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The climate of the Great Lakes Region fostered desperate sources of insecurity which fedeach other in a conflict-system which was also largely fuelled by the surrounding wareconomy. Consequently, the focus of this study was narrowed to providing only a descriptiveanalysis of the Democratic Republic of the Congo's peace processes of 1998-2002.Subsequently, the surrounding climate served to aggravate the DRC's ethnic cleavages andthe conflict grew so complex that the issues could no longer be clearly divided. Themotivation for conducting a study of this nature was that amidst the twenty-three failedattempts for peace, the conflict persisted with no signs of abating, which suggests that ahistorical and discourse analysis of the peace processes is justified.This study found that during these peace processes, far greater prominence was given toTrack I diplomacy than to the unofficial Track II diplomacy. This was due to variouslimitations that existed. This distinction is fundamental because even though unofficialdiplomacy has a different function to official diplomacy, their values are equal and moreeffective in a peace process when there is a collaborative effort between the two. This iscalled a Multi-Track approach (Diamond and McDonald, 1996). Thus this study proposesthat by giving Track II diplomacy a greater prominence in a peace process, the Multi-Trackapproach would be fully utilized. It suggests that governmental, informal, and unofficialcontact in civil society is fundamental in trust-building between parties in negotiation.Overall, there is value in providing a critical descriptive analysis of both Track I and Track IIdiplomatic initiatives that were undertaken during the 1998-2002 peace process, in order toexpose the shortcomings. In doing so, this study presents the Multi-Track approach in orderto emphasize its potential efficacy in addressing similar future cases of intractable conflict.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University