REORGANIZING THE DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM IN POST-CONFLICT SOCIETY: A STUDY ON ORIENTALE PROVINCE, THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, conflicts have devastated the distribution infrastructure such as roads and bridges, which has stymied the rural economy. The current state of urban-rural distribution processes must be determined to rehabilitate local communities. However, the perspective of such determinations is unclear. This article, therefore, describes and analyzes conflict impacts on urban-rural distribution, periodic market functioning, and indigenous distributional activities based on qualitative and GPS data collected from an extensive area survey. Observing 500 km of main roadways from rural villages to the capital of Orientale Province by motorbike, I present a study of urban-rural distribution. Today, a mass of rural residents travel to periodic markets through forests and engage in long-distance peddling to connect with the urban economy while petty traders advance their commercial activities. Using waterborne transportation, such as dugout canoes, traders sustain urban-rural commodity interexchange. The collapse of the pre-conflict distribution system has caused the periodic markets to become influential regional economic nodes. These observations indicate that local people reorganize alternative distribution systems utilizing indigenous knowledge and ecological environments.