The eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing a state of ongoing conflict for decades. Some estimates say that the number of its victims reached approximately 6 million people.
The regions of North and South Kivu and Ituri in the east of the country are the focus of a conflict in which cross-border political, economic and ethnic motives are mixed. The three border provinces, rich in natural resources, have turned into an arena of intense geopolitical competition between the neighbors of the Democratic Republic. The dispute over the extent of the Congoleseness of some ethnic groups is the main driver of the conflict.