Fuelling the Borderland: Power and Petrol in Goma and Gisenyi

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Periodical article

Title:	Fuelling the Borderland: Power and Petrol in Goma and Gisenyi
Author:	Lamarque, Hugh
Year:	2014
Periodical:	Articulo - Journal of Urban Research (ISSN 1661-4941)
Volume:	10
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	Congo (Democratic Republic of) Rwanda
Subjects:	boundaries power petroleum
External link:	https://doi.org/10.4000/articulo.2540
Abstract:	Goma and Gisenyi form a single conurbation that straddles the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda. Thriving off the borderland environment, the Association des Petits Pétroliers du Nord Kivu (A.P.PE.NO.KI) is monopolizing the second-economy distribution of petrol in Goma, a commodity essential to the basic functioning of the city. This group has mirrored the Congolese state's top-down political structure. Interaction between A.P.PE.NO.KI and local authorities occurs along a number of tiers that transect their respective hierarchies. I argue that this has led to a de facto institutional integration of the two. What results is a proliferation of domestic sovereignty that contributes to the ongoing fragmentation of the Congolese state.