Paper short abstract:

The Second Congo War have devastated pre-existing distribution infrastructure, which caused serious stagnation of rural economy. This research focuses on the dynamics of the distribution system before and after the conflict in pursuit of rebuilding rural-urban linkages.

Paper long 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 rural-urban distribution processes must be determined to rehabilitate local communities. However, the perspective of such determinations is unclear. This research, therefore, describes and analyzes conflict impacts on rural-urban 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 rural-urban 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.