Recent execution of 172 young men convicted of armed robbery, locally referred to as “Kuluna” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), raises fundamental questions about the DRC’s approach to security governance and its implications for the country’s future stability. The country has endured decades of conflict marked by weak governance, and this has created conditions conducive for the rise of criminal gangs such as “Kuluna” that thrive in urban centres plagued by unemployment and...