Godefroid Muzalia is professor at the department of history- social science at the Institut Supérieur Pédagogique de Bukavu and head of the research group for conflict and human security at the University Research Center of Kivu. During his research stay in Ghent he has worked on a article about the frontier zone of Ruzizi,  between Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC. This border area has been progressively transformed into a protected area for  rebel movements. The rise of local violence and the regional military pressure has created a context of neither peace nor war. The article argues that chronic insecurity in the Ruzizi plain is closely linked to a governance deficit displayed by illegitimate authorities or perceived as such. This implies that the search for  lasting solutions requires a regional approach calling for both: durable solutions to internal and cyclical conflicts in Rwanda and Burundi (to break the Conflict-Refugee-Militia-War conflict circle in eastern DRC) and taking into account the perspectives suggested by a human security approach as articulated by Mary Kaldor. This could foster a real process of regional integration from below.