The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the site of one of the most egregious conflicts in modern times. Fuelled by a violent political economy of mineral and natural resource extraction, the lengthy cycle of violence and intimidation has resulted in the highest death toll in any war since World War II. The shortcomings of internationally sponsored peacebuilding efforts in the region have led to a local turn in the peacebuilding literature where a key role for community groups in local conflict resolution and development is being promoted. Drawing on fieldwork conducted by the author with community groups in Ituri District in north-eastern DRC, this article highlights the failure of international and national initiatives to address the underlying causes of the Iturian conflict and goes on to argue that there are limits to what local communities can achieve in this context. The findings demonstrate that the greatest impact of community groups’ activities is at individual rather than structural levels and three inter-related reasons are given for this. The article concludes by highlighting four issues for community groups interested in challenging the status quo and effecting longlasting transformative change, moving from conflict containment to conflict transformation