Decentralisation is increasingly seen as an important part of conflict resolution and peacebuilding strategies within fragile states where increased public accountability and participation help reduce horizontal inequalities and address local grievances. This view assumes a strong political element to decentralisation, however. Drawing on fieldwork conducted in Kinshasa and in Bas-Congo, this article highlights three key sets of challenges to political decentralisation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which arise from its roots within the elite political settlement. A re-orientation in support is proposed providing for a deeper political decentralisation and a more inclusive political settlement. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.