CIAO DATE: 05/02

Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo

On Monday, March 9, 1998, the Africa Program of International Peace Academy (IPA) organized a policy forum in New York on the theme The Challenges of National Reconciliation and Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): A View from Civil Society. Moderated by Dr. Musifiky Mwanasali, IPA Associate, the forum featured two civil society leaders from Goma, DRC, namely Mr. Batabiha Bushoki, Chairperson of Groupe d'Etude et d'Action pour un Développement bien Défini (GEAD) and President of S.C. Campagne pour la Paix; and Mr. Didier Kamundu Batundi, a human rights advocate and rural development activist with Action Paysanne pour la Reconstruction et le Développement Intégral (APREDECI) and a laureate of the 1998 Reebok Human Rights Award. Participants included diplomats from selected African, European and North American Missions to the United Nations, as well as representatives of some New York-based international non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

IPA's aim was to provide the two speakers with an opportunity to present their perspectives on the current situation in the eastern part of the DRC, the challenges they face in their work, and the initiatives and needs of civil society organizations working in the area of reconciliation, cohabitation and peacebuilding in the Kivu provinces. This policy briefing is a summary analysis of the salient issues concerning the political and security situation that prevails in the Kivu provinces. It is based on the information presented by the two Congolese speakers, and IPA's knowledge of the issues and its expertise in conflict management and peacebuilding. After a brief description of some ongoing developments in the DRC at the time of the forum, the report addresses five issues: the security climate in North Kivu, the general security conditions in the Great Lakes region, the nationality question, the human rights situation as it pertains to rural women and child-soldiers in North Kivu, and the relationship of international non-governmental organizations with their Congolese counterparts. The report concludes with some general recommendations on the issue of national reconciliation and peacebuilding in the DRC.

Overview of the Security and Human Rights Climate in the Kivu Provinces

The Kivu provinces are a very fertile region, with four annual harvests of beans in some areas, that is, four different micro-climates within a 500-kilometer radius. The ten or so deadly conflicts that have occurred there in the last fifty years have all been settled by force. The 1996 liberation war in the former Zaire, which brought to power a new political leadership, was another example of an attempt to settle by force the military insecurity created by the presence of the Rwandan refugees in the Kivu provinces. Many changes have taken place in the DRC since the establishment of the new government. On the positive side, the relationship between the civilian population and the military has improved somewhat. During the Mobutu regime, the mere sight of a soldier in uniform was a cause for fear because of the habit of the military to live off the civilian population. When farmers from Rutshuru now travel to Goma to sell their produce, they are certain to return home with their monies, since ransom and harassment by the military have stopped. The exchange rate of the national currency against the US dollar has been stable for nearly a year. In the civil service, corruption is no longer endemic and wages are paid more or less on time.

On the negative side, many Congolese are complaining about low wages relative to the high cost of living, and occasionally, some have resumed accepting bribes to make ends meet. The future of the democratic process remains uncertain. In the area of human rights, the situation is still worrisome. Although soldiers no longer harass the civilian population and the roadblocks have largely been removed, new types of human rights violations are emerging. These include frequent threats and intimidation against civil society actors, the media and political party activists; arbitrary arrests and illegal detention; and summary judgement and execution, including the imposition of death penalty.

Intense military activities in the Kivu provinces by armed militia and regular troops are another, if not the main, source of insecurity and suffering for the majority of the population. The cycle of violence in neighboring countries continues to hinder peaceful cohabitation at the local level. Popular discontent is rising rapidly, especially against the perceived occupation of the Kivu provinces by foreign troops. And, in light of the political misgivings of the established authorities, questions are being raised about the fundamental nature of the new government and its capacity to bring sustainable peace to the Kivu provinces.

Security Impediments in the Kivu Provinces

Personal and collective security in the Kivu provinces is jeopardized by the proliferation of armed groups that have found hiding places in the mountains and forests that surround the two provinces. These groups are comprised of the so-called Mai-Mai rebels; the remnants of the Interahamwe militia; the Rwandan and Zairean armed forces; a few armed factions like FLOT or FOLEZA; the military wings of some opposition parties; and smaller armed bands with no other agenda than pillage and random killing of innocent people. On the opposite side are the regular troops consisting of the Congolese armed forces, the armed militia of their ethnic allies, and, in a more recent development, Rwandan, Burundian and, probably, Ugandan troops deployed in North and South Kivu.

If soldiers no longer harass the civilian population, and all roadblocks have virtually been removed, some elements in the military are, like the armed bands which they fight, responsible for the gross sufferings of the population. In general, all the fighting armies randomly execute the civilian population living in the areas where they operate. Three main groups are singled out as either the causes or the subjects of mounting insecurity: the militia; armed members of the Banyamulenge ethnic group of South Kivu; and foreign troops on the Congolese territory.

Militia

The events that preceded (or led to) the establishment of a new government in the DRC continue to have a bearing on the security situation in the Kivu region. As early as 1996, some armed groups, namely a large segment of the former Zairean troops and the Mai Mai rebels, joined the troops of Alliance des Forces Démocratiques pour la Libération du Congo-Zaire (AFDL), and they are now integrated in the Congolese army. Those who have refused to join the established authorities are still camped in rural areas and the remote parts of the provinces. These include the remaining contingent of the Mai-Mai rebels, which uses a small radio station to broadcast messages of rebellion against the Congolese authorities. There are also speculations about a military alliance, grouping the Mai-Mai, the Interahamwe, the former Rwandan armed forces, some Burundian rebel groups and several armed bands that operate in the Great Lakes region, against the governments of Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the DRC. The major source of insecurity in this category consists of the remnants of the Interahamwe who are still intent on overthrowing the Rwandan government. They are divided into two groups. The first and, by far, the largest group consists primarily of soldiers and ex-soldiers from the Rwandan Armed Forces, who hail from the northern part of the North Kivu province and raid the northwestern region of Rwanda. Generally disciplined and harmless to the Congolese civilian population, they are merciless towards any Tutsi person they come across. The second group is smaller and more violent. It seems to have no political or ideological agenda, and obeys nobody but its leader. It has sympathy for no one, especially in the areas adjacent to Rutshuru, Walikale and Lubero. Members of this group have done much killing of Congolese villagers and a lot of damage to property. The Congolese army has made fruitless attempts to eradicate it or capture its leadership.

The Banyamulenge

Recently, a number of Banyamulenge soldiers vehemently protested against the integration into the new Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC) of former Zairean troops. Fearing for their security, some Banyamulenge soldiers grabbed their weapons and took refuge in their stronghold plateaux of southern Kivu. The central government reacted by dispatching military enforcement and a team of negotiators into the area. This incident seems to have been resolved peacefully.

Still, the main source of insecurity in South Kivu remains the growing animosity of local ethnic groups towards these Congolese of Tutsi origin. In the aftermath of the liberation war, some Banyamulenge appointed themselves to high-ranking positions in the armed forces, the security and intelligence establishment, state-owned companies and the civil service in the Kivu provinces. These individuals justified their decision by the fact that, unlike other ethnic groups, the Banyamulenge had actively supported the AFDL in its drive to overthrow the Mobutu regime and, therefore, they were entitled to the spoils of victory. Additionally, it is imperative in their opinion to fill the posts that were left vacant since the demise of the Mobutu regime, particularly in those government agencies which are too strategic to be left idle for too long.

The Banyamulenge are also accused of hiding guns while other ethnic groups like the Bembe or Fulero have deposed theirs and turned them in to the authorities. Furthermore, suspicions have arisen about the alleged infiltration of Rwandan Tutsi soldiers among the Banyamulenge and the arrogance displayed by these two groups towards other ethnic groups. These acts and suspicions have worsened the prospects for peaceful cohabitation among ethnic groups in the South Kivu province. Members of other ethnic groups now blame the provincial authorities for exacerbating these local ethnic tensions by turning a blind eye to the presence of guns among the Banyamulenge, and keeping close ties with them, dating back to the support the latter provided to the new government at the beginning of and throughout the liberation war.

Foreign Troops on Congolese Territory

Relations with its immediate neighbors in the Great Lakes continues to be of paramount importance to the security situation of the DRC. During the liberation war, Rwandan troops fought alongside the Congolese. However, the foreign troops did not depart after the accomplishment of their mission, namely the toppling of the dictatorial regime of the late president Mobutu. Rather, they have remained and have imposed their presence on the Congolese people. Troops of the Rwandan Patriotic Army are presently camped in the Kivu provinces under treaties of military cooperation with the Congolese government to eradicate the supply and operations bases of the Interahamwe militia. Since it is difficult, on the ground, to make a clear distinction between Hutu people of Rwanda and their Congolese counterparts, Rwandan soldiers frequently massacre and burn entire villages if they suspect them of harboring or collaborating with the infiltrés.

Such actions on the part of the military and the militia contribute to the general deterioration of the human rights and security situation at the local level. They also impede the humanitarian work of Congolese civil society and non-governmental organizations, particularly in rural areas. Field trips and rural development projects are routinely cancelled or delayed. Feelings of animosity vis-à-vis the established authorities are growing among the local population as they are perceived to be in the pay of the government of Rwanda. The Kivu provinces are presently so awash with "evidence" of secessionist conspiracies, ploys of territorial annexations, talks of wars of conquest, and rumors of all sorts that social cohabitation has become problematic and sustainable peace a remote possibility.

Recommendations

It is necessary to emphasize that the provision of security guarantees to the Congolese population and their property as well as the protection of human rights are the primary tasks and responsibilities of the central and provincial authorities of the DRC. In the delivery of such functions, the government will derive much benefit by developing strategic alliances with the Congolese network of civil society leadership and non-governmental organizations in charge of furthering social peace and ethnic cohabitation in the Kivu provinces. Below are some suggestions:

• The Congolese authorities should refrain from intimidation and threats against civil society leadership and organizations; such practices contribute to poison rather than improving the climate of collaboration between them;
  
  
• The Congolese authorities, with the help of civil society leadership, should give serious consideration to the need to complete the disarmament of ethnic militia;
  
  
• Political solutions should be given priority over military might in the management and resolution of the ongoing deadly conflicts and the prevention of developing ones;
  
  
• The Congolese authorities should encourage a broader political agenda aimed at dealing effectively with the issue of peaceful cohabitation among the diverse ethnic groups in the two provinces. In these primarily rural areas, much benefit may be derived from the rehabilitation of the legitimacy of some traditional chiefs, the restoration of their authority among their accepted constituency, as well as selective recourse to appropriate traditional mechanisms of conflict management and resolution;

The question of nationality should be effectively resolved through political rather than legal means. The Congolese authorities and civil society should revisit the options proposed by the National Conference and the 1997 Commission for Pacification in North and South Kivu on this vital question.

General Insecurity in the Great Lakes Region

The Kivu provinces are now a corridor and an arena of confrontation for all the belligerents in the Great Lakes region. This situation greatly affects the communities that share the same border, by either uprooting entire communities or splitting their members. The Masisi region in North Kivu is a case in point. The genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, coupled with brewing ethnic tensions in the Kivu provinces over contested occupations of ethnic spaces organized since the colonial time, and the settlement in these spaces of new refugees, immigrants, victims and perpetrators of ethnic massacres, form the backdrop for the political and security landscape in the Great Lakes region.

With the advent of the Rwandan Patriotic Front, many Rwandan Tutsi established in the Kivu provinces elected to return to Rwanda. And in the aftermath of the 1994 Opération Turquoise, many more, including Congolese Tutsi originally from northern Kivu, were forced to run away from their villages towards Rwanda for fear of the Interahamwe militia. To date, many of these Congolese are still held in Rwanda as refugees. The intensification of armed conflict in the region, the sharpening of the Tutsi-Hutu divide, and the presence of Tutsi soldiers and Tutsi individuals in prominent positions of power in the government and the military in the Kivu provinces have nurtured wild rumors about a pending military invasion by the Rwandan military and the annexation by Rwanda of eastern DRC. The production by some foreign politicians of political maps of dubious origins, detailing the extension of the Banyarwanda identity to all of precolonial Kivu, does little to allay the fear and reduce ethnic tensions in the region. On the contrary, this fear serves well the objectives of the numerous armed groups that operate in the Kivu provinces and the ideology of exclusion and genocide they advocate.

Recommendations

Touching on the issue of fear and misinformation, it is important to take note of the considerable information campaign deployed in urban and rural areas by a network of NGOs and civil society leadership in the sub-region to build trust among local communities. At the initiative of a Congolese NGO, a workshop on peace in the Great Lakes was convened in Bukavu, South Kivu, in January 1998. Participants included representatives of the Congolese (North and South Kivu), Rwandese and Burundian civil society organizations that are engaged in conflict resolution and the protection of human rights. At the same time, Congolese provincial authorities in the Kivu provinces have given to local NGOs limited but free access to the airwaves for peace-related broadcasts through the provincial national radio station. These peace-related activities by civil society leadership in the sub-region should be encouraged, for they complement the search by the authorities in the three countries for definitive political solutions to the cycle of violence that plagues the Great Lakes region. Below are some specific recommendations:

• The authorities should encourage the emerging network of peace-oriented civil society organizations and leadership in the Great Lakes region. These include Campagne pour la Paix in North Kivu, Société Civile du Sud Kivu in South Kivu, ACORD in Rwanda, Iteka in Burundi, and a few Church-affiliated groups.
  
  
• Through training and funding, NGOs and civil society organizations should be assisted to strengthen their capacity for conflict management and for the enhancement of their skills in mediation and facilitation;
  
  
• Refugees and the internally displaced should be allowed unhindered and safe return to their original communities, if they so wish;
  
  
• The authorities in the Great Lakes region should exercise special care in their speeches and deeds so as to avoid misinformation, and the spreading of rumors and fear. In this vein, the Congolese authorities should clearly define the mission, duration and modus operandi of the foreign troops that are deployed in the Kivu provinces.

One of the most pernicious rumors circulating in the Kivu provinces nowadays concerns the notion that some foreign powers in the international community are considering a territorial partition of the Great Lakes countries as the definitive solution to the Hutu-Tutsi divide (or the demographic glut) in Rwanda and Burundi. This rumor is enhanced by the deployment of Rwandese and Burundian regular troops in the Kivu, the infiltration of Tutsi civilians from Rwanda and Burundi among the Banyamulenge, and the perception by some Congolese people that their government has ceded part of the country to its paymasters in exchange for their support in toppling the Mobutu regime. In the new territorial scheme, it is rumored, the Kivu provinces will be detached from the DRC and annexed to Rwanda and Burundi.

Whatever amount of truth this rumor contains, it is important to insist that it fuels fear and exacerbates ethnic conflicts in the Great Lakes region. Territorial partition of the DRC can never help to resolve the Hutu-Tutsi or demographic problems - assuming these are the main cause of the conflict - in Rwanda and Burundi. On the contrary, it will lead to an escalation of deadly conflicts of terrible magnitude in the whole Great Lakes region. Durable solutions to insecurity in the Great Lakes are not to be found in the physical partition of geographical spaces with the aim of isolating ethnic groups, but in a more constructive and creative use of ethnicity in politics. This process begins with the courage to admit ethnicity as one factor, rather than the problem, in the overall political and security equation. The methods to resolve this problem ought to be political rather than geographical. They may also differ from one country to another, and from one region to another inside the same country.

The Nationality Question

It is important to remark here on the fact that although the two Kivu provinces are generally confronted with the same security and political problems, they differ markedly in the nature of the local dynamics that create or aggravate these problems, and the ways in which local communities respond to them. These differences were evident during the debates over the divisive question of nationality at the provincial sessions of the Commission on Pacification in North and South Kivu.

In South Kivu, the nationality question concerns mainly the identity of the Banyamulenge and their descendants. Here, the Commission on Pacification put off the agenda the divisive question of the nationality of the Banyamulenge and avoided it altogether in its deliberations. The debates evolved instead around the issues of the disarmament of the Banyamulenge, the infiltration of Rwandese and Burundian Tutsi soldiers among them, their difficult relations with the traditional chiefs of other ethnic groups, and their refusal to return to rightful owners the houses, cars and goods they had expropriated at the beginning of the liberation war.

In North Kivu, however, the nationality question was hotly debated, and contradictory proposals were offered to resolve it. There, the infighting pits a loose coalition of local ethnic groups, like the Hunde, Tembo and Nande, against the descendants of the Banyarwanda Hutu and Tutsi who settled in as refugees in successive waves since 1959. Representatives of the first group assert that the majority of Banyarwanda Hutu and Tutsi in North Kivu have kept their allegiance to Rwanda by supporting the Habyarimana regime or the Rwandan Patriotic Front, respectively, and by moving back to Rwanda whenever they are favorable to the regime in place. Those native Congolese propose the identification of foreign nationals, the repatriation of all Banyarwanda refugees who have lived in North Kivu since 1959, and the strict application of the 1981 law on nationality which, in their view, is still a valid legislation.

The majority of the Banyarwanda immigrants reject this legal reasoning. They contend that the 1981 legislation does not apply to them for the simple reason that they had acquired Congolese nationality at independence in 1960, and that they had resided in the country for the 15 to 30-year period prescribed by the law. The 1960 legislation is also seen by members of some civil society organizations as the only guarantee for sustainable peace in the Kivu. Their proposal is to grant nationality to the Kinyarwanda-speaking Tutsi and Hutu of Congolese nationality and to everyone who meets the eligibility conditions set forth by the 1960 law. They also propose to enlist the collaboration of traditional chiefs in the identification of illegal immigrants.

Recommendations

Nationality is a complex and critical issue. It confers basic civic rights, such as the right to vote, to land ownership, or to hold political office. It also provides protection for all the legal guarantees that the constitution offers to nationals. But nationality is also a highly divisive question and a trigger for many ethnic tensions, particularly in the North Kivu province. As members of the 1997 Commission of Conciliation correctly asserted, this is the single most important source of concern for the population in North Kivu.

The central government in Kinshasa should be saluted for the courage to set up a popular debate on this question. Headed by a woman from the Bandundu province, the Commission on Pacification lasted for a period of one month. It traveled to North and South Kivu and met with Congolese people of all walks of life. Members of the Commission listened to the people's opinions and suggestions regarding the conditions for cohabitation as well as a definite solution to the nationality question. Later, they met with President Kabila, gave him their report and discussed their findings for an hour. There has, however, been no follow-up to the findings of the Commission as yet. Perhaps owing to the fact that the nationality question is perceived as a powder-keg and the Kivu region as its detonator, the central authorities have opted not to continue public discussion on this sensitive issue. This debate is vitally important, especially regarding the long-term prospects for peaceful cohabitation among the various ethnic communities.

Women and Child-Soldiers

The deplorable condition of women and children in the war-torn areas of the Kivu provinces is in stark violation of international norms regulating the protection of the basic rights and security of women and children in war times. Touching on the issue of young combatants, it is noteworthy that the presence of child-soldiers in the Congolese army is a violation of international law and an outright disrespect for human rights. All the appeals and lobbying by Congolese human rights NGOs to the central government to stop the recruitment of the Kadogo (child-soldiers) and to disarm and demobilize those in active service have fallen on deaf ears.

The situation of children requires urgent attention and support from the central government and the international community, particularly in the rural areas where practically all the infrastructure of the region was destroyed during the civil war. The overwhelming majority of children are on the streets because either their schools were set ablaze, or their teachers or parents were killed, or they were left behind when the parents fled the area. To these Congolese children one should add thousands of young Rwandan orphans and refugee children. In the Masisi area in North Kivu, 300 schools once operated with a total population of 400,000 pupils. Today, five years after the beginning of the protracted conflict in the region, only six schools are open, with the financial support of UNICEF and a local woman-NGO.

Of particular concern to the youth in rural areas is the danger they continually face of being either abducted or killed by the numerous fighting troops in the area. Regular and rebel troops are now in the habit of targeting boys as young as seven years old. If the youngsters refuse to join an armed group, they are usually arrested, accused of connivance with the enemy and, frequently, summarily executed. Even worse is the condition of the former Mai-Mai fighters and the Kadogo who had deserted, or had been demobilized or expelled from the Congolese army: they get executed as soon as the identity of the former combatants is revealed to their abductors.

The human rights situation of rural women and young girls is no better. Victims of rape and sexually transmitted diseases, women are increasingly accused of connivance with the enemy. One of the speakers at the forum recalled a scene of mass execution of women that occurred in a village in North Kivu. Located in the rebel-controlled forest area in the northern part of North Kivu, the village was once surrounded by either Congolese or Rwandese regular troops. Since all the able-bodied males had fled in advance, the military gathered the women and threatened to kill them if they didn't disclose where their men had taken refuge. A day later, when this NGO leader arrived in the village, he found nearly all the women shot to death and their children left crying on their mothers' corpses.

Recommendations

The protection of the basic rights of all the Congolese people remains a stumbling block in the relationship between civil society and the central and provincial authorities. Yet this is an area where the government and civil society can develop a constructive partnership.

Below are some proposals:

• The government and Congolese civil society leadership should review the project of collaboration proposed by the NGO community in February 1998 about the protection of human rights in urban and rural areas;
  
  
• The constitutional draft under discussion should include clauses that guarantee political and civic rights to all Congolese;
  
  
• The government should encourage the initiatives of civil society organizations to institute human rights as a required subject in all public and private schools;
  
  
• The government should encourage the Congolese NGOs in their initiatives to train women as advocates for the protection of human rights, particularly in rural areas;
  
  
• The government should declare the end of the "state of war" that was decreed at the beginning of the liberation war;
  
  
• The civilian judicial system should be improved and the civilian court system should replace military tribunals;
  
  
• All acts of harassment, arbitrary arrests and intimidation by the government towards the civil and political society should be terminated.

Congolese Civil Society: An Effective Partner for Peace

Self-help initiatives and local networks for mutual assistance have a long history in the Kivu provinces. Nowadays, groups devoted to such activities are organized under the framework of a regional council in each province, and regional councils, in turn, are members of a national network. Much has been (and remains to be) done in these contexts for the enhancement of local capacities for conflict prevention, management and resolution in the Kivu provinces. This work continues, with the barest of resources, by a generation of young civil society leaders and activists who are committed to long-term security and the peaceful cohabitation of diverse ethnic groups.

Some NGOs work primarily in the area of human rights protection, through activities like the monitoring of human rights violations; and lobbying at the local, national and international level for the improvement of human rights situation. These organizations, like APREDECI, also provide medical assistance to victims of human rights violations and war-created widows and orphans. They also educate local people about the protection and defense of human rights. Other NGOs, like GEAD, are concerned with the issue of development for the most disadvantaged groups.

When the work of civil society at the local level was compromised by ethnic violence, the issue of peace and conflict management and resolution became central to the agenda of some local NGOs. This was the case of Campagne pour la Paix, CPP, created in North Kivu in 1993. Two months before the 1996 liberation war, CCP members were the only ones to object vehemently to the denial of nationality to the Congolese Tutsi. The subsequent political and military events have proved them right. The peace activism and commitment of most civil society leadership and non-governmental organizations clearly attest to the existence of local capacity and the will for peacebuilding and effective ethnic cohabitation in the Kivu provinces. However, on many occasions, this capacity has been undermined and tainted by the conflicts that have occurred in the larger society. Such was the case of the ethnic conflict that raged in the Masisi region in North Kivu in 1993; it split civil society along antagonistic ethnic lines and nearly succeeded in crippling it.

Violence between elements of local Hutu and Tutsi erupted in the Walikale, Masisi, Rutshuru and Lubero area from March to November 1993. At first, sharply divided along ethnic lines, civil society leadership decided to resolve its differences and reaffirm its commitment to peaceful cohabitation in the region. Using a Cameroonian national as the facilitator, Congolese NGO leaders met for one week in November 1993 to evaluate their own contributions to the exacerbation of conflicts, and define a code of behavior and rules of cooperation in their efforts to end the ethnic war in the Masisi region.

Thanks to their work in local communities and the support provided to them later by the central government, civil society leaders succeeded in stopping the fighting which the Zairean army had previously failed to quell. Hostilities ceased completely in February 1994, and the internally displaced began to return to their villages.

With the beginning of the genocide in Rwanda in April 1994, many Banyarwanda Tutsi took refuge in the Masisi area. Then came Opération Turquoise and the massive influx of Banyarwanda Hutu and international humanitarian agencies to provide for them. Ethnic fighting between the Hutu and the Tutsi resumed in earnest, resulting in the flight of Congolese and Banyarwanda Tutsi to Rwanda. Thus collapsed the foundation for peace that the Congolese civil society was carefully building within the local communities. A temporary respite was brought about by the liberation war but, owing to the proliferation of armed groups and the deployment of Congolese and foreign armies, insecurity has since returned to the Masisi area.

Recommendations

The war in Masisi revealed the difficult challenges the civil society leadership faced in maintaining its cohesion in the face of intense ethnic assaults. Yet the courage and lucidity that this leadership showed in dealing with its own failings tells us a lot about its commitment to sustainable peace. These initiatives should be encouraged and the efficiency and effectiveness of these organizations enhanced. In comparison to international non-governmental agencies, many organizations and leaders of Congolese civil society possess the great advantage of achieving much success at minimal financial costs. Their continued presence in the field has increased their expertise in conflict management, and their capacity to build national and sub-regional networks remains unparalleled.

Serious and legitimate questions have been raised about the long-term viability of a majority of these NGOs, and about the accountability of their leaders to their membership, government and foreign donors. While some questions about financial and performance reports have found satisfactory solutions, others still require a continuous dialogue between civil society leadership and the central government. Some management reforms on the part of the NGOs and their external funders may also be needed. On all these aspects, many efforts are underway locally, with the help of some foreign donors. It is hoped that these initiatives will be sustained and, in the future, structure the constructive partnership between Congolese NGOs, their government, and foreign partners.

Conclusion

The IPA Policy Forum on the DRC aimed to provide an opportunity for the two civil society leaders from North Kivu to meet with representatives of selected UN agencies and country missions based in New York. It succeeded in raising awareness about the importance of a frank and continuous dialogue between the international community and local actors to resolve misunderstandings and dispel rumors, such as those concerning the existence of a plan supported by the international community to redraw the political boundaries in the Great Lakes region. IPA hopes that such direct contacts between the New York-based members of the international community and visiting Congolese activists from the field will be continued, for such contacts can have a more direct impact on the efforts to prevent deadly conflicts on the ground than meetings among individuals who are far removed from the field.

The forum also raised the issue of the devastating effect of rumors and misinformation on cohabitation among various ethnic groups in the Great Lakes region. The international community is invited to support the efforts of civil society organizations to circulate verifiable information at the local level. At present, these initiatives include information campaigns on the local radio and at the level of local communities against false rumors, the training of petty female traders in the informal sector as advocates of peace and defenders of women's rights, and a regular exchange of information among community leaders. The leadership of the provincial association of the Congolese NGOs have also put a special premium on the necessity for local NGOs to raise awareness for peace among their constituency, and on their responsibility in the circulation of accurate political information in their area of work.

As civil society leadership has realized, most residents of North and South Kivu want (and are bound) to live peacefully together. Courageous efforts are being made to condemn violence, denounce its perpetrators, and marginalize the numerous extremist forces that are attempting to destroy the idea of peaceful cohabitation in the region. The international community, primarily the western powers, possess the requisite means to support or hinder these initiatives. IPA hopes that they will pay heed to the wishes of the majority of the Congolese population and help the DRC achieve sustainable peace and development.

Dr. Musifiky Mwanasali is a native of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He specializes on development and security issues in Central and Southern Africa. He was an Associate at IPA between 1997 and 1999.