Promoting dialogue

• Inter-ethnic community dialogue between women
  
• National dialogue among Congolese civil society

Inter-ethnic community dialogue between women

Two wars in Eastern Congo have exacerbated existing tensions between ethnic groups as well as creating new conflicts between communities affected by the presence of various militias. The national peace process does not take account of these local conflicts and there is a desperate need for appropriate reconciliation processes at the community level. This was at the core of our work in 2000, when we developed an inter-community dialogue programme between the adversarial ethnic communities in South Kivu.

Much of our work on reconciliation at the community level is carried out with women. We have provided intensive training on gender and conflict resolution techniques, and leadership skills, through our two main partners in South Kivu, the Réseau des Femmes pour un Développement Associatif (a collective of 44 women’s organisations) and the Réseau des Femmes pour la Défense des Droits et la Paix (a local women’s network) and to two other community based women’s organisations, AFIP and AFEC. These partners are increasingly called on to help mediate in local conflicts, for example working with communities divided over the demobilisation and reintegration into society of child soldiers from opposing sides and mediating between antagonistic chiefs.

The partners regularly hold meetings of women from different ethnic groups to talk about conflict issues and how solidarity between them as women rather than focusing on their different ethnicities can work to their advantage. For example, after a series of meetings between women from the opposed Banyamulenge and Babembe communities, they agreed that the issues of sexual violence was one that affected them all. Together they approached the local military and police authorities and got them to agree that a peace committee of women from different ethnic groups would alert the authorities to attacks and participate in meetings around security. Despite a number of inter-ethnic crises in the transition period these networks continued to function and women from different ethnicities continue to work together.

The positive impacts around the women’s dialogue initiatives include:

• The establishment of women’s peace representatives and committees at village level with involvement in local conflict resolution
• Awareness raising on women’s rights and the peace process
• Women taking a proactive role in establishing dialogue between militias, the army and the Interahamwe
• Women beginning to speak out against sexual violence
• Women beginning to denounce cultural and customary practices that discriminate against them

In this way women are beginning to play a much more active role in peacebuilding in their communities. We work with them to help deepen their analysis of the conflict and to think more strategically about the process of building peace.

National dialogue among Congolese civil society

The DRC is divided in physical, political and psychological dimensions. It is united in the widely-shared aspiration of Congolese people that their country should become a peaceful, cohesive and functioning state but they are at present a long way from realising that ambition. As well as the divisions that stem from different ethnic identities, throughout Congo’s history the centrifugal forces pulling different regions towards their respective neighbours have created a tension between inwards and outwards looking forces. The sheer size of the country and the lack of effective transport infrastructure mean that constructive dialogue and debate between Congolese from different areas of the country is very difficult.

Congolese are divided on a range of fundamental issues relating to the future of the country, including the nature of the state (whether it should be centralised or federal), Congolese identity and citizenship. The divisions arising are played out not just among the political class, but also among Congolese civil society, with the consequence that civil society often plays an ambiguous role in terms of developing mutual confidence among Congolese from different backgrounds. In addition, there is an immense gulf between the capital and the rest of the country, and a perception in the latter that national as well as international policy-making is overly oriented towards Kinshasa. These divisions are compounding the political uncertainties of the 'transition' period in the DRC, and contributing to continuing military tensions and insecurity, particularly in the East.

Alert believes that civil society could and should play a more constructive role in peacebuilding in the DRC, but that it is prevented from doing so in part by the lack of opportunities and spaces for dialogue between those holding different positions and perspectives. We therefore work to stimulate and support dialogue among a cross-section of Congolese civil society – not just with NGOs but with a wide range of groups and associations in different professions and sectors across the country. This takes the form of a series of dialogue and analysis meetings – ‘Espaces d’Échanges’. The main focus of these meetings is fundamental peacebuilding issues, and what their implications are for security, governance and the economy in the post-elections period. These issues include the nature of the state and decentralised governance, Congolese identity and citizenship, security concerns at the national and community levels. The next step will be to formulate plans for shared action.

For more information, contact Sylvie Pereira

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Last updated: November 2006