Centre Resolution Conflits

These are the field reports from Henri Bura Ladyi, the Director of the Centre Résolution Conflits. At the bottom of the page you will find a history of the area with a map.

Beni, DRC June 2007

We've just managed to speak to Henri who runs our Champions Project in the Congo. It’s been some time since we last made contact and we’re very relieved to get hold of him. He’s been deep in the jungle negotiating with a gang of militia and this is his story.

I’m currently based in a place called Aveba. Although it’s only 380 kilometres from Beni it took me almost a week to get here, travelling over mountains and through deep water. For eight days I have been negotiating safe passage for a 250-strong gang of armed milita. They wanted to come out of the jungle and rejoin the community but were worried government soldiers would arrest them the moment they laid down their weapons. They’d heard of work I’d done recently with a neighbouring village and telephoned me to ask if I would act as a mediator. The negotiations were very difficult; the government was adamant the gang couldn’t be trusted. After many days of talks I managed to get both sides to start trusting and communicating with each other. I arranged for the gang to lay down their weapons in a safe area and today the 250 men came out of the forest and received safe passage as promised. I’m staying here for one more week to help them get used to life in the community and have arranged for blankets and food rations from humanitarian NGOs based in the area.

Henri Bura Ladyi

Message from Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu, Founder and President of the CRC, February 2007

“The CRC held its AGM in January in Kampala/ Uganda. Participants of the CRC AGM are living in different countries and places because of the DR Congo war. So for security reasons we met in Uganda and members came from Beni, Bunia, Nairobi and Kisangani, and Kongosi and I came from the UK where we have lived as refugees since 2002.

The main outcome of the AGM was that at the end of the long-lasting DR Congo war, the CRC is to become a training centre. This will be a transitional step for CRC before the beginning of the Peace University.

Another decision is the election of Adrien Itulamya Mapampwe, former Vice-Chair of CRC as Deputy Director to replace Revd Aimé Chambola Katanga, who passed away last year. To take the post of Vice-Chair left empty by the election of Adrien, Mrs Mamie Singay Onia was elected Vice-Chair of CRC.

The CRC team also had a surprise for us. They brought with them my father-in-law, Kongosi’s father (83 years old), who wanted very much to see us before his death. He suffered a lot during the DRC war like everybody did. In 2004 he was wrongly accused, arrested and threatened with death by militias killing people in the DRC. He was later released miraculously but lost his young son and all his belongings, including his house and a farm of more than 500 cows. Today, with thousands of other Congolese from his town, he has become an IDP in Bunia.

Mapenzi, our first daughter also made the long journey by road from Goma through Rwanda and Uganda, as it was the only opportunity for her to meet with her parents - as you can guess, it was extremely emotional to see each other after several years of separation.”

Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu

President of CRC

Beni, DRC, January 2007

The Champions Programme is progressing well here and I would like to start 2007 by letting you know our plans for the next three months.

Two big summits on the consolidation of peace and unity are being planned, with one especially for women. Three local radio stations will then broadcast special programmes reflecting the ideas of the participants.

We will continue to monitor the conflict situation in the Ituri and North-Kivu provinces, two regions that have been torn apart by tensions and violence. Pamphlets carrying messages of peace and reconciliation will be distributed in schools, universities and IDP camps.

On the 28th December we organised a big public festival to strengthen the peace with orchestras, theatrical troops and other groups participating alongside the whole community. I will send some photographs from the event soon.

The purpose of all these activities is to reinforce the present peace, encourage knowledge exchange, re-establish and reinforce ties and social cohesion and encourage the principles of active non-violence and tolerance of the ‘other’.

I would like to thank you for playing a role in supporting the processes of peace and democracy that are becoming a reality. Your last contribution was very significant because it readied the Congolese people for voting in leaders associated with the issues of peace, unity and social cohesion.

May God bless you.

Beni, DRC, October 2006

I am pleased to write to you with an update from the DRC on the work of the Centre Résolution Conflits. We would like to express our extreme gratitude for your continued moral and financial support.

In the DRC, the quest for land remains the principal cause of conflict. The earth is fundamental to the wealth and economic well-being of every family: the earth produces food, food brings money, money reduces poverty and brings hope.

The CRC was invited to mediate a long running land dispute in the village of Mai-Moya, 55km north of the town of Beni, between an agricultural cooperative, and 14 properties adjacent to the plantation who claim part of their lands have been illegally taken.

This action caused conflict which would be fought out in a number of ways, many of them violent. Hundreds of families have become victims of these conflicts and have no access to either their fields or sources of drinking water. Almost half the village lives with the consequences of these tensions.

We invited all the key players to join in calm discussions following rules of good conduct. We made them see the potential danger that this large population faces. After many messages of peace given over and over again by the CRC members and endorsed by the legal leaders the two parties proposed solutions to the problem. The analysis of their solutions will give way to a compromise on the issues causing conflict. The dividing elements have been moved aside and a peace and peaceful cohabitation agreement has been signed. Everyone will have their stolen land returned and oil palms and coffee on a persons land must never be exploited. These decisions were taken and implemented in an atmosphere of happiness and reconciliation.

“Despite the public slander, beatings and wounds that me and my agents have received during this conflict, I offer forgiveness to all who have done us harm.” A local elder

“I haven’t been able to sleep properly for 38 years. Now my heart and my spirit are calm as are those of my community.” One of the victims

Let us continue to preach peace even more than yesterday.

Beni, DRC, June 2006

Greetings and best regards. We are all well and busy continuing with our peace work. We have had two successes this month that I would like to tell you about.

We facilitated the reconciliation of several militia seeking refuge from the conflict in Gety. The Gety is a region dominated by the Lendu tribe with local residents living in a Komanda IDP camp. This sort of reconciliation is complex. We had to reassure the community whilst seeking the integration of the militia. We conducted awareness events in Bulong, Bunia, Dhele, Irumu and Komanda. In every village we passed through we stayed for a day to talk about peace and reconciliation, we also conducted a meeting with the village leaders (elders), church leaders, women leaders and youth groups in every community.

Secondly I have attached a report on the situation in a small village called Cheydo which is 130Km south of Bunia. (*) In this community the militia had taken the community hostage. (A witch doctor called Bayonga had been preparing special ‘medicine’ to give the militia strength!) The UN forces and FARC (Congolese national army) started an operation to fiercely disarm this militia. We didn’t believe this tactic would work. They tried a similar operation back in October 2005 without success and the suffering endured by the community was immense. We worked very hard to convince the UN and the FARC to listen to our strategy of involving community leaders in the disbarment process and using dialogue to win over the militia. We believe that violence in the short term will only bring violence in the long term and the UN peace keeping forces need to understand that.

I am pleased to tell you that we managed to establish contact with the militia holding the community hostage and we managed to free the community. It is now two weeks since the community has been allowed to leave without paying. Some of the community members have since fled to Komanda IDP camp. Our disaster and healing team have camped there too to offer counseling and moral support. There are 5,000 people camped there and we are working with local NGOs to offer some relief.

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN FOR YOUR PRAYERS AND GREAT SUPPORT. TOGETHER LETS BUILD PEACE.

Beni, DR Congo, May 2006

The CRC wishes to express its extreme gratitude for your continued moral and financial support.

This support has greatly contributed to the numerous peace activities which have alleviated much of the suffering endured by the victims of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

A substantial proportion of the victims of inter-ethnic violence benefited from the Champions Programme, namely 1,500 communal leaders and 11,000 of the beneficiary population comprising of young people, women, ex-child-soldiers and others.

We have used a wide range of strategies including training in peaceful conflict resolution, performances, inter-community meetings and visits, organisation of days for the reflection on peaceful co-habitation,  and education on peace, good governance and respect for human rights.

In order to reconcile people who had been separated because of the conflict, we organised music concerts, and dramas on peace and peaceful co-habitation, football matches between groups previously in conflict (which is the young people’s favourite sport), as well as traditional dance performances where different ethnic groups present their cultural values which are often one of the sources of conflict within communities.

These activities have promoted reconciliation and a change in the behaviour and attitudes of people who were at odds with each other before the beginning of the project.

There are numerous testimonies of how much you have helped victims of conflict in the DRC .

An academic, involved in the promotion of peace, declared: “If this project on education for peace and peaceful co-habitation was able to reach those who continue to fight in the conflict which has made us suffer greatly, they would find solutions to the cause of their pain and to this war”.

During an exchange visit in a village, a woman victim of sexual slavery explained: “After having heard you, I forgive those who hurt me”.

We wish to thank you once more for your financial and moral support. We believe that this is the beginning of the re-establishment of a culture of durable peace, which will take some time. Therefore we hope that together we shall be able to contribute to the restoration of a culture of peace and to the change in behaviour and attitude of all the traumatized victims of the near-genocidal conflict which has affected the DRC in general and the east of the DRC in particular.

God bless your continuing help for this population which continues to suffer from the effects of tensions and violent conflicts which have resulted in the extreme poverty of the population. It is a sign of great love which you show the world.

Beni, DR Congo December 2005

I am writing to you again with the latest news from the CRC. The sad news is that continuing violence has directly affected Ben Muzzanzi wa Mussungu, the founder of CRC. We learned last month that his brother-in-law, seized by the government in the mistaken belief that he had been in the militia, was killed in cross fire on the journey to Bunia.

But the gradual demobilising of militia is creating opportunities as well. I would like to share with you an incredible story about a group of 20 young men. These men, discharged from a militia in eastern DRC, found the Centre Résolution Conflits, and asked to learn about their work. The CRC seized this opportunity with great enthusiasm and began to train them in peace building techniques. Now these young men are working in their own communities spreading the word of peace. With your funding, the CRC were able to temporarily engage a peaceworker for just $50/month to accompany and advise these former militias in their training activities. The hope is that their example will encourage other young men to do the same.

The team has also been working very closely with other local organisations, especially women’s groups, to expand their training in peace education to returning IDPs. As we head towards the end of the year, the CRC team is reinvigorated and more hopeful for the future and what they can achieve.

Beni, DR Congo, October 2005

I am writing to you again with updates and stories from the CRC. The last few months have been a mixture of successes and challenges. The national elections that were anticipated at the end of June were postponed, which thankfully didn’t cause any trouble despite the heightened tension. The CRC team has since been involved in voter registration exercises. These elections are seen as the beginning of societal reconstruction which will eventually give the displaced communities confidence to go back to their homes.

I would also like to share with you an incredible story of a successful peace agreement between 10 tribes in Ituri district. The conflict was mainly between newly arrived displaced people from north Kivu and the old ‘local’ displaced people. This occurred in the Eringeti camp which is home to about 30,000 people. The CRC team camped in Eringeti for 10 days. They used music, dance and role plays to open channels of communication and dialogue. This successful peace process culminated in the formation of a peace committee to manage affairs of the camp. The biggest success in this initiative was the involvement of the UN, local politicians, local security services and the church. This is significant in laying the foundation of a coordinated approach to peace building in the area; it is the bringing together of various actors to give leverage to each others strengths and capabilities.

I am also sharing with you some wonderful pictures of the project.

The first picture is of women singing for peace, they are part of the peace jam (a celebration to encourage the community to talk about peace).

The second picture is of the CRC team participating in a peace march in Beni.

The last picture is of people who could not find space in the church to attend peace training.

Finally, I am very happy to announce that the project leader Henri Laydi was blessed with a baby boy named David.

Henri has written a piece about what peace means to him for our tri-yearly newsletter, which will be distributed at the beginning of November.

Beni, DR Congo, July 2004

From: Kongosi and Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu

The Centre Résolution Conflits (CRC) of Nyankunde-Bunia, in the eastern DR Congo, wants to thank our London-based partners The Funding Network & Peace Direct for funding our Peace Education, Conflict Prevention and Trauma Counselling project among internally displaced peoples from the Ituri district living today in inhuman conditions in the North Kivu Province.

As anticipated the money helped us to replace key materials which were looted during the war: a laptop plus printer, video screen and VCR. As there is no public agency providing electricity in this poverty-stricken area, the team also had to buy a generator (not originally planned for); this is helping a lot by providing electricity for the laptop and other administrative work.

Peace Education, Conflict Prevention and Trauma Counselling sessions began in August last year and will continue until June 2004. Although the money did not reach the team for a good few months, as soon as they heard the good news in November 2003 they felt a real boost and kept on working. Last month, they carried out the session planned in Eringeti and Oicha Refugee Camps.

The report from the team shows how the "enemies" of yesterday living today in refugee camps were able to reconcile themselves; amazingly, they have set up a "Forum for Women" from different ethnic groups.

Local radio and TV have agreed to advertise any event related to this project. The team is still broadcasting peace education twice a week through local radios. They will send photos by ordinary mail, as they do not have a scanner.

History of the Centre Résolution Conflits (CRC)

The history of the Centre Résolution Conflits begins with Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu’s calling to be a mediator. At the time, in 1992, he was working in Rwanda as a radiographer. He was invited to mediate between 3 Anglican bishops who had been in conflict for ten years. In the week where he succeeded in reconciling them, he received a strong sense, during family worship, that he should return to the Democratic Republic of Congo, his home country.

He and his wife Kongosi took up work at the Nyakunde Hospital. But within six months of returning, violence between the Ngiti (Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu’s own tribe) and the Hema tribes broke out, with many deaths. Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu was propelled into peacebuilding work partly because the continual nighttime violence was severely affecting the hospital’s work, and partly through narrowly escaping being killed by members of his own tribe, who mistook his identity. 'These people had taken drugs' he explains in Unarmed Heroes. 'In these ethnic conflicts people take drugs so as to be able to kill without pity.' When death was very close, he asked to be allowed to pray. He prayed and then lost consciousness, waking to find the men blaming each other for having killed someone that they now recognised to be of their own tribe.

This experience convinced Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu that God was calling him to work with his own tribe to change their mentality, and to learn peacemaking skills that he would then take into the wider world.

The Centre was founded in 1993 and by 1997, when Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu attended training at Responding to Conflict in Birmingham, it was a fully funded formal organisation. The first few years’ work were with the Ngiti tribe, training community leaders. But in 2000, the Centre realised that it needed to focus more on training young people, who would be leading the country in the future. It campaigned to have a conflict management module of 30 hours offered to all final year students in colleges and universities in North Eastern Congo, There is a saying in Congo ‘Mon diplome a detruit le Congo’ – my degree has destroyed the Congo – because of the corruption of the educated leadership. Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu is trying to grow a new generation of leaders, whose power comes from their spiritual strength, not from the gun. To date almost 900 young people have been trained through the Centre and many more through colleges and universities.

Conflict still smoulders in the Congo. As I write [in 2004], Rwanda has just invaded again. And the Centre has suffered from this. In 2002, the beautiful small town of Nyakunde was almost wiped off the map. The Deputy Director of the Centre was killed, with his wife and two small children. But the other staff moved the Centre to Bunia, and began again. In 2003, the Centre was ransacked and all its equipment stolen. With money raised by Peace Direct, the Centre moved again to Beni.

Because of the instability funding has been hard to find and the Centre’s work has reduced.

Ben Mussanzi wa Mussangu is unable to return to the DRC, and he and Kongosi are studying at the Bradford University’s School of Peace Studies, while the Centre is being run by Field Director, Henri Bura Ladyi. The Champions funding will give the Centre some stability for its core work of mediation, trauma counselling and peace training, and enable it to pursue its ambition of taking the work into other regions of the DRC, and bringing into being university level courses in peace studies for French speaking West Africa.

The Democratic Republic of Congo: An Introduction

The Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, stretches into the heart of Africa.

With a population of almost 52 million, DRC shares borders with Congo Brazzaville, Central African Republic, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania, Zambia and Angola. There are five principal African languages, with French as the official language. The first known kingdom in the area, the Luba kingdom of the 16 artistic achievements in music poetry and sculpture. Around this time the Portuguese established the first European and Christian contact. Colonialism was entrenched through the Conference of Berlin in 1885, under which the Congo Free State came under the personal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium. Belgian colonial rule, which continued until 1960, prioritised the exploitation of the Congo’s wealth-including copper, diamonds and other minerals-at the expense of the Congolese people. Little was done to prepare the country for independence, and in particular to develop skills in public administration and health care to take over when Belgium withdrew.

Congo’s post-colonial history began with internal conflict, and was marked by dictatorship and economic mismanagement. Almost immediately after Patrice Lumumba took office as Prime Minister in 1960, the mineral rich province of Katanga threatened secession. Lumumba, seen as a protégé of the Soviet bloc, was deposed and later killed. After several years of civil unrest, General Mobutu Sese Seko led a military coup and gained control of Congo. He renamed the country Zaire and ruled until 1997, receiving aid from the US while the USSR supported opponents. During this time the country’s infrastructure fell apart, living standards were among the lowest in the world, while a small elite grew rich.

In the mid ‘90s conflict in Burundi and Rwanda led to an influx of refugees into the east of the country. Mobutu’s regime allowed and supported extremist Hutu militias to carry out attacks on Tutsis both in Zaire and in Rwanda. This triggered a reaction which resulted in the opposition, who had been active in the east of the country since the ‘60s under Laurent Kabila, marching on Kinshasa supported by Congolese Tutsis and the Rwanda and Uganda armies. Mobutu was deposed. Kabila changed the country’s name to the Democratic Republic of Congo. A year later Kabila’s former allies in the east of the country rebelled against him, supported by Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda. In turn Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Chad supported Kabila. The presence of foreign armies and militia linked to the Rwanda genocide fuelled tensions, as did competition for mineral resources. The opposing forces split, leading to the emergence of small armed groups, with up to 18 being identified in Eastern Congo alone, the area where the Centre Resolution Conflits is located.

Many attempts to build peace have been made by over 30 countries, the UN and pan-African bodies such as the Organisation for African Unity. In 2001, Laurent Kabila was shot and his son Joseph came to power, implementing a new policy of openness. Peace agreements were signed in 2002, foreign troops withdrawn and a transitional government installed in 2003. Elections are due to be held in June 2005.

Still the violence continues, with constant threatened and actual incursions from Rwanda. An estimated 3.8m people have died in the conflict. But the UN’s mandate in parts of the country has had some success in negotiating and enforcing ceasefires, demilitarising areas of the country, establishing weapons free zones, providing humanitarian aid, peacebuilding, rebuilding agriculture and addressing HIV Aids.

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