TFV

From the perspectives of Congolese, the underlying causes of conflict are seen differently in Ituri than in the Kivus.¹ While natural resources and struggles for power are considered the driving forces behind violence in the Kivus, land is the major issue in Ituri. When asked about the origins of conflict, 60% of Iturians mention conflict over and/or access to land. In the Kivus, only 25% mention land.

“In your opinion, what are the major sources of the conflicts in eastern Congo?”

Conflicts over land, ethnicity and power in Ituri extend back to colonial times and have remained present in all stages of the region’s post-independence political and economic development. Still today, the region faces a pressing need for substantive land reform.

A soldier from the FNI rebel group in Fataki, Djugu territory, Ituri. Source: HRW

Natural resource extraction is clearly a major player in the conflict, with mining companies having been linked to rebel groups active in the region.² But to Iturians, land is the major issue. And ethnicity and power are inextricably linked to it.

But international organisations have been criticised for missing the seeds that continue to fuel conflict in the DRC.³ By treating the DRC as a “post-conflict” zone even as violence has flared, and focusing on strategies like national elections at the expense of local reconciliation and conflict mitigation, they have failed to address the Congo wars at their roots.

To fill this gap, the TFV is supporting the Congolese organisation Reseu Haki na Amani (RHA) to implement a large-scale peace and reconciliation project for 20,000 victims of war from communities across the Irumu, Djugu and Mahagi territories in Ituri District. The project is being implemented in two primary stages.

¹ Research conducted by UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, the International Center for Transitional Justice and Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development

² http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2005/06/01/dr-congo-gold-fuels-massive-human-rights-atrocities

³ http://www.columbia.edu/~sa435/IOSev.pdf

First Stage: 2009

During the first stage (on target to be completed in 2009), RHA is sending “Peace Caravans” to communities throughout Itrui district. For a week, community members and leaders come together to express and discuss the very concrete conflicts that shape their everyday lives. In total, RHA has held 24 “peace weeks” throughout Ituri.

At one of RHA’s Peace Caravans in Ituri. Source: TFV

RHA believes in the power and potential of people to address and solve their own problems, given the right opportunities and resources. Community members are divided into working groups and asked to identify the 5 or 6 major conflicts that they face in their daily lives. One by one, representatives from each group stand in front of the hall and deliver their list of grievances into the microphone: land occupied, homes attacked, money extracted, crops and livestock stolen, and more.

Once all parties have had a chance to express their concerns, RHA works with community leaders and representatives to craft concrete strategies to address and ameliorate the major conflicts. At the close of the week, a celebration marks the achievements made and highlights the importance of the weeks to come, when RHA passes the work of reconciliation into the hands of community members themselves.

Second Stage: 2010

In its second stage, set to begin in late 2009/early 2010, RHA will begin working more closely with communities to implement and monitor these reconciliation plans, focusing on two major issues: land and displacement.

In Ituri, 75% of people report having been displaced at least once. And most people have been displaced more than once: Iturians report an average of 2.5 displacements per person. The major reasons they cite are armed conflict (90%) and social/ethnic tensions (23%).⁴

These displacements fuel conflict over land. As internally displaced people (IDPs) return to their homes, they often find it occupied. Almost twice as many Iturians as those from the Kivus report having had a conflict with their neighbour over land: 56% versus 27% in North Kivu and 36% in South Kivu. And almost a third of Iturians report having had a conflict over land with an alleged owner. And because the conflict, and thus displacement, played out largely along ethnic lines in Ituri, the return of IDPs can exacerbate ethnic tension.

⁴ Research conducted by UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, the International Center for Transitional Justice and Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development

Percentage of Congolese who have experienced conflict with neighbour over land

These results illustrate a clear need for focused attention on land issues in Ituri. This is necessary to allow those affected by war to begin a process of social healing that can address the seeds of conflict and violence: “the results for Ituri support focused interventions in that district on inter-communal reconciliation and conflict resolution regarding land issues.”⁵

In its second stage, RHA will begin providing this kind of intervention. In addition to focusing in on two core issues – land and displacement – it is instituting two new strategies: (1) a set of sensitization and lobbying efforts to help community members work more closely with local officials on issues of land reform, and (2) a more regular system of monitoring to ensure that reconciliation strategies are successfully implemented.

With help from the TFV, RHA will start to track how its work is making a difference in the lives of community members. With more regular feedback, RHA will be able to provide sustained help to communities as they work toward reconciliation, the most challenging and most important aspect of the “Peace Caravan.”

⁵ Research conducted by UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, the International Center for Transitional Justice and Tulane University’s Payson Center for International Development