By Namakula Evelyn Birabwa Mayanja a Thesis Submitted to The
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People's experiences and perceptions of war and peace in South Kivu province, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo By Namakula Evelyn Birabwa Mayanja A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies of the University of Manitoba In partial fulfillment of the requirement of the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Peace and Conflict Studies Faculty of Graduate Studies University of Manitoba Winnipeg Copyright © 2018 by Namakula Evelyn Birabwa Mayanja WAR and PEACE in CONGO II ABSTRACT This study explores people’s experiences and perceptions of war and the peacebuilding processes needed for reconstructing Congo. It explains how the ongoing war has horrendous consequences for individuals and communities. There are extensive accounts of how ordinary Congolese have suffered because of the war, how they understand the causes of war, and what they think is needed to achieve peace. In my research, I endeavored to transcend theoretical abstraction, intellectualization, and rationalization to represent people’s realties and experiences through their stories. The essence of my research was to explain from their perspective, what feeds the war, why current peacebuilding measures are failing and what is needed to reconstruct the Congo state to engender peace, security, and development. My hope is that people’s stories will inspire greater action and engagement to ameliorate their suffering. A matrix of international, regional, and national factors must be assembled, like in a puzzle, to understand the multifaceted factors leading to Congo’s wars. While the causes are multifactorial, and fundamentally rooted in colonialism, what is clear is that Congo, is the victim of the wars of plunder. Developed nations need Congo’s minerals to advance their technological prowess. While in the past, colonialism enabled western power to access Congo’s resources, war is the current modus operandi. The violent exploitation of Congo’s resources exposes the ineffectiveness of global leadership and resource governance that propagate structures and systems that perpetuate the incessant wars. Neoliberal interventions, including two decades of UN peacekeeping and political elections have failed to create peace and security. If there is a genuine global political will to end Congo’s wars, strategic and comprehensive short and long-term interventions are needed, to engage WAR and PEACE in CONGO III multifaceted factors and actors to address the complex national, regional and international causes and to prevent future wars. Sustainable peace also depends on engendering leadership and resource governance in Congo; involving the grassroots people and their cultures; and tackling structural and systemic poverty and unemployment, so that the impoverished people stop joining the armed groups. WAR and PEACE in CONGO IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This study would not have been possible without the support of many institutions and individual who financed this research and the entire course. First, the Peace Research Program of the International Peace Research Association Foundation (IPRAF) funded this research. It was an honor to be recognized by IPRAF as an emerging researcher and scholar. My gratitude also goes to The Arthur Mauro Centre, St. Paul’s College and the Philanthropic Educational Organization (PEO) for their financial support. Second, this study would have been impossible without Dr. Joan V. Swain and Dr. Lazaro Bustince. I am deeply grateful to each one of you. I am also indebted to Dr. Charles Olwenyi who encouraged me to pursue PACS. I am grateful to Dr. Fratern Massawe and Dr. Ferdinand Muhigirwa S.J. Thank you for mapping out the entire research process and guiding me in such a violent environment. I am also very grateful to Dr. Justin Nkunzi and Florence Furaha. Your guidance, support, and friendship in the field, was always my anchor. Thanks also to the entire staff of the Justice and Peace Commission in Bukavu for your availability whenever I knocked at your doors with questions. Special thanks also to Archbishop François-Xavier Maroy for all what I learnt from you in the research process, Dr. Xvier Kitumaini and sœur Adolphine Lugamba and the sisters of St. Joseph of Moba for your hospitality and support. Third, to all the people I interviewed, thank you for what you shared with me and for entrusting me with your precious stories. As you told me often, we count on each other to restore peace, security, and development in Congo and the entire GLR. Fourth, my thanks go to amazing friends in Canada who supported me in many ways, provided me with the study environment, stimulating ideas, and conversation that helped me WAR and PEACE in CONGO V refine my thinking about the conditions of war and potential peace processes in Congo. The list is long but special gratitude goes to Dennis Lewycky, thank you for always challenging me to stay focused and think critically; David Creamer, Sam Argenziano, Cathy Laviolette, Alice Konefall, Moti Shojania, and others who I have not mentioned. Many thanks to each one of you. Fifth, I am greatly appreciative for the guidance of Dr. Denis Bracken, Dr. Sean Byrne for your academic mentorship and commitment, Dr. Regine King for inspiring me to be critical with the research methodologies and Dr. Dean Peachey for your ideas. Finally, my family. I am grateful to my brother Richard, for always encouraging me, my sisters Maria for checking on me almost daily, Margret, and all my nephews and nieces. WAR and PEACE in CONGO VI DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my mother Betty Birabwa who sacrificed her very self for her children and taught me respect for every person’s dignity. It is also dedicated to the people of South Kivu. We continue to hope that one day you will have peace. WAR and PEACE in CONGO VII Table of Contents ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................................ II ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................... IV DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................................... VI LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ........................................................................................................ XI ACRONYM ............................................................................................................................................. XII CHAPTER 1- INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................1 Statement of purpose and objectives ....................................................................................... 7 Guiding Research Questions ................................................................................................... 8 First field research impressions. .............................................................................................. 9 Structure of the Thesis ........................................................................................................... 13 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................14 CHAPTER 2- THE WAR LANDSCAPE: HISTORICAL AND CURRENT CONFLICTS .............15 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................15 Physical Geography. .............................................................................................................. 15 Colonial history ..................................................................................................................... 21 Haunted by the colonizers ghost ............................................................................................ 24 Congo’s wars, GLR geopolitics, alliances, and anarchy ........................................................................27 The first Congo war ............................................................................................................... 27 The Second Congo War ......................................................................................................... 35 Western powers and Congo’s wars ....................................................................................... 39 Increasing violence ................................................................................................................ 41 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................42 CHAPTER 3- LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS ...........................45 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................45 Colonialism .................................................................................................................................................46 Decolonization and Inculturation. ......................................................................................... 50 Peacebuilding .............................................................................................................................................52