Tapez pour saisir le texte LOCAL VOICES Congolese Communities & The Kivu Conflict ! press release A Series of Photostories on Local Realities of Conflict in Eastern DRC “Our drama is that armed groups are supposedly formed in order to protect their community, but at the end of the day, it is the very same armed groups that kill their own community.” A community leader from Goma, North Kivu ! ! “All our troubles [of armed conflict] came from bad governance. We succeeded institutionalizing the culture of corruption in our country.” A Civil Society activist from Goma, North Kivu. ! ! “As long as armed groups remain, we will never be able to return to our villages!” A woman among the two millions of internally displaced persons (IDPs) that are forced to live in a camp because of armed violence in North and South Kivu. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com A member of APCLS armed group is leaving its military base to fight Cheka armed group in Pinga, Walikale territory. Both groups fight for the control of Pinga and the mineral resources that are abundant in Walikale territory. Lukweti, Masisi territory, North Kivu, August 2013. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Tapez pour saisir le texte LOCAL VOICES - Congolese Communities & The Kivu Conflict ! A Series of photostories helps make local voices heard on DRC conflict Local Voices, Search For Common Ground and International Alert are proud to announce the launch of their joint project Local Voices – Congolese Communities & The Kivu Conflict on December 5, 2013. ! ! Local Voices – Congolese Communities & The Kivu Conflict aims to share the experiences of the local populations who, in remote areas of Kivu, have been facing militias and armed violence for 20 years. Through a series of weekly publications using personal testimonies, Local Voices - Congolese Communities & The Kivu Conflict wants to give a voice to local people, from warlords and youth to displaced women and local authorities. ! ! The project focuses on sensitive issues such as armed groups, the weakness of state authorities, or tensions between ethnic communities, and places the reader in the daily lives of the communities most affected by armed conflict. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Tapez pour saisir le texte Local Voices aims to inform the general public as well as policy makers about the dynamics and triggers of violence in eastern Congo and aims to put local populations at the center of concerns. ! ! For Alexis Bouvy, project director and co-founder of Local Voices, the project is all about “giving a voice to populations who have no opportunities to share their experiences with armed conflicts, to express their concerns, their difficulties, their frustrations and their fears.” ! ! Maria Lange, DRC country manager at Internationa Alert says: “The exclusion of Congolese people from decision-making has been one of the obstacles to peace in DRC. Giving them a voice is an important step when it comes to building peace.” ! ! Our photostories will be published on the following websites: Local Voices — www.localvoicesproject.com International Alert — www.international-alert.org Search For Common Ground — www.sfcg.org local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Tapez pour saisir le texte Mama Angélique spends her days in the fields. She is going back home loaded with wood that she will use to cook. Buabo, Masisi territory, North Kivu, June 2013. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com agenda for publications : ! ! o December 5 : Launch of Local Voices website and publication 1 — ‘Masisi, The Wound of Kivu’ situates the main issues and discourses at play when it comes to violent conflict in eastern DRC, and in Masisi territory in particular. ! ! o December 12 : Publication 2 — ‘Between Soldiers and Militias : A Volatile Share of Forces’ shows how armed groups and the national army can get along in some villages in North Kivu, sometimes peacefully. It also examines the impact of the presence of militias on local state authorities. ! o December 19 : Publication 3 — ‘Power, Land and Identities : The Root Causes of Violence in Masisi’ traces the history of tensions and violence between the different communities of Masisi territory and situates these tensions in the current ‘conflict context’ of Masisi. ! ! Christmas Break ! ! o January 9, 2014 : Publication 4 — ‘Armed Groups in Masisi. The Case of the People’s Alliance for a Free and Sovereign Congo’ looks at the particular case of the APCLS, a militia evolving in Masisi and usually associated to the Hunde community. The article shows the ambiguous relations that can exist between a specific armed group and a community, as well as the consequences of militias on civilians, beyond the many discourses at play. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com ! o January 16, 2014 : Publication 5 — ‘Twenty Years and a Kalach. Testimonies of Young Rebels’ proposes two first hand testimonies of twenty-years-old armed men, members of the APCLS. Two straightforward and hard-hitting testimonies, without concessions, but that reveal the history and conceptions of many of these young armed men evolving in eastern Congo. ! ! o January 23, 2014 : Publication 6 — ‘Saying ‘No’ to War (1). Testimonies of Young Civilians’, or how 20 years old men and women sharing their daily life with militias refuse to join armed groups despite the many difficulties of civilian life. ! ! o January 30, 2014 : Publication 7 — ‘Saying ‘No’ to War (2). Youth and Peace Activists in Rebel Zone’ testifies the extraordinary commitment for peace from a youth that is hardly confronted to militias and tensions between ethnic communities. ! ! local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com A preacher during a Sunday Mass in a protestant church of Lukweti, where APCLS armed group is based. In front of daily adversity, populations from eastern Congo go massively to churches, protestants as well as Catholics. Lukweti, Masisi territory, August 2013. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Alliance, a young girl living in Lukweti, the village where the APCLS armed group is based. Alliance stated she prefers to marry a civilian than a member of a militia. Lukweti, Masisi territory, North Kivu, August 2013. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Publication 1 - under embargo ! ! ! ! ! Exclusively for the press local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Masisi, the wound of kivu local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Torn apart by a 20 years bloody conflict, the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is one of the most stricken areas of the world. In a region with colossal economic potential, many armed groups without specific goals regularly engage in fighting with dramatic consequences for the local populations. The armed conflict in the Kivus is extremely complex and made up of a mix of regional politics, anarchic exploitation of mineral wealth, ethnic rivalries, land conflicts, weakness of the state and political opportunism. A seemingly inextricable maze in which the territory of Masisi, North Kivu, occupies a central place. If the recent dismantling of M23 opens a new window of opportunity for peace, many deep-rooted challenges remain of great concerns. ! * * * ! A paradise without armed groups ! “Without the armed groups, Masisi would be a real paradise!”, Joseph Sukisa, deputy administrator of the Masisi territory in charge of economy and development stated. “We have everything here! Fields, pastures, minerals! Our lands are very fertile!” ! Despite its peaceful mountainous and green landscapes with promising potential, Masisi has been for 20 years the scene of a deadly armed conflict leading to dramatic humanitarian consequences. United Nations agencies speak of some 300,000 internally displaced persons (IDP’s) because of war in the territory of Masisi alone, out of a total of two million in North and South Kivu combined, the two provinces most affected by the war in DRC. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com A woman walks in front of an IDP camp in Lushebere. Masisi territory, North Kivu, September 2013. local voices - congolese communities & the kivu conflict - www.localvoicesproject.com Ten years after the signing of the Sun City peace agreement (2003), seven years after the first democratic elections (2006), which had to open a new era of peace and prosperity for the country, the east of DRC remains prisoner to a cycle of wars that never seems to end. FDLR, APCLS, Nyatura, FDDH, Mai-Mai Cheka, Guides, MAC... So many acronyms that refer to the many armed groups that continue to clash in Masisi and its surroundings. ! ! The reasons for this violence? ! ! They are as numerous and complex as the participating armed groups. Joseph, the deputy administrator of Masisi, gives us his point of view on the continuation of the war in his country: “If armed groups continue to exist in Masisi, this is not because of tribalism, but because of the M23 which, with the support of Rwanda, seeks to balkanize our country” he said, without appeal. “But the children of Congo are hardworking and cannot accept this balkanization.