41. Building Relationships, Building Peace: The Role of Civilians and Civil Society in Preventing Mass Atrocities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Author:
- Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide and Congo Research Group
- Publication Date:
- 07-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Abstract:
- Cycles of conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have led to fluctuating levels of largescale, systematic violence against civilians. Two regions, the Grand Nord area of North Kivu province and the northeastern Ituri province, have featured both some of the worst violence and exceptional lulls in fighting. The roles of civil society actors in those two cases have varied—from encouraging armed-group mobilization to leading region-wide mediation efforts. Our analysis of civilian-led efforts in those two cases demonstrates that the boundaries of civil society in the DRC are fluid and context specific. In Grand Nord and Ituri, Congolese groups that typically fall outside modern liberal definitions of civil society that emphasize non-partisanship played important roles in mobilizing civilian communities, representing their interests to political leaders, and adopting strategies to prevent and mitigate mass atrocities. Those groups included members of the business community, customary elites, the Catholic Church, and nongovernmental organizations. We conclude that civil society actors had the most effect where they had close, personal relations with belligerents and where they had a deep-vested interest in stability. In Grand Nord, local Catholic Church leaders used their close relationships with armed groups to broker multiple peace agreements. Members of the business community in Grand Nord initially supported rebel groups such as the Congolese Rally for Democracy/Kisangani–Mouvement de libération (RCD/K-ML)—because the rebel groups provided tax relief and commercial financing to enhance their legitimacy. That relationship, however, meant that business leaders were also able to pressure rebel groups to participate in peace processes when conflict began to interfere with the business community’s financial interests. In Ituri, similar incentives led cattle ranchers and traders to play a similar role.
- Topic:
- Civil Society, Conflict, Civilians, Atrocities, Peacebuilding, and Atrocity Prevention
- Political Geography:
- Africa and Democratic Republic of the Congo