The last straight line of the peace caravan led for a week in the troubled provinces east of the country by a delegation of national deputies and the Congolese defense minister. Yesterday, the delegation arrived in Kalemie, Tanganyika province, where clashes between pygmy militias and Luba have been repeated. A peace mission of course, but not in a timely manner according to civil society.
Visits to the ADF’s rebel shrines, briefings at the army headquarters and meetings with local authorities and civil society continue the carriage of peace.
South and North Kivus, Ituri and Tanganyika. The eight national deputies and the defense minister only went to areas under the control of government security forces. No meeting with armed groups.
The mission will have allowed elected officials to touch on reality. “There are many deaths, communities absolutely need to talk to each other. And the army must succeed in imposing state authority. We really need funds to avoid relapse, ”explains Juvenal Munubo, head of the parliamentary delegation.
His colleague Bernard Kayumba noted that the conflict is driven by “people or politicians pulling strings so that there are militias in different provinces”. On the one hand, he said, “there must be an inter-ethnic dialogue, because as soon as the army continues to strike, it risks hitting an innocent population one day”. On the other hand, this deputy from Kinshasa believes that it is time “for string pullers known from Kinshasa and the provinces to be arrested.” There is evidence ”.
In Beni, in the grip of attacks for six years by the armed group of Ugandan origin ADF, the minister insisted on cooperation between civilians and soldiers to condemn the attackers. If the mission is important to elected officials, criticism of civil society is sharp. “Peace cars can do nothing. In addition, there were deaths while they were there. It is tourism, pure and simple waste, a waste of time and a waste of state funds. The actions are elsewhere, ”storms Jean Bosco Lalo, president of civil society in Ituri.
Before returning to the capital, the delegation was to visit the sites previously required by Zambia to ensure the effective withdrawal of foreign troops. And this, before you end up with Lubumbashi, attacked by militiamen secession last weekend.
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