International Day of Peace in Goma: We are already Divided and each one is pushing on his/her side
Invitation to the series of activities for the International Day of Peace in Goma, North Kivu the Democratic Republic of Congo
Preparatory Meeting at the Division of women offices in Goma on Tuesday September 17th, 2024
As COJESKI North Kivu, we are also involved and we joined the Synergy of women in order to do one main activities but also to continue with activities until the end of October exactly on 31st 2024 which marks the birth of the 1325 United Nations Resolution.
On this international Day of Peace this September 21st, 2024 actors of the Civil Society under the Coordination of Synergy of Women for Peace and Security in Goma has organized various activities which include:
The welcome remarks, the struggle of women for peace, history and way forward, engagement with the Media, interactions with the audience and recommendations. The activities will start at 9am and will end at 12:30 pm this Saturday September 2024, activities will take place the place called “Maison de la Femme” the offices of the Division of women in North Kivu.
This world peace comes when actors have various positions and it may appears evident that the population in North Kivu in particular and in DRC in general want the activation of the Congolese Army in order to secure the whole territory through offensive military activities. It is important to note that since the war started in 2022 the DRCongo Army called FARDC has been in defensive and generally the rebels of AFC/M23/RDF have conquered many places without resistance from the National Army which always withdraws in advance. The arguments from DRC Government of taking time to organize and to strengthen the Army is currently rejected by the entire population which believe the DRC Army is capable to protect and secure the territory and especially that we are not looking for short-time solutions, this time we want a long time peace solution and that can only be achieved through the Army to secure the entire territory.
At the Government level, the position is different, despite the promise of the President Felix Tshisekedi during the campaigns of the concluded elections in which he opted for military options, it is now nine (9) months and there is no sign that the Army is being organized in order to fight, on contrary the Government has taken a position in three directions: Diplomatic, Political and Military, in this way the first priority of the Government is Diplomacy however the population does not agree with that because diplomacy does not remove the rebels from the zones which they control now, the second priority for the government is Political which is not clear to people and unfortunately the Government does not communicate anything about the political deal. And then the last option for the Government is Military with the purpose of the not to defend and attack but to limit the progress of the rebels. Both Diplomacy and political deal are short-time solutions which brings us back to the same situation of war especially when there is the change of power in the United States of America more evidently when democrats access to power in the USA often Rwanda is always activated to attack DRC.
At International level, the African Union, the European Union, the United Nations and the United States of America have clearly supported a political deal between DRC and Rwanda and the same time between DRC and AFC/M23 rebels. However all these actors have failed to clearly indicate what is political deal in order to end the war as no one knows what they mean because the Congolese people is not opposed to the existence of Rwanda and there is nothing Congolese want from Rwanda. There have been political deals since 1996 between DRC and Rwanda which have not yet yield expected fruits of long-term stability, it is not clear how will this proposed political deal be different from others and it is important that those who believe in political should communicate more about what they want.
Posing for a photo after the meeting and the Coordinator of COJESKI among women in the middle
Since August 2024, the United States of America announced a humanitarian truce in Eastern DRC in order to facilitate relief activities, and later on this became a cease-fire signed in Luanda/Angola between DRC and Rwanda, and currently the USA is leading a diplomatic campaign at the United Nations General Assembly for Peace in DRC trough a negotiated deal between all parties in conflict, yet all these efforts have not yet flashed out the rebels which is the only demand of the people so that the IDPs can go back to their villages. As this happens on diplomatic campaign both the USA, the United Nations and the European Union have argued and supported humanitarian relief aid in order to alleviate the suffering of millions of IDPs, however the relief aid so far raised has not been significant, the United Nations claims that only 34% of the funds to help IDPs have been raised, but also no one has a clear picture how is the funds used and who really benefit from it.
The situation of IDPs is deteriorating every day, the major towns which host millions of IDPs mainly Goma, Butembo and Beni are economically now down and the situation is scaring so many people who find themselves in dire conditions especially that in all these towns eating three times per day is already impossible to many families. In this way the humanitarian relief aid to calm the situation is not the option, neither to this host communities nor to Internally Displaced Persons and questions remain how long should people live on relief aid. It is important to note that there is a urgent need of relief aid to IDPs currently in various camps and efforts should be done to help them but the relief aid should not be viewed as the solution, only efforts to push out the rebels are viewed as permanent solutions and anyone who is not working in this direction is likely not to get the support from the people. On top of that DRC need development activities and long-term peace activities but not relief aid alone as it has been over the years.
We are likely to have activities aiming at pushing the DRC Government to change her position towards the war in North Kivu and resort to the offensive option which is likely to have popular backing.
Short-term peace is that Diplomatic efforts may exercise influence on Rwanda to pull out from DRC, this has been in the past and does last generally four years, this is what the International Community wants.
Long-term peace is that the Congolese Army should flash out the rebels of AFC/M23/RDF and provide security at the border between Rwanda and DRC and be ready to respond to attacks from Rwanda, this is what DRC people want,
Peace for people in North Kivu DRC is first the end of this war.
Thanks
Kulihoshi Musikami Pecos
