Report of our activities for peace and security in Beni North Kivu: The massacres should end

Report of the second meeting on the situation of security of people in Beni Territory, North Kivu the Democratic Republic of Congo

Beni is one the seven territories of North Kivu Province, it located in the greater north of the province, located on the border of Uganda districts of Kasese and Bundibudyo, it is highly commercial and fertile in the farming including chocolate and timber among others crops. Beni is part of the two territories highly populated by Nande tribe which is the same of Bakondzo in Kasese Uganda.

Beni has been highly affected by a repetition of massacres, destroying of properties and abduction of people to unknown destination since October 14th, 2014 up to now. The recent massacres in this month of June which claimed the lives of more than 200 people according to some sources have spark our attention in order advocate for security, peace and stability of the territory which is affected by the terrorists rebels of Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) a Ugandan armed group against the regime in Kampala.

Advocating for the end of the massacres in Beni

As part of the civil society we opted to wake up and influence others to focus also our attention on what is happening in Beni, with particular attention on the following actors:

The Government forces: We want to understand better what the Government is doing and what should be done better in order to become more effective to prevent the massacres and protect people,

The Communities: People at the community should be well organized and encouraged to share information on possible security threats, and the same time help people to put in protection and security mechanisms at local levels,

The Civil Society and Political Actors: All stakeholders should be mobilized and engaged to play different roles to ensure such butchery ends in Beni.

Approaches

In order to promote peace in Beni, North Kivu we have opted to focus on the following which we believe should help.

Collect accurate information: This will help all actors to take informed decisions and at the same fight against fake news at the community levels,

Disseminate accurate information: To share right information with all stakeholders including local population,

To put in place a communication strategy: This will help people to share information and know who to engage with,

To put in place alert system: This will help to alert each other and alert all stakeholders when there is a danger,

Community Security Unity: Which will bring together community members in order to regularly on security in their communities,

Positions

During our meetings today, we actors of the Civil Society coordinated by COJESKI North Kivu took the following positions:

We strongly rejected any use of local population any massacre of innocent by politicians in order to bargain pour position in the government, and whoever will do such should be held accountable,

We strongly rejected the use of tribes and religious belonging of those in ADF in order to create more religious and ethnic conflicts, those who are killing and not representatives of tribes and religion,

We strongly rejected the killing of people in order to loot natural resources, and occupy their lands,

We also rejected the passivity of people in Beni who remain silent when others are being killed,

Activities

Gathering information in Beni: We have managed to collect information in Beni and continue sharing it with various actors in our audience,

Meeting with stakeholders: We have managed to meet the leaders of the Nande Community in Goma and shared with them the same ideas, we also intend to other community leaders and lastly military authorities,

Forming various peace groups in Beni: This is part of our next move.

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