Summery of the evaluation meeting of the debate on FDLR in DRCongo: A Myth or a reality
Evaluation meeting of the first Dialogue on the problematic of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda known as FDLR in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Our project for peace in the Great Lakes Region focuses on the following key assumptions:
That Rwanda may realize the need to change her foreign policy in the great lakes region from a military policy to pacific forms of solving conflicts,
That countries in the great lakes region may put in place mechanisms for effective protection of refugees and cease to branding refugees for political interests,
That we may establish a permanent dialogue with all belligerent including armed groups in the great lakes region and ensure that the voice of each group may count,
That we may leave aside the approach of criminalization of particular groups of people,
Objectives
To clearly establish first of all the danger caused by the FDLR to both Rwanda and DRC, and provide accurate information to all stakeholders at all levels,
To innovate the existing approaches which are believed to be the solutions to the security problem in the Great Lakes Region,
To involve various actors including local people and to prioritize the effective protection of refugees,
Today Friday April 26th, 2024 the Team from the New Dynamic of the Civil Society (NDSCI North Kivu), the Collective of Youth Organizations for Solidarity in North Kivu (COJESKI North Kivu) and the Youth for the Solidarity in the four Corners of the World (JS4) held a meeting to evaluate the activity.
The participants observed challenges before the debate and other challenges connected to the perceived security threats in order to exhaustively discuss about this subject, and logistical challenges which were attributed to financial problems.
We also observed that much as this advocacy may not attract the attention of donors and may be viewed as a challenge to the current order in place in the great lakes region, we need to pull resources amongst ourselves and carry out activities which we can easily fund, and in case someone will be interested he/she will join us on the way. Therefore most of our activities will focus on what we can do with little money and this will lead us to revise some activities.
Generally the activity was positive as it attracted various actors and those who attended strongly engaged with each other in some cases the participants agreed but also they disagreed on other things. The debate remained on abuses that have been committed by FDRLR in DRC and where they are currently while others also questioned which abuses have the Congolese people committed against FDLR and Rwandan refugees, and more questions remained about who exactly FDLR are. Being the first initiative we were aware that we could not have done everything. However this gave us a hint on what we shall focus on in our next activities.
We continue getting positive feedback from those who attended and do encourage us to move forward in this attempt to propose alternatives to this problematic which has existed over more than 30 years now.
In the next activity all the parties involved will take part in the mobilization of both the necessary human resource, financial support and logistics, there is a need to improve the conditions of the meeting and make it more attractive by proving transport, snacks to participants and may be also organizing it in a conducive environment which may be a Hotel.
The following activities will be planned for as our next move:
The Media engagement: We shall hold a meeting and plan this activity in order to interact with the media and the press here in Goma,
A Zoom debate on the same issue of the problematic of FDLR in DRCongo, this activity will also be planned.
And another debate here in Goma bringing together various actors and so this will be a long term project,
The meeting observed that in the future we shall explore option to engage with the Civil Society Actors in Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda among others and also political actors in the Great Lakes Region,
Thanks
Pecos
