Inter-ethnic relations need repair - African Rights

The visions between people in North and South Kivu were “stark and extremely dangerous”, and the leadership necessary to resolve them was lacking, African Rights reported. Even a number of educated and urban representatives of civil society and the Churches - who might have provided unifying leadership - had articulated their opposition to various parties “in ethnic rather than ideological terms, expressing similar views to those being brutally acted upon by the militia in the rural areas”, it said. The NGO said parallel or alternative efforts should be made to build stability and repair severely damaged relations between different ethnic groups, and both local and international peacemaking efforts should offer “tangible gains for a commitment to peace.” The report also quoted Professor Severin Mugangu of the University of Bukavua as saying that the Congolese could not look to the United Nations as “a saviour” in the present situation because the crisis was a structural one, with its roots in Congolese society.

The report suggested, among other things, the needs to: engage a broader range of people in civil society, governance and peace-building efforts; increase efforts to resolve - at community as well as constitutional level - the vexed issue of the nationality of Banyamulenge and Banyarwanda Tutsis in eastern DRC; support civic and Church groups promoting mutual respect between Tutsis, Hutus and other ethnic groups; increase efforts to disarm and decommission militia groups; and build up infrastructures and administrative capacities to allow improved governance, economic regeneration and social reconsturction.