Involving citizens in dialogue will restore peace in Congo, historian says

Congo has experienced conflicts since 1996 with renewed tensions in recent times. The country has experienced continuing fighting over the years.

In recent times, tensions have flared between the Congolese army and M23 rebels with allegations that its neighbouring country, Rwanda, is fueling the fights by supporting the rebel group, claims Kigali has consistently denied.

Despite interventions from international bodies like the United Nations, the fights persist. Millions have lost their lives, and several others have been displaced, having been forced to flee the conflict between M23 rebels and DR Congo government forces.

According to an expert in African-American history, Karim Wafa Al-Hussaini, the attempts to engage political actors from both factions involved in the fight in dialogue towards a possible resolution of the crisis is not enough of a measure.

He highlights the importance of deliberations involving the citizens of Congo who are being impacted by the conflicts for their voices to be heard, a move he says will contribute to peace in the country.

 “The most important thing is to involve the Congolese people themselves. One of the biggest issues is that you have a lot of people who come and they try to resolve the issue from outside but they completely ignore the people who are from the region and they completely ignore for example the indigenous people of Eastern Congo, and Kivu, they are the people suffering the most. So you have all these rebel factions such as the M23 and you have other smaller different rebel groups are also taking control of these different areas and are fighting with the government forces. I do not believe that there will be peace if the citizens are not involved in the discussion,” he told GSW’s Wonder Hagan.

“It’s very easy for different political actors to come to the table to discuss and even hopefully put their interests aside to promote peace. But if the people are not involved in the conversation because they are the ones directly being impacted, I do think that it’ll be very difficult to establish peace if the voices of the place are not heard.

Karim further noted that it will take the concerted efforts of Congo’s leaders, regional actors, and international bodies to end the conflict in the East African country.

“When leaders represent a country, they do not only represent a capital or a region, they represent the entirety of the nation. So I think it needs to come from all the actors and not just one in particular, so you’ll have the political leaders of the DRC, but you’ll also have the regional actors (Uganda, Burundi, etc) and then you’ll have the international and obviously putting the citizens at the center of the table of discussion,” he added.

Meanwhile, the UN has imposed an arms embargo, travel ban, and asset freeze against six rebel leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid violence in the country's east.

The military spokesman of the M23 rebel group, a general in the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), and two senior leaders in the Ugandan armed group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have all been sanctioned.

Leader of the National Coalition of the People for the Sovereignty of Congo (CNPSC), a Mai-Mai group, and a commander in the armed group Twirwaneho have also been sanctioned.