Rodrigue Rukumbuzi

Rodrigue Rukumbuzi

Meet Rodrigue Rukumbuzi.  Rodrigue is an animateur/inqueteur for Arche d’Alliance.  He works around the town of Bijombo, deep in the Haut Plateau.  A trip from Uvira to Bijombo takes two days, and half of the journey must be taken on foot, since after a certain point there are no roads suitable for vehicles.  I was able to interview Rodrigue at Arche’s offices, the day before he was to leave for an extended field visit to Bijombo.

I asked Rodrigue on how Arche works on mediation between members of different ethnic and tribal groups.  Rodrigue is a member of the Banyamulenge ethnic group.  In Bijombo, the majority of people are Banyamulenge, but there are also large groups of Bafulero [sin. Mufulero], Babembe, Bahungu, and Pygmies.  Each ethnic group has its own language and a history of problems with other ethnic groups.  Ethnic differences have often been the catalyst of violence and instability in this region, especially since cultural and ethnic territories flow across the national boundaries set by colonial powers so many years ago.

Rodrigue’s work primarily consists of educating people on the importance of living at peace with your neighbors, regardless of ethnicity, language, or tribal affiliation.

“There are Banyamulenge who do not understand the Bafulero,” he says, “so there are often problems.  Thus, we educate the people on peaceful cohabitation and peaceful conflict resolution.”

Arche d’Alliance’s sends out “integrated” teams to places like Bujimbo, so a Banyamulenge like Rodrigue will work on peaceful conflict resolution with members of his ethnic group, whereas his Bafulero colleagues will work with the Bafulero, etc.

“During the Rwandan invasion, a lot of Bafulero fled Bijombo into the forest, towards Kamitunga,” says Rodrigue, “So some of the Banyamulenge stole the cows, goats, and land that they left behind.  Consequently, repatriating Bafulero have had difficulties getting their property back.”

“In addition,” he continues, “The Mai Mai attacked some Banyamulenge villages and stole their cows.  Now, when a Mufulero meets a Banyamulenge, they will both accuse the other of stealing their cows.”

Rodrigue believes that in order to stop ethnic conflict, everyone needs to set aside their differences and recognize the benefits of peaceful cohabitation.

“We should all live together peacefully,” he says, “Since after all, we are all human beings, we are all Congolese, we live in the Congo, we are under the same constitution, we must all respect each other.”

Rodrigue and his colleagues in the Haut Plateau are working to form a CMC (Comité de Médiation et Conciliation) in Bijombo.  Since the CMC will have balanced representation from each ethnic group, it will hopefully provide a means of alternative conflict resolution in an area where violence is often the rule rather than the exception to resolving conflicts.

“In the Haut Plateau, everyone has a gun in his home,” says Rodrigue, “So if they hear of trouble, the Banyamulenge and the Bafulero immediately get their guns out and start shooting each other.”

Obviously, working in the Haut Plateau is dangerous, especially since those who profit from the instability will not hesitate to use violence to maintain the status quo.  One wishes safe passage for Rodrigue and his colleagues as they attempt to bring peace to a region rife with violence.

FARDC soldiers guard the "jail" of Luvungi

FARDC soldiers guard the "jail" of Luvungi

After visiting the FARDC prison in Luvungi, I interviewed Arche inqueteur Juvernal Twaibu on what he had observed in the Luvungi jail and elsewhere.  Juvernal said that the jail in Luvungi was in “flagrant violation of its prisoners’ rights”.  Sanitation was bad, the prisoners had a very hard time getting food, wounded prisoners were refused medical treatment, and it was often hard for humanitarian workers to gain access to the prisoners.  Indeed, the visit we just had was the exception rather than the rule.

Juvernal continued enumerating the ways in which the FARDC violated the rights of their prisoners.

“The prisoners are subjected to cruel and inhumane treatment,” he said, “There are international conventions that forbid torture of prisoners, but our army still tortures.”

Juvernal also told me of cases where the wives of imprisoned FDLR came to where their spouses were being held, only to be forced into relationships with the men who were guarding their husbands.

Does monitoring help the situation at all?  Juvernal seems to think so.

“There is a positive impact, despite the problems,” said Juvernal, “because often we arrive at the prison, we advocate on behalf of the wrongly imprisoned, and then people are liberated.”

I asked Juvernal about general human rights situation in the area.  The stories he told me were rather disheartening.

Juvernal told me that while sexual violations committed by the FARDC are not as bad as in other parts of Eastern Congo, there are still many problems concerning soldiers who marry minors, which is now against the law in Congo.  Juvernal also said that there are FARDC soldiers stationed on the Ngomo road to Bukavu who collaborate with bandits; they look the other way while the bandits waylay travelers in exchange for a cut of the plunder.

In Buhembe, FARDC soldiers came into the village in the middle of the night and set five houses on fire, with the occupants inside.  Fortunately, everyone was able to escape in time, but now these people are without homes.  The soldiers had burned the homes because they claimed the villagers of Buhembe were FDLR sympathizers who had given assistance to the rebels.  However, it can’t really be called “giving” out of “sympathy” when the FDLR are holding guns to your head.

Ten days ago, Juvernal told me, the 33^rd Brigade of the FARDC attacked a group of FDLR in the village of Kigushuwe.  Both FDLR and civilians fled the village into a nearby valley.  After a while, the FDLR sent a messenger to the commander of the 33^rd, telling him they wanted to lay down their arms and surrender.  Instead of accepting the offer to surrender, the FARDC commander began shelling the valley with mortars and killed over 60 people, many civilians included.  The commander shrugged off the civilian deaths, saying that if the civilians were in the same valley as the FDLR, they weren’t “real” Congolese.  After concluding this grisly tale, Juvernal shook his head.

“Our soldiers are not professionals,” he sighed.

The FARDC "jail" in Luvungi

The FARDC "jail" in Luvungi

Kimya-2 continues to burn up the Congolese countryside along the Haut Plateau, and lots of civilians are caught in the middle of the crossfire.  Thus, Arche d’Alliance is performing monitoring work in the war zone.  This includes following the IDP situation, inspecting jails to ensure humane treatment of prisoners, advocating for civilians who have been wrongly imprisoned, and documenting human rights violations committed by the combatants.  The information that Arche collects in the field is used by UNHCR and a host of other NGOs to assist in humanitarian efforts and to address violations of human rights.

On July 30^th I went with a team from Arche to follow the monitoring activities of inqueteurs in Luvungi and Songe.  These two towns are not too far from the front lines; soldiers in steel helmets are everywhere, and the streets are still thick with IDPs.  In Luvungi, I accompanied Arche inqueteurs Juvernal Twaibu and Camille Chekanabo as they monitored the situation of FDLR and civilian prisoners at the FARDC military post.

Since the FDLR is a Rwandan rebel group, Rwandan civilians who are caught in the zone of combat are often thrown in jail by the FARDC for simply being Rwandan.  A large part of Juvernal’s monitoring work is making sure that local FARDC commanders release civilians who have been unjustly imprisoned.  One of the goals of our visit ensure the release of a Rwandan man who, despite having lived in Congo since before 1994, had been arrested by the FARDC on the suspicion of collaborating with the FDLR.

When we arrived at the FARDC post of Luvungi, Juvernal immediately asked the commander why the Rwandan non-combatant in his charge had not been released.  The commander waved his arms in the air and insisted that the man had been released that morning.  The commander then agreed to answer some questions, but not on camera.

The commander, Michel Nguale, was the SD Chief of the 8^th Brigade.  He told me that the primary objective of the FARDC was to protect the civilian population and secure the frontier.  He claimed that instances of rape were rare, and that when they occurred, both the offending soldier and his commanding officer were severely punished.

I then asked Commander Nguale if I could see the cell where he kept his prisoners.  He acquiesced, and even allowed me to take pictures, but unfortunately allowed no Flip videos.   The “cell” was in a mud-brick house that was somewhere between ruined and falling apart.  There were 7 prisoners in a space that couldn’t have been bigger than 2×2 meters.  Juvernal told me that 6 of the men had been identified as FDLR, but one was just another Rwandan civilian that had the misfortune of being caught in the combat zone.  The cell was secured by pushing a bench against the door, and tin roofing had been nailed to all the windows.  There were two soldiers with AKs milling around.  Commander Nguale told me that when the prisoners needed to relieve themselves, the guard would escort them out of the cell to a latrine.  Juvernal asked the prisoners their names and how long they had been there; they said four days.  The entire time Commander Nguale decried the poor condition of the cell, but insisted that he “did not have the means” to make improvements.

6 FDLR and 1 civilian in the jail in Luvungi

6 FDLR and 1 civilian in the jail in Luvungi

What will happen to the FDLR prisoners?  They will be taken to the Rwandan frontier at Bukavu, where they will have the choice of either integrating into the Rwandan military or demobilizing and going back to civilian life in Rwanda.  This is done by MONUC’s DDR (Désarmement, Démobilisation, et Répatriation) program.  Part of Juvernal’s monitoring work is to ensure that the FDLR prisoners are moved out of their squalid jail and into the DDR program in a quick and orderly fashion.

Later, Juvernal told me that a lot of what the commander said was bongo kabisa, i.e., a large load of horse manure.  In Part II, Juvernal will give a more accurate picture of the human rights situation around the Haut Plateau.

Iledephonse Masumbuko Sangolo teaches a seminar on women's rights at the Makobola Noyaux de Paix

Iledephonse Masumbuko Sangolo teaches a seminar on women's rights at the Makobola Noyaux de Paix

Meet Ildephonse Masumbuko Sangolo.  Mr. Sangolo is the field supervisor for Arche d’Alliance, an NGO based in Uvira that focuses on human rights and building civil society in Eastern Congo.  It is Sangolo’s job to supervise the inqueteurs, or field monitors, in monitoring the human rights situation in remote parts of Uvira and Fizi.  The UN Human Rights Commission is unable to field the staff necessary to monitor the human rights situation of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), repatriating refugees from abroad, and the general civilian population in South Kivu.  Thus, they have formed a partnership with the experienced staff of Arche to go out in the field and report back on the state of human rights.

Sangolo is also is in charge of the Comite de Mediation et Conciliation (CMC) and Noyaux de la Paix (NDLP) projects.

“We promote the respect of human rights to the local authorities,” says Sangolo, “but we also educate the general population on aspects of Congolese law so that they will be able to defend themselves.”

I asked Sangolo why human rights are being violated so massively in the Congo.

“First,” he said, “We have this war that will not end.  Secondly, the state is nearly nonexistent.”

Sangolo explained that since the justice system and those tasked with enforcing it are not paid enough by the Congolese government, people with guns, money, and influence are able to get away with breaking the law and violating basic human rights.  As long as they can pay off the magistrates and police, they can literally get away with murder.

“There are certain judges who do not accept corruption,” says Sangolo, “but there are others to whom money is more important than all else.  For these people who perpetuate corruption, they must be brought to justice.”

Arche has diligently worked in the Congolese justice system, representing those whose human rights have been violated.  Sangolo cited several examples where Arche intervened on behalf of people who would otherwise be ignored: a man whose land was given away by government officials who were either corrupt or inept, a 13 year old girl who was raped, and a woman who was raped by soldiers.  In all these cases, justice was served thanks to Arche’s reporting and advocacy work.

I asked Sangolo about the situation of women’s rights in the Congo.  He told me that women’s rights are being massively violated due to a combination of repressive local traditions and Congolese laws that are unfavorable towards women.  Girls are not sent to school, or even if they are, they are expected to pay their own school fees.  Husbands will tell their wives how to vote, and if a woman expresses herself in a public forum, she may face divorce or even severe physical violence.  Women are often denied the right to inheritance.

“However, this is changing due to new laws that are being written,” says Sangolo, “which will strengthen the rights of women, starting with young girls.  Right now it is a problem of application of these new laws.”

Sangolo explained that since the justice system is still weak, Arche’s work in educating the population on women’s rights is very important, and thus far the feedback has been positive.

“There are now women who can express themselves freely, without fear of retaliation,” he says, “And they are forming associations themselves to defend the rights of other women.  These are the reactions we want: women expressing themselves, women voting their conscience, and women gaining the right to inheritance.”

What does Sangolo want to see in the future for the Congo?

“I want to see a Congo where people can express themselves freely, and without violence,” he says, “For a long time it has been that the only way someone can express themselves is by taking up a gun.  When a man can simply say something to the authorities and they will listen to him; that is what I want in a new Congo.”

During our visit to Lubarika, the inqueteurs of Arche d’Alliance interviewed several refugees.  Among them were two village women; we will call them Rehema and Furaha.

Rehema

Rehema

Rehema’s household consists of two adult men, three adult women, and numerous children.  When Rehema’s family started hearing gunshots in their village of Buhembe, they decided to move the women and children to the relative safety of Lubarika.  The men in her family went to Uvira to find work.  Rehema says that they survive on food the neighbors give them.  Rehema has been a refugee numerous times, ever since the war started in the mid-90s.

Furaha

Furaha

Furaha is from the village of Kaziba.  She has nine children, and this is her first time being a refugee.  Fortunately, her husband has found work in a manioc field in Lubarika, so they are able to eat.

These women will return to their home villages when they hear that the security situation is safer.  However, the cycle may start over again at any moment.  Constant internal displacement is hard on the local economy, limits food production, and puts stress on public health resources.  In addition, sexual violence is used as a weapon against the civilian population by both sides of the conflict.

Posters on the wall of the clinic in Lubarika

Posters on the wall of the clinic in Lubarika

Since 1994, the Congo has had to deal with pillaging invaders from Museveni’s Uganda, Kagame’s Rwanda, and Burundi; rebel groups that use the chaos to despoil the civilian population; and a weak Congolese government that has done little to protect its citizens.  In the broader global community, the response to the Congolese crisis has been lost in realpolitik and manipulated by regional players.   The constant internal displacement caused by armed conflict has contributed to millions of deaths in Eastern Congo since 1994; it is estimated that only a fraction of the approximately 5.4 million deaths caused by the war were from bullets or machetes, the grand majority instead were caused by disease and starvation.

One hopes that there will be a quick response to help the community of Lubarika and its population of IDPs.  However, if the security situation further deteriorates, everyone in Lubarika may have to flee to the town of Luvungi.  This, of course, would exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in the region.  Time will tell.

The Arche d'Alliance team in Lubarika

The Arche d'Alliance team in Lubarika

For a little over a week now the FDLR has been on the offensive across Uvira territory.  The first incident we heard about in Uvira town was an attack on a village called Lumera, about an hour drive north.

The FDLR (Forces Démocratiques de Libération du Rwanda) is a Hutu rebel group made up of remnants of the old Interhamwe that ignited the infamous 1994 genocide in Rwanda.  Few of the FDLR are actually genocidaires from ’94, but now, decimated in numbers, lacking resources, and in exile, they ravage the civilian population of the Congo.  Since the FARDC (the Congolese military) and the Mai Mai (the Eastern Congolese militia) are preoccupied with shooting each other and not with protecting civilians, the FDLR still control quite a bit of territory in remote areas of North and South Kivu.  For more information on why the FDLR is in the Congo, please refer to my esteemed colleague Ned Meerdink’s AP blog and Gerard Prunier’s excellent book, Africa‘s World War.

A list of registered IDPs in Lubarika; with this information Arche d'Alliance will write a report on the humanitarian crisis in the area

A list of registered IDPs in Lubarika; with this information Arche d'Alliance will write a report on the humanitarian crisis in the area

Since the FDLR has started burning villages again, people in northern Uvira territory have been fleeing their homes.  Those who can afford it roll up their mattresses and take a truck to the relative security of Uvira town.  However, UNHCR and other NGOs are also concerned with the situation of villages closer to Lumera, where refugees are streaming in and burdening the area’s already-fragile subsistence state.  Enter Arche d’Alliance; Arche’s inqueteurs collect information from these villages: refugee counts, security-related incidents, violations of human rights by combatants on both sides, and issues involving food security and public health.  The information they collect is published in a report that is made available to the Congolese government and the NGO community in order to facilitate quick cooperative action to help alleviate internal population displacement.

Lubarika

Lubarika

In Part II, we will travel with an Arche team to Lubarika, a village that is on the periphery of the current conflicted area, and therefore inundated with refugees.

Zawadi

Zawadi

When I visited the Luvungi CMC, I had the opportunity to observe the proceedings of a case brought before the local mediation group.  The details of the case highlight some of the problems facing marginalized peoples in Eastern Congo.

A young widow brought the dispute in question to the CMC; we will call her Zawadi.  Zawadi’s family had fled Rwanda in 1994 following the genocide, and at age 19 she had been given in marriage as the second wife to a much older man.  Now, she is 30 and has two children.  However, when her husband died recently, the two sons of her husband by his first wife did not give her enough land to support herself and her two children.  The two brothers maintained that she did not deserve any more land than what she was given, since she was both a second wife and a Rwandan refugee.

Statements had been taken from both parties by the CMC, and the day of my visit both Zawadi and one of the brothers were called before the CMC.  The CMC asked both individuals many questions about exactly how much land was given to the young widow.  Zawadi’s voice trembled a little as she described how her and her children were chased from their home by her husband’s family.  After many questions, the committee collectively shook their heads; the two brothers had indeed given Zawadi very little land to grow enough food for herself and her children.  The CMC told the first wife’s son that he was in the wrong, especially since he did not consider the potential fate of Zawadi’s children.

Zawadi has her case read out before the Luvungi CMC

Zawadi has her case read out before the Luvungi CMC

This case demonstrates just some of the difficulties that marginalized peoples face in Eastern Congo.  As a refugee, a woman, an ethnic minority, and a second wife, Zawadi faces many obstacles in Congolese culture and society.  It would be all too acceptable for her dead husband’s sons to run her off the family property, and she does not have the means to go to Uvira and file a case in court.  The CMC and Arche d’Alliance provide a medium for women like Zawadi to channel their grievances and receive justice before the community.  In addition, since the CMC is made up of important community figures trained in civil rights, it is more likely that the other party will listen to their decision and give Zawadi and her children the means to survive with dignity.

Members of the Luvungi CMC

Members of the Luvungi CMC

As many refugees stream back to their home territories in Congo since the (tentative) end of major hostilities, there is a great need for legal structures that will help returning families re-integrate and repatriate.  Since the judicial system is slow and overburdened, it is very difficult for repatriating refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) to find legal assistance.

Thus, in order to combat these problems facing marginalized peoples in the rural milieu, Arche d’Alliance has created Comités de Médiation et Conciliation, or CMCs, in 24 different towns across the territories of Uvira and Fizi.  The CMC, a committee of ten, consists of local municipal leaders, representatives from women’s groups, a representative from the FARDC, a representative from the police, and other notable community and tribal leaders.  The CMC functions as an alternative resolution center for minor disputes involving property, harvests, debts, inheritances, and domestic quarrels.  An individual can bring their grievance to the CMC, which then investigates the matter from both sides and renders a non-binding, reasoned decision that it asks both parties to follow.  If one or both of the parties refuses to follow the decision, the CMC will pass the case off to Arche d’Alliance to be heard in court in Uvira.  An important aspect of a CMC’s decision is that it follows the letter of the law, since Arche d’Alliance trains the CMC on Congolese law and the rights guaranteed marginalized peoples (such as repatriating refugees and women) by the Congolese Constitution.

In addition, the CMC acts as an information distribution center; the CMC will help provide citizens of the community with information on public health, security, the constitution, and, if they are refugees, how they can go about reclaiming their land and reintegrate.

This past week I had the opportunity to visit the CMC in Luvungi, a small town about 40 minutes drive from Uvira, near the border with Rwanda.  I was visiting with Jean Mushaho and Martin Masumbuko, two Arche inqueteurs who make weekly visits to Luvungi.  The CMC in Luvungi is managed by Givernal Twaibu, a locally-based Arche d’Alliance inqueteur.  Givernal and the Luvungi CMC explained to me that they have heard 80 cases since the beginning of the year.  They also told me that nine times out of ten parties agree to the decision of the CMC; people in Congo are not opposed to well-reasoned conflict resolution, it is just that structures that facilitate such resolutions have long been absent.

Since the CMC is required to have several woman representatives, there is balance and justice for women.

“Respecting women’s rights is very important,” said Luvungi CMC member Nestorine Seremba, a nurse at a local dispensaire, “In Congo, the woman is the center of the family.”

One crucial service that Arche provides to returning refugees is assisting them in obtaining birth certificates for their children that were born abroad, in refugee camps in Tanzania, Burundi, and Zambia.  Acquiring proper documentation is necessary if repatriating refugees want to send their children to school or make sure their children inherit their property someday.  Using the CMC as a local base, Arche helps refugees gain birth certificates for their children.  Arche will visit a CMC once a week, collect the necessary information, file for the documents in Uvira, and then bring them to the CMC once they are completed.

A repatriating refugee (left) signs for documents for his children

A repatriating refugee (left) signs for documents for his children

The day I was in Luvungi, a group of villagers from Katubota, a small village 10 km away, came to collect birth certificates for their children. Jean Mashaho explained to me that it would be very difficult for these villagers to get birth certificates without assistance from Arche.  Normally, obtaining a birth certificate would require a trip to Uvira, filling out lots of forms, paying lots of fees, and waiting around for the notoriously slow Congolese bureaucracy.

Birth certificates for children born in refugee camps

Birth certificates for children born in refugee camps

In something as small and simple as helping refugees get documents for their children, Arche is helping re-weave civil society in Eastern Congo.  This goes a long way in preventing conflict in the long run.

The CMC in Luvungi has been around since 2006, and its services attract people from villages as far as 30 km away.  In creating CMCs across South Kivu, Arche d’Alliance has laid down the foundations for justice and peaceful conflict transformation in a region that is desperately trying to escape chaos.  Even though Eastern Congo can sometimes feel like the Wild Wild West, the CMC is like the Lone Ranger, an example of justice and peace that everyone can follow and admire.

Secretary and one of the woman representatives of the Luvungi CMC

Secretary and one of the woman representatives of the Luvungi CMC

Congolese posters in French and Swahili demanding for an end to corruption

Congolese posters in French and Swahili demanding for an end to corruption

Tous les gens sont terrorizés

(All the people are terrorized)

This is what the reggae singer is screaming through Radio France International. I am writing this as my neighbors and I settle in for the night. You are not supposed to go out at night; you should not go to the bar. If you go to the bar in town, there will be soldiers there. Soldiers usually mean trouble. Back in the days of Mobutu, the soldiers complained to their supreme leader that they were not being paid for their service. Mobutu replied that their gun was their salary, their wife, their mother, their means for feeding themselves and taking whatever they wanted from the civilian population. Although Mobutu is gone, his statement is echoed in the actions of every armed faction running around Eastern Congo. Just about everyone you meet has been affected, everyone has a relative who has died in a massacre, at the hands of bandits, or from starvation or illness directly caused by the displacement of war.

This past week, an officer from the DGM (the Congolese immigration bureau) has been storming around Uvira with a policeman, looking to arrest me because I had failed to grease his palm. As I wrote about earlier, I was already forced to pay off the ANR to get my passport back, and I had registered legally with the DGM when I crossed the border. So, now I was forced to play cat-and-mouse because some fat bureaucrat wanted his beer money from the mzungu. I decided to go to the DGM and face the music, but thankfully Arche d’Alliance sent someone from their legal team with me. I was not arrested, but I had to fill out some more forms and pay a “paperwork” fee of $40. However, there is no future guarantee of protection, and the DGM might come after me again for more money. There is zero accountability, and the government in Kinshasa is deeply corrupt, so local officials feel they have a carte blanche to make up the rules to line their pockets. However, one must remember that no matter how bad things get for me, it is still a lot worse for the ordinary Congolese citizen. This is why the work of organizations such as Arche d’Alliance is so important.

If you are trying to rebuild civil society in Eastern Congo, you are indeed a brave individual. Creating a world of law, order, and harmony in an environment filled with bloodshed and corruption is indeed a daunting task. I greatly admire these people that are trying to move the mountain, one pebble at a time.