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Democratic Republic of the Congo

Context

After two years of uncertainty, the Democratic Republic of the Congo finally organized elections in December 2018 that were won by opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi. Despite irregularities in the election process, Tshisekedi’s inauguration in January 2019 marked the first peaceful transfer of power in the DRC’s history and gives some hope for change and national reconciliation. Meanwhile, the elections overshadowed the second biggest Ebola outbreak in recorded human history, centered in the eastern provinces of North Kivu and Ituri. Beginning in August 2018, the outbreak has caused an estimated 1756 deaths as of July 2019, according to WHO. Interpeace’s work in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been incremental since 2013, when the organization launched a cross border dialogue programme to help rebuild trust and deconstruct identity-based stereotypes among frontier communities in the eastern DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.

Goal


Our strategy in the DRC is to harness research, dialogue and collective action to help build trust between communities in conflict, as well as between communities, the authorities, the private sector and the international community. We aim to strengthen the capacities of key actors in effective prevention, management and transformation of conflicts to enable them to promote sustainable peace.

 

Initiatives

Together for Beni

In July 2018, Interpeace entered a consortium named Ensemble pour Beni (“Together for Beni”) with four other organizations, to work together in the Beni Territory of North Kivu province. Beni has experienced deadly violent conflicts perpetrated by different local and foreigner armed groups. Beni is also one of the epicenters of the 2018 Ebola outbreak in the DRC, and the intermittent violence ...
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Strengthening trust between the population and Ebola response team

In the Beni and Butembo Territories of North Kivu, Interpeace launched a project to help restore trust between Ebola response workers and members of the community. Beni and Butembo have borne the brunt of the DRC’s ongoing Ebola epidemic, and response teams coordinated by the national authorities and the World Health Organization (WHO) have experienced mistrust from the local communities, underm...
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Restoring trust in the Kasai region

In the Kasai region, Interpeace has launched a programme to help restore trust between the national authorities and customary power. The conflict in Kasai is a contention between customary power and the authorities. This makes it considerably different from other conflicts in the DRC, many of which gravitate around the confluence of power, identity and resources. The Kasai programme was initiated ...
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Resources

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Projet de dialogue, médiation et réconciliation entre les communautés, les autorités et les forces de sécurité

video

June 4, 2021

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Discussion paper for peace education in the Great Lakes Region

Publication

February 14, 2017

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Dialogue transfrontalier pour la paix dans la région des Grands Lacs

Publication

March 31, 2015

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Terre, identité, pouvoir et mouvements de population dans la région des Grands Lacs – Forum des parties prenantes régionales

Publication

February 8, 2016

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Forum Régional de Kinshasa

video

January 13, 2016

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La paix par le dialogue et l’education – credo commun à 7 organisations dans la région des Grands Lacs

Publication

December 15, 2015

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Ces terres des autres qui sont à nous

Publication

November 20, 2015

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Les organisations de la Société Civile du Burundi, de la RDC et du Rwanda engagées ensemble pour la paix

Publication

December 11, 2015

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La voix des Grands Lacs: La manipulation identitaire

video

April 28, 2015