My beautiful homeland of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is full of cultural and natural riches. Yet, because powerful groups inside and outside DRC compete for our rich mineral resources, it pains me to say that DRC is also a place of great violence and displacement.
Last December in South Kivu Province in eastern DRC, different armed groups named the Wazalendo left their hidden location and moved, weapons loaded, into the town of Bunyakiri. Tension quickly broke out with civilians, police and the Congolese army.
The Wazalendo killed two people. After more violence, an outraged motorcycle taxi driver killed a member of the Wazalendo. When the conflict boiled over in the surrounding community, the Wazalendo prepared to fight another armed group.
Fearing the kind of large-scale massacre which has happened too often in eastern DRC, leaders of the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping force, MONUSCO, acted quickly. Working with the provincial government, they organized a mediation team to address the crisis. The team was made up of Congolese pastors, leaders of nongovernmental organizations, lawyers, traditional leaders, government officials and two MONUSCO staff.
I live in nearby Burundi, where I serve as representative for Mennonite Central Committee (MCC). MONUSCO became aware of my previous mediation work, including in DRC, and invited me to join the team. To my surprise, I was asked to serve as chief mediator.
My experience and expertise with peacebuilding started with MCC training and continued as I earned my master’s and doctoral degrees. Also, I grew up in DRC during war, so I understand the culture, the context and the languages. (Read more about Juma’s life story at mcc.org/our-stories/displaced-war-working-peace.)
In late January, I arrived in Bunyakiri by UN helicopter due to roads being highly insecure. I was briefed, and we planned the mediation process to take place there. When we began, I was astonished to see 200 people gathered and all the divided parties present in the room—Congolese army commanders, the police, traditional village chiefs, pastors and the leaders of five armed groups, including from the largest and most feared. MONUSCO had done its homework and legwork.
To begin the two-day dialogue and negotiation process, I led a quick training on conflict resolution, covering topics of listening, patience, techniques to deepen the understanding of a conflict and ways of seeking positive solutions.
Not long after we started the negotiations, I could feel the tension rise in the room when we learned another civilian was killed in a nearby village by an armed group. Throughout that day and the next, we could hear weapons firing. Even the meeting place was full of guns, carried by armed groups to ensure the security of their leaders, MONUSCO and the army.
We gave everyone a chance to express their views and frustration not only about this conflict but their living conditions. They could share their stories and their pains and hopes, even the leaders of the feared armed groups.
I also used my sense of humor to ease the tension and make participants laugh. I believe this helped to create some sense of community and desire to stay in the room.
But a turning point came when disgruntled leaders from two armed groups suddenly stood up and walked out of the meetings. I walked toward them and pleaded with them to return to the hall. Thankfully, they agreed. I believe they felt listened to and had developed trust in the mediation team.
On the second day, smaller meetings with the divided groups addressed specific issues and concerns. During the break times, I spoke privately with key leaders, and I could see this increase their trust in the process.
As our mediation team entered the room for the final plenary session, we had no idea how the meetings would end. On their behalf, I presented key issues, causes and proposed solutions. The negotiations that followed were difficult and there were sharp disagreements.
But finally, after some amendments to the proposed solutions, all participants agreed on key points. They included banning combatants carrying weapons in the local villages, doing away with illegal check points and increased road taxes and ending illegal detention centers run by all groups, including armed groups, police and the army.
At the end of the meeting, a leader of an armed group whispered to me, “If this agreement is not made public through radio, armed groups will ignore it.” His wise words led to an immediate broadcast of the agreement through local radio to the surrounding communities.
A monitoring team of both men and women was set up to ensure the implementation of the resolutions. Five months later, there has been no massacre, no further violence.
As a Christian, I believe that God makes a way where there seems to be no way. This is what gave me hope, strength and courage to mediate this very complex conflict.
By Mulanda Jimmy Juma, MCC representative for Burundi and Rwanda, and previous MCC representative in DRC and Angola. Juma also was the former coordinator of the African Peacebuilding Institute. He lectures widely on peacebuilding and is author of the 2023 book L’eau du lac était rouge: Un bâtisseur de paix Congolais au cœur des guerres (The Water of the Lake Was Red: A Congolese Peacebuilder in the Heart of Wars).
Mennonite Central Committee is a global, nonprofit organization that strives to share God’s love and compassion for all through relief, development and peace. MCC is committed to relationships with their local partners and churches. As an Anabaptist organization, they strive to make peace a part of everything they do.
