How the UN worked with Congolese pastors, NGO leaders, politicians, and MCC to avert a massacre

My beautiful homeland of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is full of cultural and natural riches.  

But 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.  

Due to this, an armed United Nations peacekeeping mission known as MONUSCO (a French acronym for United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission) has been present in the country for a quarter of a century.  With “peacekeeping” understood by the UN as an aim of protecting civilians and helping stabilize the country, MONUSCO’s results have been mixed and its presence controversial for Congolese people.  

But in January 2024, working alongside MONUSCO as a Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) peace mediator during a time of violent crisis, I participated in a story of hope and saw how the UN can make a positive contribution by moving its efforts in DRC from peacekeeping to peacebuilding.  

The crisis began last December in South Kivu province in eastern DRC when different armed groups named the Wazalendo left their hidden location and moved, weapons loaded, into Bunyakiri local communities. Tension quickly broke out with civilians, police, and the Congolese army. The Wazalendo killed two people and horribly, to sow more terror, ate one of the victims. 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. Local leaders were enraged to see their traditional values undermined by the eating of a person.  

Fearing the kind of large-scale massacre which has happened too often in eastern DRC, to their credit, MONUSCO leaders acted quickly. Working with the provincial government, they organized a mediation team to address the crisis, made up of Congolese pastors, NGO leaders, lawyers, traditional leaders, government officials, and two UN staff from MONUSCO. 

Living in nearby Burundi where I serve as country representative for Mennonite Central Committee, MONUSCO became aware of my previous mediation work, including in DRC. I was invited to join the team and, to my surprise, asked to serve as chief mediator.  

In late January, arriving in the town of 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.  

But 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 the day, and the next, we could hear weapons firing. Even the meeting place was full of guns carried both by armed groups ensuring the security of their leaders as well as MONUSCO and army. 

To ease tension, from time to time I tried many tactics to make participants laugh. I believe this helped to create some kind 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.  

During the earlier training, we had given them space to express their views and frustration not only about this conflict but their living conditions. Thankfully, they agreed to return to the meeting. 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, including banning combatants carrying weapons in the local villages, doing away with illegal check points, ending illegal detentions of both combatants and armed groups, and ending increased road taxes. A monitoring team of both men and women was set up to ensure the implementation of the resolutions. 

I’ve had my doubts about the UN’s presence in DRC. But I saw the good the UN can do when they shift resources from peacekeeping to peacebuilding. I saw how even a small investment in a gathering can go very far. And I saw how the UN can support the gifts of local actors in peacebuilding. Church leaders and non-governmental organizations who live close to reality are more trusted by local people. I saw the UN set aside its own power to empower those leaders to resolve a conflict which could have ended in death and destruction. Local leaders told me, “No one else could have successfully resolved that conflict, and ended the violence.” Those community leaders are crying out for resources to pursue similar peace efforts. 

Five months later, there has been no massacre, no further violence. I think of the end of the meeting, when 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.  

Over those days, we gave everyone a chance to share their story and their pains and hopes, even the leaders of the feared armed groups. Spaces like the one MONUSCO created, because they did it well, can bring out the best in people, and reveal the deep human longing for peace. 

Dr. Mulanda Jimmy Juma is MCC Country Representative for Burundi, and previously served as Country Representative in DRC and Angola. Mulanda is 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).