Restoring Peace to the Forest
An Enyele man and a Munzaya man embrace after long separation.
Two years ago thousands of residents fled DRC’s Equateur province to neighboring Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. They were fleeing violence that has cost hundreds their lives, razed villages and displaced over 130,000 people. Most of those fleeing were from the Munzaya community who live in the deep equatorial forest of DRC’s northwest. The Munzaya had previously lived in relative harmony with their neighbors, the Enyele until a dispute over fishing and farming rights and access escalated into a brutal conflict. The first clashes happened when more than 200 Munzaya homes were burned. After that violence quickly spread from village to village.
With funding and support from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), SFCG has been involved in a peace process for the past year, opening a regional office in nearby Dongo. In addition to media outreach activities, SFCG created a series of conflict resolution and mediation trainings for members of civil society and local leaders, which lead to the creation of local reconciliation committees. We also organized dozens of participatory theater performances to foster dialogue, sensitize military members and catalyze joint activities between the military and civilians.
Despite these activities, the heart of the conflict remained untouched. Both communities live in a remote part of DRC’s equatorial forest that is not accessible by road or helicopter. Dongo is the largest town in the area, and from there it’s a two-three hour motorcycle ride to, followed by a ten hour walk through the forest to Munzaya. Certainly not a trek for the faint of heart. The remoteness made the Munzaya area nearly unreachable for humanitarian missions and many in the area felt and were excluded from aid and support that reached nearby areas.
A SFCG participatory theater performance in Bokonzi: “Your theatre plays are moving and I believe that they will help us to change,” said a member of the audience.
A SFCG assessment mission allowed us to both evaluate the situation and to calculate accurate coordinates which made it possible for MONUSCO helicopters to land in February of this year. It was the first interagency mission to Munzaya in two years.
“The Munzayas finally felt that they had not been forgotten,” says Rigobert Luhinzo, SFCG Mediate and Conflict Transformation Instructor. “But this did not mean they were ready to reconcile with the Enyele. There was complete mistrust.”
“The fear and mistrust had to be confronted,” explains Lena Slachmuijlder, SFCG DRC Country Director. “The communities needed a process where everyone felt that they were being heard in safety, and were taking part in creating a better future.”
Enyele folk dancers at the reconciliation festival.
To that end, SFCG organized a traditional reconciliation ceremony in the heart of the forest that brought together an estimated 3,500 people from Enyele, Munzaya and neighboring villages. The historic, three-day festival began on March 31st, the second anniversary of the outbreak of violence. The event included sermons, folk dancing and community activities to renew the fraternal spirit that characterized inter-communal relations in the past. Leaders from the joint Munzaya and Enyele reconciliation committees reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace by signing a non-aggression pact.
SFCG will continue working with both communities, and will launch a new community radio station in the coming months that will provide the first radio coverage in the area. We are also facilitating discussions with local and provincial authorities to resolve the underlying issue of fishing and farming rights.
“This initiative is a historic act,” said the Head of the Dongo Sector. “I am convinced that from this day forward, with the signing of this non-aggression pact, the Munzaya and the Enyele, thanks to SFCG, will follow the path of lasting peace and reconciliation.”
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