The peace caravan continues its tour in the battered east of the DRC
Main street in Kalemie, in Tanganyika province, DRC, March 25, 2016. RFI / Sonia Rolley
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Last straight line of the peace caravan led for a week in the tormented provinces of the east of the country by a delegation of national deputies and the Congolese Minister of Defense.
Yesterday, the delegation arrived in Kalemie in Tanganyika province where clashes between Pygmy militias and Lubas are recurrent.
A peace mission of course, but not opportune according to civil society.
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With our correspondent in Kinshasa,
Pascal Mulegwa
Visits to ADF rebel sanctuaries, briefings to army headquarters and meetings with local authorities and civil societies, the peace caravan continues on its way.
South and North Kivus,
Ituri
and Tanganyika.
The eight national deputies and the Minister of Defense went only to areas under the control of government security forces.
No meeting with armed groups.
The mission will have allowed elected officials to touch reality.
“
There are a lot of deaths, it is imperative that the communities talk to each other.
And the army must succeed in imposing the authority of the state.
We really need means to avoid relapse,
”explains Juvenal Munubo, head of the parliamentary delegation.
His colleague Bernard Kayumba noted that the conflict is fueled by “
people or politicians pulling strings so that there are militias in different provinces
”.
On the one hand, he indicated, "
there must be an inter-ethnic dialogue because as soon as the army continues to strike, it risks striking an innocent population one day
".
On the other hand, this deputy from Kinshasa believes that it is time “
for string pullers known from Kinshasa and the provinces to be arrested.
There is evidence
”.
In Beni, in the grip of attacks for six years by the armed group of Ugandan origin ADF, the minister insisted on cooperation between civilians and soldiers to denounce the attackers.
If for elected officials, the mission is essential, the criticisms of civil society are sharp.
“
The peace caravans can do nothing.
Besides, while they were there, there were deaths.
It is tourism, pure and simple waste, a waste of time and a squandering of the means of the State.
The actions are elsewhere
”, storms Jean Bosco Lalo, president of the civil society of Ituri.
Before returning to the capital, the delegation was to visit the localities formerly claimed by Zambia to ensure the effective withdrawal of foreign troops.
And this, before ending with Lubumbashi,
attacked by
secessionist
militiamen
last weekend.
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