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Great Lakes Region of Africa

£2,154 Approved March 2008 – Retrospective grant for Regional Workshop for Nonviolence in Great Lakes Region, at Kigali, Rwanda

IPF Local Partners: Umuryango w’Amahoro/Famillies de Paix and Mouvement international de la Reconciliation
IPF Project: January 2008 workshop for NGOs from 5 countries (Rwanda, Burundi, DRC, Uganda and Tanzania) working in the Great Lakes Region
Location: Kigali, Rwanda

1. Great Lakes Region – Background

Before independence in the early 1960's, the countries in the Great Lakes Region of Africa have been hit by recurring cycles of violence.

The current problems in Burundi began in 1993 when the democratically elected Hutu president was assassinated by members of the Tutsi military. A low level civil war continued through 2003 with an estimated 300,000 deaths. While a new democratically elected government has been installed, one rebel group still continues its violent campaign.

After numerous cycles of violence by the Rwandan Hutu government against the minority Tutsi in the country, in April 1994, one hundred days of genocide killed an estimated 850,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu. When those responsible for the genocide fled to the Congo, they forced almost two million Hutu to accompany them.

In 1996 Rwanda invaded the Congo to force the return of the refugees and the disarming/death of those responsible for the genocide. This began the first Congo War which quickly led to the overthrow of President Mobutu, installed in the early sixties by the US Government and other western powers and noted for stealing most of the money in the country. When the new Congolese Government turned against their Rwandan allies in 1998, Rwanda and Uganda again invaded the Congo (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) beginning the second Congo War.

Soon Burundi, Chad, Zimbabwe, and Angola were also involved. While the various armies have since been withdrawn, proxy rebel groups have been armed by the various factions. The central Congolese Government one thousand miles away in Kinshasa has had little authority in the region. There is a UN peacekeeping force in the Congo but their number is inadequate to halt the violence. An estimated 4,000,000 have perished during these conflicts in eastern Congo, the largest number of deaths in any conflict since World War II.

In Northern Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army has been attacking civilians in the area for twenty years, abducting children to become child soldier or domestic/sex slaves. Over a million people have been internally displaced into IDP camps.

2. Local Partners

Mouvement international de la Reconciliation (MIR) is the French branch of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR)
Umuryango w’Amahoro/Famillies de Paix is also affiliated to IFOR.
The workshop trainers; Jean-Pierre Massamba is the founder and president of MIR Congo, a lawyer and expert in human rights. Maria Biedrawa is co-president of MIR France and also a professional trainer with experience of working in Central Africa, East and West Europe, and Japan.

3. The Project – Regional NGO workshop

The theme for the workshop was ‘Building hearts and Houses of peace in order to act in large family of peace in great Lakes Region’ and it took place over 6 days at the end of January 2008, in Kigali. There were 35 participants (7 female and 28 male) from 20 NGOs working in the Region. Most of the organizations had an explicit Christian background representing at least 5 different churches.

The workshop grew out of the desire of 40+ NGOs who are working in the Region, some for over 25 years, who have never met together despite all working in related areas of human rights, peace, reconciliation, assistance to victims, child soldiers, political prisoners, refugees and development and wre keen to share their experiences and practice of Nonviolence.
The workshop was coordinated by Famillies de Paix and supported by trainers from MIR.

Unusually the grant was awarded retrospectively as the grant application timescale meant that the workshop had already taken place, with an anticipated financial deficit, by the time the IPF committee met to consider applications.

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