A Comprehensive Approach

"Examining Ongoing Conflict in Eastern Congo"

On Tuesday, April 16th, Mvemba Phezo Dizolele presented to the U.S. Subcommittee on African Affairs (from the Committee on Foreign Relations in the Senate) on the ongoing conflict in eastern Congo.  Dizolele is a Strategy and Advocacy Fellow at the Eastern Congo Initiative (ECI).  He is a native of the DRC and has an impressive background: Mvemba Phezo Dizolele. I found his report to the Senate to be highly invested in the aptitude of the Congolese people and refreshingly optimistic.  He makes—what I think are—valid suggestions for helping those in eastern DRC improve their own lives.    Nonetheless, below I provide some additional advocacy that I believe would have fit well with his arguments.

I am in staunch agreement with Dizolele in that without long-term investment in a truly comprehensive security sector reform, any development in the DRC will be shaky.  However, I believe Dizolele overlooks a very important part of that security sector reform: women’s participation.  Throughout my work I see that security sector reform often focuses on men.  I think that this is a mistake. To have sincerely successful reform, I think it requires the participation of all affected parties and recognition of the different impacts those parties experienced. For example, if a male soldier who is known (or even rumored) to have violated women is placed back into the national forces without any reparations or reconciliation, the actions of that man may as well be validated by the national forces.  Equally, he may continue to pose a threat if his actions go unpunished.  These possibilities should be acknowledged and I think the best way to do that is to ensure that women are integrated into security sector reformation efforts every step of the way.  I think Dizolele would have done well to list this as a lesson learned.

Dizolele also speaks of democracy taking hold in the DRC, and it is necessary to highlight that women’s participation in this democracy building is not the same as men’s.  Unfortunately, within all three layers of legislation—local, regional and national—women are still grossly under-represented.  Since Dizolele has the opportunity to be informing the U.S. Senate on what an equitable and peaceful DRC, I think Dizolele should bring this to their attention as well.

Finally, within the recommendations that Dizolele makes to the U.S. Senate there are a couple of additions are merited.  The first is when he advocates U.S. backing of MONUSCO efforts; I think Dizolele should have also added here the support for gender experts in conflict and post-conflict situations.  I also think that when he suggests that the U.S. offer military assistance to the DRC, it be on the condition that said assistance includes training on protecting human rights—including women’s human rights—and preventing sexual violence. I appreciate that Dizolele asserts that war criminals should not be reintegrated into the armed forces.  I think that, overall, his recommendations lend themselves to a positive way forward for both the men and women of the DRC.