Mubelo, Willy Moka (2010) Justice and Social Reconciliation in the Democratic Republic of Congo The Church’s Contribution to the Building of a New Society. Licentiate thesis, Santa Clara University Berkeley, California.
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Abstract
Justice, peace, and reconciliation were the three concepts upon which the Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops reflected. The relevance of such a choice does not need any explanation. It goes without saying that the choice of these concepts expresses the desire and the determination of the Church in Africa to reflect on issues that promote, safeguard, and defend human dignity and human rights at every level of social life. Today more than ever in Africa, justice, peace, and reconciliation have become issues that require more attention, and upon which more reflection and action are needed in order to promote and protect values that enhance human dignity and that help to avoid any trend to incite violence in addressing contentious issues. A close look at the socio-political situation of many African countries reveals that the main cause of underdevelopment is the lack of justice and peaceful coexistence among the people. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, the lack of peace and justice has led to a conflict, which is regarded as the deadliest conflict since World War II. The conflict has left five million deaths, countless orphans, and broken families on all sides. More and more people are referring to the killing in the Democratic Republic of Congo as the Holocaust of Shame or a silent genocide, which is overlooked because of economic interests of powerful nations. The population continues to deplore targeted youth extermination and systematic rapes perpetrated against women as a weapon of war. Two hundred thousand women and girls have been raped in the past twelve years. The number of women raped only in 2009 is estimated to be around fifteen thousand. The effects of these barbarian acts are felt in daily life. In addition to the trauma of rape, many women are victims of rejection by their husbands, families, and relatives, for they are regarded as a disgrace for the family because they have been sexually abused. Their reputation within the community is ruined and their dignity denied. Many of these women who are not spiritually and psychological accompanied are torn between vengeance and the desire to have their lives back, at any cost, on the one hand, and the willingness to start a new life founded on forgiveness on the other hand. The conflict has created a chain of hatred, which has destroyed the social bonds that tie people to the common story they share with one another. Those who have been imprisoned or have gone to exile because of their political convictions have been cut out of the common narrative to be transmitted to the next generations. This division has weakened the narrative identity of the Congolese people. As we all know, there is no life without a narrative of identity. Therefore, all the Congolese must, once more, come together, regardless of their ethnic groups or political convictions, so as to restore their narrative identity that has been substituted by a “narrative of the lie,” which is the result of the distortion of history and facts. Such a restoration implies that all have to accept to live with neighbors they have not chosen, but with whom they have to write a common history and build a common memory to transmit to future generations. Refusing to do so is nothing other than accepting to die of a death that offers future generations no reasons to hope for a better world. As Martin Luther King, Jr. pertinently pointed it out, “we must either learn to live together as brothers, or we are going to perish together as fools.” Here appears the question of the relevance of the language of reconciliation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Can reconciliation be possible in the Congo? The darkness that has covered the history and the future of the Congo can be removed only if victims of atrocities accept to abandon vengeance. In effect, they are the main actors of reconciliation process; for it is up to them to grant forgiveness to the perpetrators. The latter can ask for forgiveness, but as long as the victims refuse to grant it, nothing can be done in terms of restoring broken relationships between the different parties. Everyone has to understand that the philosophy of “an eye for an eye” leaves the whole world blind and leads nowhere. Such logic only perpetrates violence and jeopardizes any effort towards peace and harmony within the human community. Becoming more and more aware of this fact, many initiatives have been taken so as to bring about peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Among those initiatives we can mention The National Conference held in 1992, The Inter Congolese Dialogue of Sun City in South Africa, The Global and Inclusive Accord of Lusaka in Zambia, and Amani Peace Agreement in Goma (DR Congo). With regard to the final outcome of these initiatives, the question to be asked is: are political peace agreements enough to bring about sustainable and lasting peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo? This is the question that I address in this present study. As I will develop it in the following pages, the history of the Democratic Republic of Congo is made of political violence. From the colonial period to the process of democratization, the country has been navigating in the troubled water of violence. Many of the peace agreements have revealed their limitations in bringing about peace. Such limitations would be explained by the overemphasis on political and military solutions to conflict resolution to the detriment of justice and social reconciliation. It becomes clearer today that sustainable peaceful co-existence in the Democratic Republic of Congo cannot be founded only on political agreements. Promoting justice and social reconciliation is the key to the problem of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In this thesis I will argue that the best way to sustainable peace in the Congo is to promote justice and social reconciliation that includes both political and spiritual dimensions. As Desmond Tutu rightly notes, “people are beginning to think of forgiveness and reconciliation as spiritual values that have more significance than they had previously recognized for life as it is lived.” The importance of approaching social reconciliation from a spiritual angle is more than ever felt today in the Democratic Republic of Congo characterized not only by inter-personal conflicts but also by collective or social conflicts. Such an approach to reconciliation offers more chances of reestablishing broken relationships within societies than do political peace agreements alone. The World Council of Churches expresses the same reality using a different language: Reconciliation should be seen as a broader to justice than political or judicial approaches. Peace agreements, judiciary decisions don‟t achieve full justice for societies. A deeper process including healing of memories, dealing with forgiveness, going beyond the division between victim and victimizer is needed. This is what is meant by a reconciliation process. Reestablishing broken relationships in the Congo should promote this approach to reconciliation. Such a statement, which seems to be a daring statement, raises two questions. First, is it true that the outcome of political peace agreements in the Congo has been unsatisfactory? Second, if it is so, then what is the evidence? In order to answer these questions I have chosen an analytical method for this thesis. I analyze some of the peace agreements signed by different parties involved in the conflict so as to pinpoint both positive elements that can be used again today and limitations that precluded the expected results. Such analysis leads us to think of strategies that can be useful and helpful to bring about peace and reconciliation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have divided the work into four chapters. The first chapter is a historical reading of the socio-political situation of the Congo. The aim of this reading is to highlight significant factors and events that have contributed to the breaking of harmony within the Congolese society and have led to a conflicting coexistence whose consequences are the death of millions of people, persistent poverty, widespread insecurity, broken families, refugees, and internally displaced people. This historical reading comprises two sections. The first section deals with the colonial heritage and shows how some practices and behavior, such as forced labor, use of physical punishment, favoritism, fueled the conflict between Congolese. The second section explores different stages of the post-colonial period and their impact on the understanding of togetherness, which is a key concept in African anthropology. In effect, according to this anthropology, no one exists as an isolated entity (a monad). We are, by nature, social beings. We are always and already related to other people. “I” is understood in connection with “WE.” I am because we are. Therefore, in order to build a healthy human community, we have to promote mutual care. Failing to do so is denying the very ground of our being. In this second session, the emphasis will be on the First Republic, the Second Republic, the long transition, the two wars of liberation or wars of occupation, and the presidential elections of 2006. In the second chapter of this thesis I explore the concept reconciliation. The understanding of this concept is crucial to national unity and reconstruction of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The first section of the chapter is an effort to understand reconciliation as such. The second section deals with the requirements of social reconciliation, which becomes a difficult task when individuals involved in the conflict are not reconciled with themselves. Here I do not advocate for the precedence of one form of reconciliation over the other. Rather, I believe that both individual and social reconciliation should go together. While strategies are built in order to restore harmony that has been broken, victims should be spiritually and psychologically accompanied. Among the requirements of social reconciliation I mention the uncovering of the past, the discernment of the truth, the importance of open and shared acknowledgment of past injuries, justice, and forgiveness. The third chapter deals with social reconciliation in the Congo. In the first section I look at the attempts of political reconciliation by reading two peace agreements: the peace agreement of Lusaka and the Global and Inclusive Agreement on Transition in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Such a reading is intended to highlight both positive elements that can be used in order to work for national unity and the limitations of a process of reconciliation founded only on political agreements. The second section addresses the limitations of the previous section by approaching reconciliation from African wisdom. It proposes the palaver model of social reconciliation, which values solidarity and compassion. The fourth chapter deals with the contribution of the Roman Catholic Church to the building of a new society founded on justice and reconciliation. In effect, given the current context of the Congo, the Church seems to be one of the best institutions capable of bringing about radical changes within society. It remains for many the sole support for a people terrorized, humiliated, exploited, and dominated by those who want to silence them. The Second Special Assembly for Africa of the Synod of Bishops highlighted this key position of the Church as follows: “The Church-family of God, by its nature, its coherent social doctrine, its geographic expanse, and its concern for the good of the human person, is better positioned than any other organization to face the challenges of reconciliation, of justice, and of peace in Africa.” Thus, given its place in human society, the Church has the duty to bring about justice and reconciliation in the light of the gospel.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Licentiate) |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BR Christianity B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BV Practical Theology H Social Sciences > HV Social pathology. Social and public welfare |
| Divisions: | Africana Afro-Christiana Jesuitica |
| Depositing User: | Tim Khabala |
| Date Deposited: | 13 Sep 2017 08:57 |
| Last Modified: | 13 Sep 2017 08:57 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/2130 |
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