9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I want to speak about a forgotten conflict.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a conflict that rarely[br]hits the headlines.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It happens right here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, most people outside of Africa

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
don't know much about the war in Congo,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so let me give you[br]a couple of key facts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The Congolese conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is the deadliest conflict[br]since World War II.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It has caused almost four million deaths.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It has destabilized most of central Africa

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for the past 18 years.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It is the largest ongoing[br]humanitarian crisis in the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's why I first went to Congo in 2001.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I was a young humanitarian aid worker,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and I met this woman who was my age.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
She was called Isabelle.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Local militias has attacked Isabelle's village.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They had killed many men,[br]raped many women.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They had looted everything.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then they wanted to take Isabelle,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but her husband stepped in,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and he said, "No,[br]please don't take Isabelle.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Take me instead."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So he had gone to the forest[br]with the militias,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and Isabelle had never seen him again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, it's because of people[br]like Isabelle and her husband

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that I have devoted my career[br]to studying this world

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we know so little about.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Although there is one story[br]about Congo that you may have heard.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's a story about minerals and rape.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Policy statements and media reports

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
both usually focus on a primary cause[br]of violence in Congo

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
-- the illegal exploitation[br]and trafficking of natural resources --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and on the main consequence

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
-- sexual abuse of women and girls[br]as a weapon of war.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So, not that these two issues[br]aren't important and tragic.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They are, but today,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I want to tell you a different story.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I want to tell you a story[br]that emphasizes a core cause

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the ongoing conflict.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Violence in Congo[br]is in large part driven

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
by local bottom-up conflicts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that international peace efforts[br]have failed to help address.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The story starts from the fact[br]that not only is Congo notable

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for being the world's worst[br]ongoing humanitarian crisis,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but it is also home[br]to some of the largest

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
international peacebuilding[br]efforts in the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Congo hosts the largest

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and most expensive United Nations[br]peacekeeping mission in the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It was also the site of the first[br]European-led peacekeeping mission,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and for its first cases ever,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the International Criminal Court

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
chose to prosecute Congolese warlords.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In 2006, when Congo held[br]the first free national elections

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in its history,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
many observers thought[br]that an end to violence in the region

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
had finally come.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The international community

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
lauded the successful[br]organization of these elections

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as finally an example[br]of successful international intervention

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in a failed state.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the eastern provinces

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have continued to face[br]massive population displacements

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and horrific human rights violations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Shortly before I went[br]back there last summer,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
there was a horrible massacre

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the province of South Kivu.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thirty-three people were killed.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They were mostly women and children,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and many of them were hacked to death.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
During the past eight years,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
fighting in the eastern provinces[br]has regularly reignited

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
full-scale civil and international war.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So basically, every time we feel[br]that we are on the brink of peace,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the conflict explodes again.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Why?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Why have the massive international efforts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
failed to help Congo achieve lasting peace

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and security?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, my answer to this question

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
revolves around two central observations.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
First, one of the main reasons[br]for the continuation of violence in Congo

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is fundamentally local,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and when I say local,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
I really mean at the level[br]of the individual, the family,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the clan, the municipality,[br]the community, the district,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
sometimes the ethnic group.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For instance, you remember the story[br]of Isabelle that I told you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Well, the reason why militias[br]had attacked Isabelle's village

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
was because they wanted to take the land

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that the villagers needed[br]to cultivate food and to survive.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The second central observation[br]is that international peace efforts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have failed to help[br]address local conflicts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because of the presence[br]of a dominant peacebuilding culture.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So what I mean is that

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Western and African diplomats,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
United Nations peacekeepers, donors,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the staff of most[br]nongovernmental organizations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that work with the resolution of conflict,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they all share a specific way

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of seeing the world.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And I was one of these people,[br]and I shared this culture,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so I know all too well how powerful it is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Throughout the world,[br]and throughout conflict zones,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
this common culture shapes[br]the intervener's understanding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the causes of violence

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as something that is primarily located

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the national and international spheres.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It shapes our understanding[br]of the path to world peace

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as something again that requires[br]top down intervention

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to address national[br]and international tensions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it shapes our understanding[br]of the roles of foreign actors

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as engaging in national[br]and international peace processes.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Even more importantly,[br]this common culture

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
enables international peacebuilders

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to ignore the micro-level tensions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that often jeopardize[br]the macro-level settlements.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So for instance, in Congo,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because of how they are[br]socialized and trained,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
United Nations officials,[br]donors, diplomats,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the staff of most[br]nongovernmental organizations,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they interpret continued fighting[br]and massacres as a top-down problem.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
To them, the violence they see

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is the consequence of tensions[br]between President Kabila

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and various national opponents,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and tensions between Congo,[br]Rwanda, and Uganda.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In addition, these[br]international peacebuilders

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
view local conflicts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as simply the result[br]of national and international tensions,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
insufficient state authority,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and what they call[br]the Congolese people's

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so-called "inherent[br]penchant for violence."

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The dominant culture[br]also constructs intervention

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
at the national and international levels

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as the only natural and legitimate task

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for United Nations staffers and diplomats.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it elevates the organization

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of general elections,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which is now a sort of cure-all,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as the most crucial state[br]reconstruction mechanisms

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
over more effective[br]state-building approaches.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And that happens not only in Congo

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but also in many other conflict zones.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But let's dig deeper,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
into the other main sources of violence.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
In Congo, continuing violence

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is motivated not only by the national[br]and international causes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but also by longstanding[br]bottom-up agendas

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
whose main instigators[br]are villagers, traditional chiefs,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
community chiefs, or ethnic leaders.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Many conflicts revolve around political,[br]social, and economic stakes

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that are distinctively local.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
For instance, there is[br]a lot of competition

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
at the village or district level

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
over who can be chief of village[br]or chief of territory

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
according to traditional law,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and who can control[br]the distribution of land

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the exploitation[br]of local mining sites.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This competition often results[br]in localized fighting,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for instance in one village or territory,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and quite frequently,[br]it escalates into generalized fighting,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
so across a whole province,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and even at times[br]into neighboring countries.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Take the conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
between Congolese of Rwandan descent

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the so-called indigenous communities

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the Kivus.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This conflict started in the 1930s[br]during Belgian colonization,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when both communities competed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
over access to land and to local power.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then, in 1960,[br]after Congolese independence,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it escalated because each camp

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
tried to align with national politicians

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but still to address their local agendas.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And then, at the time[br]of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
these local actors allied[br]with Congolese and Rwandan armed groups,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but still to advance their local agendas[br]in the province of the Kivus.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And since then, these local disputes[br]over land and local power

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have fueled violence,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and they have regularly jeopardized

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the national and[br]international settlements.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So we can wonder why[br]in these circumstances

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the international peacebuilders[br]have failed to help implement

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
local peacebuilding programs.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And the answer is that[br]international interveners

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
deem the resolution of grassroots conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
an unimportant, unfamiliar,[br]and illegitimate task.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The very idea of becoming involved[br]at the local level clashes fundamentally

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
with existing cultural norms,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and it threatens[br]key organizational interests.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Ffor instance, the very identity[br]of the United Nations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
as this macro-level[br]diplomatic organization

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
would be upended

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
if it were to refocus on local conflicts.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And the result is that[br]neither the internal resistance

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to the dominant ways of working

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
nor the external shocks

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have managed to convince[br]international actors

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that they should reevaluate[br]their understanding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of violence and intervention.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And so far, there have been[br]only very few exceptions.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There have been exceptions,[br]but only very few exceptions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to this broad pattern.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So to wrap up,[br]the story I just told you

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
is a story about how[br]a dominant peacebuilding culture

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
shapes the intervener's understanding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of what the causes of violence are,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
how peace is made,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and what interventions should accomplish.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These understandings enable[br]international peacebuilders

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to ignore the micro-level foundations

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that are so necessary[br]for sustainable peace.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The resulting inattention[br]to local conflicts

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
leads to inadequate peacebuilding[br]in the short term

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and potential war resumption[br]in the long term.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And what's fascinating[br]is that this analysis

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
helps us to better understand[br]many cases of lasting conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and international intervention failures,[br]in Africa and elsewhere.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Local conflicts fuel violence[br]in most war and post-war environments,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from Afghanistan to Sudan[br]to Timor-Leste,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and in the rare cases[br]where there have been comprehensive,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
bottom-up peacebuilding initiatives,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
these attempts have been successful[br]at making peace sustainable.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
One of the best examples is the contrast

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
between the relatively peaceful[br]situation in Somaliland,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
which benefited from sustained[br]grassroots peacebuilding initiatives,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the violence prevalent[br]in the rest of Somalia,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where peacebuilding[br]has been mostly top-down.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And there are several other cases

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in which local, grassroots[br]conflict resolution

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
has made a crucial difference.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So if we want international[br]peacebuilding to work,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in addition to any top-down intervention,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
conflicts must be resolved[br]from the bottom up.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And again, it's not that national[br]and international tensions don't matter.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
They do.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And it's not that national[br]and international peacepbuilding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
isn't necessary.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It is.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Instead, it is that both macro-level[br]and micro-level peacebuilding are needed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to make peace sustainable,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and local nongovernmental organizations,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
local authorities,[br]and civil society representatives

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
should be the main actors

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in the bottom-up process.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So of course, there are obstacles.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Local actors often lack the funding

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and sometimes the logistical means[br]and the technical capacity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to implement effective,[br]local peacebuilding programs.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So international actors[br]should expand their funding and support

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
for local conflict resolution.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
As for Congo, what can be done?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
After two decades of conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the deaths of millions,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it's clear that we need[br]to change our approach.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Based on my field research,[br]I believe that international

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and Congolese actors

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
should pay more attention[br]to the resolution of land conflict

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the promotion[br]of inter-community reconciliation.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So for instance,[br]in the province of the Kivus,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the Life & Peace Institute[br]and its Congolese partners

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
have set up inter-community forums

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to discuss the specifics[br]of local conflicts over land,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and these forums have found solutions

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to help manage the violence.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
That's the kind of program[br]that is sorely needed

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
throughout eastern Congo.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's with programs like this

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that we can help people[br]like Isabelle and her husband.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So these will not be magic wands,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but because they take into account[br]deeply rooted causes of the violence,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
they could definitely be game-changers.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Thank you.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
(Applause)