1
00:00:00,662 --> 00:00:03,474
I want to speak about 
a forgotten conflict.

2
00:00:03,474 --> 00:00:07,180
It's a conflict that rarely
hits the headlines.

3
00:00:07,180 --> 00:00:11,400
It happens right here,
in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

4
00:00:12,244 --> 00:00:16,842
Now, most people outside of Africa
don't know much about the war in Congo,

5
00:00:16,842 --> 00:00:20,099
so let me give you a couple of key facts.

6
00:00:20,099 --> 00:00:25,687
The Congolese conflict is the deadliest 
conflict since World War II.

7
00:00:25,687 --> 00:00:28,987
It has caused almost four million deaths.

8
00:00:28,987 --> 00:00:33,581
It has destabilized most of Central Africa
for the past 18 years.

9
00:00:33,581 --> 00:00:38,501
It is the largest ongoing
humanitarian crisis in the world.

10
00:00:38,501 --> 00:00:42,162
That's why I first went to Congo in 2001.

11
00:00:42,162 --> 00:00:47,294
I was a young humanitarian aid worker,
and I met this woman who was my age.

12
00:00:47,294 --> 00:00:49,768
She was called Isabelle.

13
00:00:50,868 --> 00:00:54,179
Local militias
had attacked Isabelle's village.

14
00:00:54,179 --> 00:00:57,227
They had killed many men,
raped many women.

15
00:00:57,227 --> 00:00:59,224
They had looted everything.

16
00:00:59,224 --> 00:01:01,847
And then they wanted to take Isabelle,

17
00:01:01,847 --> 00:01:03,224
but her husband stepped in,

18
00:01:03,224 --> 00:01:06,422
and he said, "No,
please don't take Isabelle.

19
00:01:06,422 --> 00:01:09,709
Take me instead."

20
00:01:09,709 --> 00:01:12,700
So he had gone to the forest
with the militias,

21
00:01:12,700 --> 00:01:16,871
and Isabelle had never seen him again.

22
00:01:16,871 --> 00:01:20,841
Well, it's because of people
like Isabelle and her husband

23
00:01:20,841 --> 00:01:23,860
that I have devoted my career
to studying this world

24
00:01:23,860 --> 00:01:26,638
that we know so little about.

25
00:01:26,638 --> 00:01:31,262
Although there is one story
about Congo that you may have heard.

26
00:01:31,262 --> 00:01:35,214
It's a story about minerals and rape.

27
00:01:35,214 --> 00:01:37,800
Policy statements and media reports

28
00:01:37,800 --> 00:01:42,534
both usually focus on a primary cause
of violence in Congo --

29
00:01:42,534 --> 00:01:47,312
the illegal exploitation and trafficking
of natural resources --

30
00:01:47,312 --> 00:01:50,049
and on the main consequence --

31
00:01:50,049 --> 00:01:55,243
sexual abuse of women and girls
as a weapon of war.

32
00:01:55,243 --> 00:02:01,220
So, not that these two issues
aren't important and tragic. They are.

33
00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,978
But today I want to tell you 
a different story.

34
00:02:05,978 --> 00:02:09,596
I want to tell you a story
that emphasizes a core cause

35
00:02:09,596 --> 00:02:12,283
of the ongoing conflict.

36
00:02:12,283 --> 00:02:19,400
Violence in Congo is in large part driven
by local bottom-up conflicts

37
00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:24,345
that international peace efforts
have failed to help address.

38
00:02:25,325 --> 00:02:30,568
The story starts from the fact
that not only is Congo notable

39
00:02:30,568 --> 00:02:34,885
for being the world's worst
ongoing humanitarian crisis,

40
00:02:34,885 --> 00:02:38,411
but it is also home to some of the largest

41
00:02:38,411 --> 00:02:42,572
international peacebuilding
efforts in the world.

42
00:02:42,572 --> 00:02:44,685
Congo hosts the largest

43
00:02:44,685 --> 00:02:49,530
and most expensive United Nations
peacekeeping mission in the world.

44
00:02:49,530 --> 00:02:54,229
It was also the site of the first
European-led peacekeeping mission,

45
00:02:54,229 --> 00:02:56,903
and for its first cases ever,

46
00:02:56,903 --> 00:03:03,535
the International Criminal Court
chose to prosecute Congolese warlords.

47
00:03:03,535 --> 00:03:10,035
In 2006, when Congo held the first 
free national elections in its history,

48
00:03:10,035 --> 00:03:16,171
many observers thought that an end to 
violence in the region had finally come.

49
00:03:16,171 --> 00:03:22,300
The international community lauded the 
successful organization of these elections

50
00:03:22,300 --> 00:03:26,637
as finally an example
of successful international intervention

51
00:03:26,637 --> 00:03:29,095
in a failed state.

52
00:03:29,095 --> 00:03:30,853
But the eastern provinces

53
00:03:30,853 --> 00:03:34,260
have continued to face
massive population displacements

54
00:03:34,260 --> 00:03:37,833
and horrific human rights violations.

55
00:03:37,833 --> 00:03:40,318
Shortly before I went
back there last summer,

56
00:03:40,318 --> 00:03:45,209
there was a horrible massacre
in the province of South Kivu.

57
00:03:45,217 --> 00:03:47,245
Thirty-three people were killed.

58
00:03:47,245 --> 00:03:49,977
They were mostly women and children,

59
00:03:49,977 --> 00:03:53,166
and many of them were hacked to death.

60
00:03:54,116 --> 00:03:56,069
During the past eight years,

61
00:03:56,069 --> 00:04:00,007
fighting in the eastern provinces
has regularly reignited

62
00:04:00,007 --> 00:04:03,074
full-scale civil and international war.

63
00:04:03,074 --> 00:04:08,055
So basically, every time we feel
that we are on the brink of peace,

64
00:04:08,055 --> 00:04:10,897
the conflict explodes again.

65
00:04:10,897 --> 00:04:12,615
Why?

66
00:04:12,615 --> 00:04:15,587
Why have the massive international efforts

67
00:04:15,587 --> 00:04:22,096
failed to help Congo 
achieve lasting peace and security?

68
00:04:22,096 --> 00:04:29,064
Well, my answer to this question
revolves around two central observations.

69
00:04:29,064 --> 00:04:35,097
First, one of the main reasons
for the continuation of violence in Congo

70
00:04:35,097 --> 00:04:38,005
is fundamentally local --

71
00:04:38,005 --> 00:04:39,292
and when I say local,

72
00:04:39,292 --> 00:04:42,823
I really mean at the level
of the individual, the family,

73
00:04:42,823 --> 00:04:46,712
the clan, the municipality,
the community, the district,

74
00:04:46,712 --> 00:04:49,951
sometimes the ethnic group.

75
00:04:49,951 --> 00:04:54,479
For instance, you remember the story
of Isabelle that I told you.

76
00:04:54,479 --> 00:04:58,683
Well, the reason why militias
had attacked Isabelle's village

77
00:04:58,683 --> 00:05:01,793
was because they wanted to take the land

78
00:05:01,793 --> 00:05:06,508
that the villagers needed
to cultivate food and to survive.

79
00:05:06,508 --> 00:05:11,278
The second central observation
is that international peace efforts

80
00:05:11,278 --> 00:05:15,242
have failed to help
address local conflicts

81
00:05:15,242 --> 00:05:20,161
because of the presence
of a dominant peacebuilding culture.

82
00:05:20,161 --> 00:05:23,777
So what I mean is that

83
00:05:23,777 --> 00:05:26,150
Western and African diplomats,

84
00:05:26,150 --> 00:05:28,997
United Nations peacekeepers, donors,

85
00:05:28,997 --> 00:05:31,601
the staff of most
nongovernmental organizations

86
00:05:31,601 --> 00:05:34,437
that work with the resolution of conflict,

87
00:05:34,437 --> 00:05:39,215
they all share a specific way
of seeing the world.

88
00:05:39,215 --> 00:05:43,221
And I was one of these people,
and I shared this culture,

89
00:05:43,221 --> 00:05:47,213
so I know all too well how powerful it is.

90
00:05:47,213 --> 00:05:51,482
Throughout the world,
and throughout conflict zones,

91
00:05:51,482 --> 00:05:55,290
this common culture shapes
the intervener's understanding

92
00:05:55,290 --> 00:05:57,774
of the causes of violence

93
00:05:57,774 --> 00:06:00,357
as something that is primarily located

94
00:06:00,357 --> 00:06:04,513
in the national and international spheres.

95
00:06:04,513 --> 00:06:07,908
It shapes our understanding
of the path to world peace

96
00:06:07,908 --> 00:06:11,756
as something again that requires
top down intervention

97
00:06:11,756 --> 00:06:15,879
to address national
and international tensions.

98
00:06:15,879 --> 00:06:19,598
And it shapes our understanding
of the roles of foreign actors

99
00:06:19,598 --> 00:06:25,159
as engaging in national
and international peace processes.

100
00:06:25,159 --> 00:06:29,034
Even more importantly,
this common culture

101
00:06:29,034 --> 00:06:32,144
enables international peacebuilders

102
00:06:32,144 --> 00:06:35,217
to ignore the micro-level tensions

103
00:06:35,217 --> 00:06:40,480
that often jeopardize
the macro-level settlements.

104
00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:42,581
So for instance, in Congo,

105
00:06:42,581 --> 00:06:46,795
because of how they are
socialized and trained,

106
00:06:46,795 --> 00:06:49,181
United Nations officials,
donors, diplomats,

107
00:06:49,181 --> 00:06:52,340
the staff of most
nongovernmental organizations,

108
00:06:52,340 --> 00:06:59,350
they interpret continued fighting
and massacres as a top-down problem.

109
00:06:59,350 --> 00:07:01,574
To them, the violence they see

110
00:07:01,574 --> 00:07:06,554
is the consequence of tensions
between President Kabila

111
00:07:06,554 --> 00:07:09,224
and various national opponents,

112
00:07:09,224 --> 00:07:14,217
and tensions between Congo,
Rwanda, and Uganda.

113
00:07:14,217 --> 00:07:17,978
In addition, these
international peacebuilders

114
00:07:17,978 --> 00:07:20,279
view local conflicts

115
00:07:20,279 --> 00:07:26,081
as simply the result
of national and international tensions,

116
00:07:26,081 --> 00:07:28,496
insufficient state authority,

117
00:07:28,496 --> 00:07:31,610
and what they call
the Congolese people's

118
00:07:31,610 --> 00:07:35,364
so-called "inherent
penchant for violence."

119
00:07:35,364 --> 00:07:39,316
The dominant culture
also constructs intervention

120
00:07:39,316 --> 00:07:42,149
at the national and international levels

121
00:07:42,149 --> 00:07:45,702
as the only natural and legitimate task

122
00:07:45,702 --> 00:07:49,649
for United Nations staffers and diplomats.

123
00:07:49,649 --> 00:07:51,831
And it elevates the organization

124
00:07:51,831 --> 00:07:53,697
of general elections,

125
00:07:53,697 --> 00:07:55,807
which is now a sort of cure-all,

126
00:07:55,807 --> 00:07:59,591
as the most crucial state
reconstruction mechanisms

127
00:07:59,591 --> 00:08:03,116
over more effective
state-building approaches.

128
00:08:03,116 --> 00:08:04,953
And that happens not only in Congo

129
00:08:04,953 --> 00:08:09,326
but also in many other conflict zones.

130
00:08:09,326 --> 00:08:11,243
But let's dig deeper,

131
00:08:11,243 --> 00:08:14,333
into the other main sources of violence.

132
00:08:15,193 --> 00:08:17,862
In Congo, continuing violence

133
00:08:17,862 --> 00:08:22,875
is motivated not only by the national
and international causes

134
00:08:22,875 --> 00:08:27,182
but also by longstanding
bottom-up agendas

135
00:08:27,182 --> 00:08:31,143
whose main instigators
are villagers, traditional chiefs,

136
00:08:31,143 --> 00:08:34,141
community chiefs, or ethnic leaders.

137
00:08:34,141 --> 00:08:40,116
Many conflicts revolve around political,
social, and economic stakes

138
00:08:40,116 --> 00:08:42,944
that are distinctively local.

139
00:08:42,944 --> 00:08:45,920
For instance, there is
a lot of competition

140
00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:48,308
at the village or district level

141
00:08:48,308 --> 00:08:51,894
over who can be chief of village
or chief of territory

142
00:08:51,894 --> 00:08:54,468
according to traditional law,

143
00:08:54,468 --> 00:08:57,696
and who can control
the distribution of land

144
00:08:57,696 --> 00:09:01,215
and the exploitation
of local mining sites.

145
00:09:01,215 --> 00:09:05,436
This competition often results
in localized fighting,

146
00:09:05,436 --> 00:09:09,220
for instance in one village or territory,

147
00:09:09,220 --> 00:09:13,163
and quite frequently,
it escalates into generalized fighting,

148
00:09:13,163 --> 00:09:15,292
so across a whole province,

149
00:09:15,292 --> 00:09:18,631
and even at times
into neighboring countries.

150
00:09:18,631 --> 00:09:20,468
Take the conflict

151
00:09:20,468 --> 00:09:23,698
between Congolese of Rwandan descent

152
00:09:23,698 --> 00:09:26,549
and the so-called indigenous communities

153
00:09:26,549 --> 00:09:28,604
of the Kivus.

154
00:09:28,604 --> 00:09:33,995
This conflict started in the 1930s
during Belgian colonization,

155
00:09:33,995 --> 00:09:36,668
when both communities competed

156
00:09:36,668 --> 00:09:39,317
over access to land and to local power.

157
00:09:39,317 --> 00:09:42,727
Then, in 1960,
after Congolese independence,

158
00:09:42,727 --> 00:09:45,932
it escalated because each camp

159
00:09:45,932 --> 00:09:48,578
tried to align with national politicians

160
00:09:48,578 --> 00:09:52,512
but still to address their local agendas.

161
00:09:52,512 --> 00:09:56,880
And then, at the time
of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda,

162
00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:03,059
these local actors allied
with Congolese and Rwandan armed groups,

163
00:10:03,059 --> 00:10:08,389
but still to advance their local agendas
in the province of the Kivus.

164
00:10:08,389 --> 00:10:14,023
And since then, these local disputes
over land and local power

165
00:10:14,023 --> 00:10:15,743
have fueled violence,

166
00:10:15,743 --> 00:10:17,989
and they have regularly jeopardized

167
00:10:17,989 --> 00:10:23,542
the national and
international settlements.

168
00:10:23,542 --> 00:10:27,347
So we can wonder why
in these circumstances

169
00:10:27,347 --> 00:10:32,029
the international peacebuilders
have failed to help implement

170
00:10:32,029 --> 00:10:35,407
local peacebuilding programs.

171
00:10:35,407 --> 00:10:40,253
And the answer is that
international interveners

172
00:10:40,253 --> 00:10:43,776
deem the resolution of grassroots conflict

173
00:10:43,776 --> 00:10:49,010
an unimportant, unfamiliar,
and illegitimate task.

174
00:10:50,410 --> 00:10:56,389
The very idea of becoming involved
at the local level clashes fundamentally

175
00:10:56,389 --> 00:10:58,497
with existing cultural norms,

176
00:10:58,497 --> 00:11:02,380
and it threatens
key organizational interests.

177
00:11:02,380 --> 00:11:06,997
For instance, the very identity
of the United Nations

178
00:11:06,997 --> 00:11:10,353
as this macro-level
diplomatic organization

179
00:11:10,353 --> 00:11:12,601
would be upended

180
00:11:12,601 --> 00:11:16,747
if it were to refocus on local conflicts.

181
00:11:16,747 --> 00:11:21,486
And the result is that
neither the internal resistance

182
00:11:21,486 --> 00:11:23,833
to the dominant ways of working

183
00:11:23,833 --> 00:11:26,826
nor the external shocks

184
00:11:26,826 --> 00:11:29,268
have managed to convince
international actors

185
00:11:29,268 --> 00:11:32,148
that they should reevaluate
their understanding

186
00:11:32,148 --> 00:11:35,560
of violence and intervention.

187
00:11:35,560 --> 00:11:38,943
And so far, there have been
only very few exceptions.

188
00:11:38,943 --> 00:11:42,796
There have been exceptions,
but only very few exceptions

189
00:11:42,796 --> 00:11:44,944
to this broad pattern.

190
00:11:46,214 --> 00:11:49,526
So to wrap up,
the story I just told you

191
00:11:49,526 --> 00:11:54,475
is a story about how
a dominant peacebuilding culture

192
00:11:54,475 --> 00:11:56,552
shapes the intervener's understanding

193
00:11:56,552 --> 00:11:59,271
of what the causes of violence are,

194
00:11:59,271 --> 00:12:00,963
how peace is made,

195
00:12:00,963 --> 00:12:04,575
and what interventions should accomplish.

196
00:12:04,575 --> 00:12:08,324
These understandings enable
international peacebuilders

197
00:12:08,324 --> 00:12:11,402
to ignore the micro-level foundations

198
00:12:11,402 --> 00:12:16,051
that are so necessary
for sustainable peace.

199
00:12:16,051 --> 00:12:19,044
The resulting inattention
to local conflicts

200
00:12:19,044 --> 00:12:23,062
leads to inadequate peacebuilding
in the short term

201
00:12:23,062 --> 00:12:27,068
and potential war resumption
in the long term.

202
00:12:27,068 --> 00:12:30,214
And what's fascinating
is that this analysis

203
00:12:30,214 --> 00:12:34,224
helps us to better understand
many cases of lasting conflict

204
00:12:34,224 --> 00:12:39,513
and international intervention failures,
in Africa and elsewhere.

205
00:12:39,513 --> 00:12:45,074
Local conflicts fuel violence
in most war and post-war environments,

206
00:12:45,074 --> 00:12:48,765
from Afghanistan to Sudan
to Timor-Leste,

207
00:12:48,765 --> 00:12:52,366
and in the rare cases
where there have been comprehensive,

208
00:12:52,366 --> 00:12:55,453
bottom-up peacebuilding initiatives,

209
00:12:55,453 --> 00:13:00,947
these attempts have been successful
at making peace sustainable.

210
00:13:00,947 --> 00:13:03,757
One of the best examples is the contrast

211
00:13:03,757 --> 00:13:08,168
between the relatively peaceful
situation in Somaliland,

212
00:13:08,168 --> 00:13:13,378
which benefited from sustained
grassroots peacebuilding initiatives,

213
00:13:13,378 --> 00:13:17,586
and the violence prevalent
in the rest of Somalia,

214
00:13:17,586 --> 00:13:20,945
where peacebuilding
has been mostly top-down.

215
00:13:20,945 --> 00:13:23,246
And there are several other cases

216
00:13:23,246 --> 00:13:26,961
in which local, grassroots
conflict resolution

217
00:13:26,961 --> 00:13:29,980
has made a crucial difference.

218
00:13:29,980 --> 00:13:34,052
So if we want international
peacebuilding to work,

219
00:13:34,052 --> 00:13:37,874
in addition to any top-down intervention,

220
00:13:37,874 --> 00:13:41,545
conflicts must be resolved
from the bottom up.

221
00:13:41,545 --> 00:13:46,197
And again, it's not that national
and international tensions don't matter.

222
00:13:46,197 --> 00:13:47,923
They do.

223
00:13:47,923 --> 00:13:51,155
And it's not that national
and international peacebuilding

224
00:13:51,155 --> 00:13:52,617
isn't necessary.

225
00:13:52,617 --> 00:13:54,000
It is.

226
00:13:54,000 --> 00:14:01,255
Instead, it is that both macro-level
and micro-level peacebuilding are needed

227
00:14:01,255 --> 00:14:03,972
to make peace sustainable,

228
00:14:03,972 --> 00:14:06,113
and local nongovernmental organizations,

229
00:14:06,113 --> 00:14:08,912
local authorities,
and civil society representatives

230
00:14:08,912 --> 00:14:11,172
should be the main actors

231
00:14:11,172 --> 00:14:13,696
in the bottom-up process.

232
00:14:13,696 --> 00:14:16,131
So of course, there are obstacles.

233
00:14:16,131 --> 00:14:18,786
Local actors often lack the funding

234
00:14:18,786 --> 00:14:22,323
and sometimes the logistical means
and the technical capacity

235
00:14:22,323 --> 00:14:26,857
to implement effective,
local peacebuilding programs.

236
00:14:26,857 --> 00:14:31,913
So international actors
should expand their funding and support

237
00:14:31,913 --> 00:14:35,700
for local conflict resolution.

238
00:14:35,700 --> 00:14:39,056
As for Congo, what can be done?

239
00:14:39,056 --> 00:14:40,890
After two decades of conflict

240
00:14:40,890 --> 00:14:42,763
and the deaths of millions,

241
00:14:42,763 --> 00:14:45,815
it's clear that we need
to change our approach.

242
00:14:46,545 --> 00:14:49,853
Based on my field research,
I believe that international

243
00:14:49,853 --> 00:14:51,733
and Congolese actors

244
00:14:51,733 --> 00:14:55,159
should pay more attention
to the resolution of land conflict

245
00:14:55,159 --> 00:14:59,679
and the promotion
of inter-community reconciliation.

246
00:14:59,679 --> 00:15:02,321
So for instance,
in the province of the Kivus,

247
00:15:02,321 --> 00:15:05,589
the Life & Peace Institute
and its Congolese partners

248
00:15:05,589 --> 00:15:08,684
have set up inter-community forums

249
00:15:08,684 --> 00:15:13,036
to discuss the specifics
of local conflicts over land,

250
00:15:13,036 --> 00:15:15,711
and these forums have found solutions

251
00:15:15,711 --> 00:15:17,861
to help manage the violence.

252
00:15:18,671 --> 00:15:22,290
That's the kind of program
that is sorely needed

253
00:15:22,290 --> 00:15:25,097
throughout eastern Congo.

254
00:15:25,097 --> 00:15:26,975
It's with programs like this

255
00:15:26,975 --> 00:15:31,925
that we can help people
like Isabelle and her husband.

256
00:15:31,925 --> 00:15:34,448
So these will not be magic wands,

257
00:15:34,448 --> 00:15:40,116
but because they take into account
deeply rooted causes of the violence,

258
00:15:40,116 --> 00:15:42,950
they could definitely be game-changers.

259
00:15:42,950 --> 00:15:45,504
Thank you.

260
00:15:45,504 --> 00:15:48,736
(Applause)