MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2023) Young people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where insurgency has continued for decades and most recently claimed over 45 civilian lives, are growing increasingly disappointed with the inability of the authorities and the UN mission to contain rebel groups, a young activist from restive areas in the country's east told Sputnik.
Born in a small fishing village named Vitshumbi by Lake Edward in the eastern DRC in 1993, Stewart Muhindo and his family were forced to move through a number of cities throughout his childhood as they tried to avoid different armed rebel groups operating in the region.
When he was still a 15-year-old boy, Muhindo and his family narrowly escaped from a city occupied by one of the rebel groups.
"In 2008, I lived in Kiwanja, which was a city controlled by one of the rebel groups. They killed many young people like me, because they accused them of being members of another rebel group that attacked them, even if that was not true. I remember that we left our house and went to live next to a camp set up by the United Nations," Muhindo told Sputnik.
What happened next at the UN camp shaped Muhindo's view that would eventually turn him into an activist.
"We left our home and came to live next to their camp. But the UN didn't allow us to get into their camp. They just left us outside. We had to sleep outside. But we still stayed there, because we thought that the rebels couldn't come and kill us when we lived near the UN camp," he said.
After his initial disappointment with the cold welcome, Muhindo learned more about the role of UN forces in the DRC in subsequent years.
As part of the UN's efforts to enforce the ceasefire agreement that marked the end of the Second Congo War, a peacekeeping force known as the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, its French acronym, was dispatched to the country in 1999.
Being one of the highest-paid UN missions abroad, with an annual budget of over $1 billion and more than 17,000 personnel, MONUSCO has drawn criticism over inefficiency both in the DRC and within the UN. Through his childhood, Muhindo saw the ordinary Congolese grow increasingly disillusioned with the force that was supposed to bring them peace and protection.
"The UN forces have been here for more than 20 years. They have a lot of money and they had better weapons than the national army of the DRC. But they didn't do anything, because they said their role was to observe. But you can't be here just to observe, when people are being killed. It's not possible to make peace if you don't fight against people who are destroying everything. That's the problem with that force. It doesn't help anyone here. It can't help bring peace to the DRC if it doesn't change how it works," he said.
On June 12, militants attacked a camp for displaced people in Itiru province, located just 3 miles from one of MONUSCO's bases. This was far from being the first time civilian killings were committed in the DRC near a camp operated by the UN's mission, Muhindo said.
"It's very difficult for people here to understand this. It's not normal for someone, who is well-paid to protect you fail to protect you when you're being killed next to their camps," the activist said.
Muhindo decided to become an activist in 2016, when he was a student at a university in Butembo, a city in the eastern DRC. He joined a movement known as Lutte Pour Le Changementa (Lucha), which means "Fight for change" in French.
"At the moment, I was angry with two things. The first was security as people continued to be killed and armed groups continued to do what they wanted. The government didn't do anything. The second thing that made me join Lucha was the problem of democracy. In that year, Joseph Kabila was the president of the DRC. He refused to organize an election even as he just completed two terms as limited by our constitution. He refused to hold an election and wanted to stay as president for all of his life," he said.
A delayed presidential election was eventually held in December 2018, when Kabila agreed for a successor to be chosen and opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi won the presidency.
After joining Lucha, Muhindo began to take part in peaceful protests to demand changes in his country.
"We must have leaders who respect our law. We must have leaders who try to protect the civilians, because it doesn't make sense, if you say you're a good government, but people are continuing to be killed and you don't do anything," he said.
Even as Lucha stressed its non-violent form of struggle through peaceful demonstrations, Muhindo said a number of his fellow activists were beaten by the police and some of them were arrested during protests. This did not prevent them from continuing to advocate for positive changes in the DRC.
In Muhindo's view, the first step is for the DRC government to exercise more authority and responsibility in protecting its citizens and
"How is it possible that you're the leader of a country, but a part of that country is controlled by armed groups," the activist queried.
Muhindo believes the DRC also needs to build a strong national army in order to root out the armed groups while boosting economic growth, which he said could give the local youth less incentives to join the rebels.
One of the reasons so many armed rebel groups are operating in the eastern part of the DRC could be the fact that the region is rich in natural resources, Muhindo pointed out.
"I think the war in the DRC is a political war, but it's also an economic war. The DRC is a very rich country with several minerals, including coltan, cobalt and cassiterite. The armed groups are sometimes supported by neighboring countries to destabilize the situation. When there's a war, it's easy for them to take the minerals," he said.
The minerals Muhindo listed are a critical component in the production of phones, tablets, laptops and other gadgets by the world's largest companies, including Apple, therefore military instability in the country where they are sourced could have a global impact.
"I think everyone must know this. Everyone has a phone or a computer. But they could be made from minerals taken by the armed groups here. You must be sure that they're not made of 'blood minerals' as I would call them," he said.
As someone who has lived through continued security threats from various armed groups all his life, Muhindo believes that becoming an activist to advocate for changes in his country could provide the psychological support he needed to continue to move forward.
"If you're here and if you live in my situation where people are killed every day, you're naturally angry and you want changes. It's up to you to decide how to fight for it. That's why I decided to become an activist. For others, when they're angry, they decide to join the rebels. I respect their decisions even if I don't agree with them. That's because in this situation in the DRC, you must be someone to try to survive and try to keep your hopes up. To maintain the hope that tomorrow would be better, that's a very big challenge. For me, to continue to hope that the next day would be a better one, I decided to join Lucha and become an activist," he said.
