The nine day conference on peace, security and development for the provinces of North and South Kivu opened on Sunday 6 January 2008 in Goma, North Kivu. Workshop discussions on a province by province basis will commence on Monday; a plenary session will follow and the conference will conclude with recommendations.

The conference debates and discussions will centre around four main themes: the stakes and challenges for peace, security, development and humanitarian concerns. More than 1,500 people, men and women of all socio-professional categories from the provinces of North and South Kivu will seek new mechanisms of stability and harmony between their various ethnic groups.

Many political personalities from the executive and legislative levels were present or represented at the conference, as well as judicial officials. DRC Minister of the Interior Denis Kalume Numbi, representing DRC president Joseph Kabila said that although absent, the president's “heart was with the sons and daughters of the two provinces ravaged by war.”

“It is for the very first time that all the sons and daughters of North and South Kivu, who are challenged by their conscience, have met to speak about peace, security and development. It is imperatively urgent to find durable solutions to these challenges,” explained Mr. Kalume, who insisted that “all national armed groups will have to surrender their weapons and accept brassage.”

Furthermore, Minister Kalume called for all foreign armed groups to conform to the official Nairobi statement, in which the Democratic Republic of Congo committed itself to tracking the ex-FAR/Interhamwe, to sensitise them for their return to Rwanda, their country of origin.

Minister Kalume recalled the sensitization plan he started on 1 January, 2008.

“No matter what it costs, it is necessary to avoid excess and the rules of good governance must be respected. This conference is not an occasion for negotiations, or for a revisitation of the constitution nor a dividing of power.”

A last chance

Fr. Apollinaire Malu Malu, head of office for the conference, said that “all political, philosophical and ideological speculations do not have a place in this conference.”

“We come to seek suitable mechanisms to put an end to the war and to provide the foundations for durable peace, security and development in the provinces of North and South Kivu. Resolutions accompanied by acts of engagement will result from the work of this forum. We all must look in the same direction. The government already drew up a roadmap of the local elections, any Congolese who wants to take part in it and to seek a space in power will be able to, but by the ballot boxes,” he said.

All the efforts made by the Democratic Republic of Congo with the assistance of the international community in relation to the elections were appreciated by William Swing, the outgoing Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for the DRC.

In a speech punctuated by proverbs drawn from Congolese vernacular languages, he remained optimitic and confident for the future.

“In spite of the encountered difficulties, you have a government which functions, a parliament which functions; all the new institutions resulting from the ballot boxes were implemented,” pointed out Mr. Swing.

Mr. Swing, who led a delegation of forty ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps to Goma, said that “this conference is a noble chance to find the practical solutions to the problems which divide you.”

Hopes and mistrust

The Goma conference was set up to tackle the mistrust and anger in certain areas of the Kivus.

Civil society members from the Kivus complained that they were not given the importance they deserved at the conference.

In spite of mistrust, hopes are allowed, judging from the insights of people both involved and not involved with the conference.

All have come to search for a durable peace in the provinces of North and South Kivu.