Peace?

For the last two weeks or so (I know, I'm a horrible reporter) there has been a peace conference going on in Goma. This is the first such conference in North Kivu Province ever and has been attended by everyone except the FDLR (Rwandan Hutus responsible for the genocide) and there has been a lot of talking, a lot of politicking, and some hints of progress. It was only supposed to last a couple of days to a week, and I wasn't very optimistic about it and so was planning on writing about it when it failed. It has been extended many times and it might actually be going on to three weeks now, but last night all the groups that were present actually signed a peace agreement to stop fighting and work towards peace.

I don't know what the terms are, and I think some of them are still being worked out as to how they will be done, but there is hope because now, if nothing else, all the groups have signed this document so if they break the peace agreement, then international attention might be drawn because this is an official agreement. The meeting has been overseen by the United Nations, the African Union, and some American representatives as well. The groups were to receive compensation of some kind and that might have played a rather large part of the agreement, but either way, this is a huge step forward. Even if peace does not come, all the groups were together and talking, so it was great. If it fails, there is a document saying there should be peace, so finger pointing can come back to the document and say "hey, you signed for peace, what's up now?"

So what does this mean for Eastern DRC? Well, a meeting has been set up to start immediately to work out how the terms will be accomplished. There is a glimmer of hope in many people (I'm beginning to be a bit hopeful myself, in spite of my pessimistic view of peace in the area), and that is so sorely needed right now. Some people say the only thing to happen now is there needs to be international intervention to get rid of the FDLR in the area. If that happens, it is just a Congo conflict and Nkunda has no other excuse to fight. If the FDLR is gone and he continues fighting, then it's just ridiculous and there should be more of an international push to take him out. If the general fighting stops, then the Mai Mai militias have no reason to keep fighting.

Some say this will work. Some are less optimistic. This will show a bit about Nkunda's motives especially. Supposedly he is to protect the Congolese Tutsi minority (which isn't a minority at all in the Congo) and if he no longer has to "protect" them, will he keep fighting for economic and power reasons? It will be interesting times ahead and a candle is glimmering light into the darkness. Please pray that nothing blows the candle out.

For general news on Central Africa and recently some news on the peace conference (especially the last couple days) check out: http://www.mg.co.za/articleList.aspx?area=central_africa