Abstract
Reports of conflict analyses suggest that two-third of the countries in today’s world are affected by violence or potential explosive conflicts. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), violence erupts from armed conflict and interethnic strives that have caused death of over ten million people since 1996, an unprecedented heaviest death toll since World War II. While this estimation appears true, efforts to tackle conflict have focused on armed response or military intervention such as the United Nations’ peacekeeping mission, and locally-based conflict resolution initiatives such as the Intercommunity Baraza of Elders – a traditional mechanism of conflict resolution. Qualitative study of conflict published by organisations such as Human Rights Watch, United Nations (2010 Mapping report), Amnesty International and other institutions operating in war-torn provinces of North and South Kivu and North-Eastern DRC shows that military response to resolve conflict has limited deterrence. Even the presence of UN peacekeeping mission since 1999, in which 18,300 troops were involved until October 2017, with an operating annual cost estimated at US$8.74 billion, violence and human atrocities have remained rampant in the DRC. This paper explores the impact of civil society in conflict resolution, peacebuilding and reconciliation. Three components of civil society are examined here, namely traditional/cultural institution, faith-based organisations and the scientific community. To which extent these entities can manage the causes and consequences of political and social conflicts that have prevailed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and identify the role that faith-based institutions, the scientific community and civil society in addressing conflict non-violently can play in peacebuilding, conflict resolution and reconciliation. A particular focus will be on progress and hurdles faced by these associations. To achieve that, this inquiry, firstly, examines existing literature on the role of faith-based initiatives to conflict resolution, reconciliation and peacebuilding worldwide; secondly, it uses a seminar format to survey local efforts (by faith-based organisations, the scientific community and cultural/traditional institution) to tackle protracted conflict in the eastern of the DRC, and violence resulting from power struggle, land disputes and ethnic rivalries. Finally, it combines qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection and analysis to study the drivers of conflict in North Kivu Province and the extent which civil society respond to resolve those disputes that are likely to trigger violence. The findings of this work will help improve knowledge and practice – to better civil society organisations’ policies and interventions to reduce violent conflict and subsequent death toll that increases in alarming proportions.