Looking after our own people: Elizabeth Coleman talks to Levi Munyemana, a Quaker pastor in North Ki

‘It’s extremely hard to work for peace when people are hungry.’

Recently I asked George Bani, a Friend from South Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), if he could put me in touch with a Quaker in North Kivu. I knew George through Quaker Congo Partnership. I wanted to make contact with North Kivu Friends as I had heard that the armed group M23 had taken many villages there, causing thousands of local people to flee to refugee camps or to Goma, the capital of North Kivu. M23 is supported by the Rwandan government, a fact acknowledged by the UN Group of Experts on Congo, which has evidence of the ‘presence of individuals wearing uniforms of the Rwanda Defence Force in M23 camps’. George put me in touch with Levi Munyemana, a pastor of the Friends Church (Quakers) in Goma, and we had a conversation on Zoom. Nigel Watt, a London Quaker, acted as an interpreter.

Levi told me that he was ‘happy to share with you information from our side, which is forgotten by major decision-makers. We are suffering from international complicity. For many years, since 1993, this part of the country has been living in very atrocious conflicts.

‘The Quakers have contributed a lot to bring peace, but the results are not satisfactory. The leadership of the country has contributed a lot to push the country backwards. From 1993 to 1996 it was inter-ethnic violence. In 1994, with the arrival of Rwandan Hutu refugees, the country experienced a lot of trouble. In 1996, Rwanda pursued Hutu refugees into Congo, killing a very considerable number of Congolese and Rwandan Hutus, and a large number of [other] Congolese. The international community has remained silent. The war, which continues to cause us harm, is a continuation of that of 1996, which initially had the objective of making Rwanda safe from invasion by Hutu refugees from Congo. Today there are calls for the revision of the boundaries drawn at the Berlin conference, so that Rwanda can take Congolese territory.’

I asked about Quakers, and he said, ‘Regarding North Kivu, where I’m based, we have six Local Meetings. There is one Yearly Meeting (the Community of Evangelical Churches of Friends in the Congo (CEEACO)) which is shared with South Kivu. In North Kivu we have 580 members; four of the Local Meetings are in Goma, the city itself; the other two Meetings are in Masisi territory a few miles from Goma. The members of the Masisi Meetings have fled for safety to Goma or nearby.

‘The situation in Goma is that every road into Goma is closed – the city is surrounded by the M23 rebels. The cost of living has multiplied by four as a result of this. Some people are already dying of hunger. There is distribution of food by PAM [Programme Alimentaire Mondial, or in English the UN World Food Programme (WFP)]. The displaced women are organised to help with food distribution, and priority is given to old people. Only a quarter of the displaced people have received food.

‘In Goma we Quakers have been involved a lot in conflict management. We have other partners working with us. We haven’t got money. We visit and provide counselling. That’s all we can do because we don’t have any other means. We have put up vulnerable people in our offices.

‘For the displaced members, and members in Goma, life has changed. Those who are running small businesses are unable to [continue to maintain them] as the roads are closed. They can’t earn money because everything is blocked, so they’re not doing well. We feel as if we are displaced, even in our own homes, because the roads are closed. I am afraid that Quakers will be dying of hunger because we do not have the means to help them.’

I asked Levi if he thought Goma was in danger of being taken by M23, and he said, ‘They threatened to enter Goma yesterday, but they haven’t done so. The threat of them taking the city is still there, but it hasn’t happened yet.’

I asked what work Quakers had done to try to bring about peace, and he said, ‘We have done many things. When we began in 1999, there was a complete separation between the different ethnic groups. We’ve done a lot of community work to bring about peace between different ethnic groups. Today people from different ethnic groups are working together in Goma and the surrounding territories. Relations between ethnic groups are good now – the attack is from outside. We have 600 solidarity groups, each one made up of twenty-five members. Those are made up of the general population and Quakers. It was initiated by Quakers. They work for development. In Congo, people are poor. A small amount of money is lent to poor people through a microcredit scheme. That promotes solidarity between different ethnic groups – they meet regularly and talk about peacemaking and other things. We have some training centres, which help train women for leadership.’

I asked about finance, and he said, ‘AFSC [American Friends Service Council] supported us about fifteen years ago, but not now. Norwegian Quakers support us, but there’s nothing coming at the moment. When Laura [Shipler Chico, then Peacebuilding in East Africa programme manager] was in QPSW [Quaker Peace & Social Witness], they supported some activities in North Kivu five years ago.’

I asked what could be done to bring about peace, and he listed Alternatives to Violence Project (AVP), trauma counselling, restorative justice, social dialogue and mediation.

Nigel asked about the bigger picture, the conflict between Congo and Rwanda. Levi said, ‘We cannot do anything about that, but we can look after our own people and try to solve local problems.’

At the end of our conversation, Levi thanked me for organising the interview. He was grateful to hear that Friends in the UK had their problems at heart. ‘We are undertaking peace activities,’ he said ‘but we have problems. It’s extremely hard to work for peace when people are hungry. People don’t listen, because they’re hungry.’

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