For decades, war has raged in three provinces in the eastern DRC:
North and South Kivu and Ituri. Not only civilians, but members of the fighting militias too, are sick and tired of it. Recently, they have stopped the violent conflict in three of the five districts in South Kivu.
For several years, a group of former child soldiers worked to end the fighting there. When they found a source of funding for it, they convened a large group to initiate a peace process in November. (See below.), Militia members, government officials, and leaders of civil society participated, signed a peace agreement, and the fighting stopped.
All three groups are now working together to rehabilitate former soldiers and taking other measures to sustain the peace. (See the video below showing of the general of one of the armed groups making a commitment to peacemaking.)
Scholars and peacemakers alike have long been aware of what locally-led peacemakers can achieve. (See the publications at the end of the section on the Congo Peace Process.) The peace in South Kivu is one more example of what local leaders can do to stop violent conflict.
