APCJ_1528_Win2010_00i_122_4 12/30/10 3:22 PM Page 52 Figure 1 52 AFRICA PEACE AND CONFLICT JOURNAL Degree of Correlation between Local Tensions and Peace Is there any correlation between local tensions and understanding of peace? Very strong Strong Relatively strong Poor Very poor Source: Pyana Mwamba Symphorien, 2010. necessary to revisit the popular notion that violence is a deeply rooted cultural element or a societal norm in eastern Congo.47 It also becomes difficult to convince the local population that benefits of sustainable peace can be imposed through the use of force or military intervention. Peace to them is more than the rule of law and the absence of war.48 For these local people, poverty is principally the outcome of bad governance and institutionalized injustice, which is particularly bitter in a country as blessed in terms of natural resources as DR Congo. One respondent asserted that the same explanation is valid for the ‘gun culture’ that, accordingly, might be interpreted as a ‘means of fulfilling unsatisfied human needs’.49 Bad governance and an unequal distribution of resources and services have resulted in the eastern Congo crisis being exploited by neighboring countries and multinational corporations with interests in the natural and mineral resources of the region. This means that although the conflict involves to a large extent macro and external or international (and economic) involvement, the main roots are internal, micro, and local, whichever term is preferred.50 This observation challenges the 2003 Human Rights Watch report that opened with the following statement: ‘Congo: the war is only international, it is not local’.51 Hélène Morvan argues, however, that ‘the conflict is not only international, it is also local’.52 Underlining the extent of local problems in the conflict, this study found poor and inadequate social infrastructures, making many areas inaccessible for conducting research. This was particularly so in rural locations, including Idjwi, Ihembe, and Luhago (South Kivu), leading to some neighborhoods not being surveyed. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. On this assumption, see Autesserre, ‘Hobbes and the Congo’. Focus group discussion, Bukavu, 15 February 2010. Interview, Walungu, 27 January 2010. Interview, Bukavu, 20 February 2010. Human Rights Watch, ‘Ituri’. Morvan, Réinventer le quotidien, 15.