My life story - my first contact with modern world was through violence and legacy of wars

1. Conflicts and Post-Conflicts Dynamics (DRC and Rwanda): Occult Beliefs VS Modern Politics, Truth Vs Justice and Peace Vs Justice

2. My life story - my first contact with modern world was through violence and legacy of wars • Born in conflicts area – affected by brutal power and identity manipulation • A place where fake borders created conflicts • A place affected by the legacy of cold war politics • Regional genocides (Burundi and Rwanda) • Selective killing of my community and family members • A place where it is wrong to be a woman - where sexual violence is used as weapon of wars • I lost 11 family members

3. Where I come from - one of the most extreme remote places

4. My school

5. Hardship and struggle for safety and access to education in the city

6. Witnessing the 1994 genocide aftermath

7. Working as humanitarian worker

8. Asylum in the UK

10. INGO work

11. Conversing and negotiating with war lords

12. Peace building in DRC

13. In the name of peace shaking hand with a killer of my family members

14. Peace building work - Israel and Palestine

15. My research: The influence of beliefs in witchcraft and prophecy on modern political processes in the conflicts in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) • Explored the relationship between outsiders and African local power structures and beliefs that have ‘survived’ colonial and post colonial rule • E. Pritchard’s (1937) anthropological account of the Azande’s rationality of misfortunate events and its Western understandings • Gueschiere (1997) and Ellis (1999), Camarof (1999) challenge the idea that African traditional beliefs are primitive and backward, civilised vs inferior people • Africa has gone go through different philosophical and social revolution • My interest: what significance or how these are recognised within international policies?

16. Sophistication in using both rational and ‘irrational’ belief systems • Multi-facets systems: able to manipulate African politics by effectively blending local traditional beliefs with 'enlightened Western values‘ • Power and leadership remain between two spheres • Political leaders maintained the belief in witchcraft and spiritualism but at same time distanced itself from publicly acknowledging this – associated with evils.

17. Attitude of power at the heart of African politics – the Big Man (Gueschiere, 1997) • Power with spiritual dimension and cannibalism – Mobutu, Mugabe, Charles Taylor, Paul Biya, Savimbi and Bokassa, Idi Amin • Spiritual mediums and marabouts close at hands and consulted regularly • Politics and access to wealth

18. DRC - Supernaturalism in conflicts and peace negotiations • Stateless status: civil societies, religion and traditional beliefs institutions replaced role of states • National political leadership versus customary expectations • Pluralist and supernatural interpretations of contemporary political events: Political events and tragedies explained within spiritual contexts (act of God and Devil)

19. Beliefs in magical powers in political violence • Soldiers in the bush, wearing raffia and a bullet as an amulet. This symbolizes the power of the ancestors which these rebels believe makes them invulnerable.

20. Challenging outcomes • Occults beliefs are concealed among African political actors • Unrecognised or undermined by external interventionists • In political mediation: all actors operates within expected modern political mechanisms but local rely mostly on the concealed beliefs

21. Rwanda genocide aftermath – Truth versus Justice Hundreds thousands were accused of genocide crimes More than 120,000 suspects were awaiting justice in prison at a cost of US$20 million a year Unless the “culture of impunity” was once and for all ended in Rwanda the vicious cycle of violence would never end

22. Gacaca - Truth and Justice Truth leads to justice, justice leads to reconciliation Eradicate the culture of impunity; Priority - reconcile Rwandans and reinforce their unity; and use the capacities of Rwandan society to deal with its problems through a justice based on Rwandan custom.

23. Gacaca vs classic courts International Tribunal for Rwanda trials: 95 people over 10 years costing 1.5 billions It would take this court 185.000 years to complete its mission for justice in Rwanda, and cost $278.000 billions International courts are located outside sites of crimes and limit victims participations Limiting justice within cultural contexts – victims to be heard and perpetrators to say how it happened (these are stories of truth and healing) Rwanda – 1996 – 2002 classic court trials: 7.000 Between 2002 – 2006 Gacaca trials 12.000 Without Gacaca it would take Rwanda 110 years to try 120.000 suspects.

24. Stories of life after genocide: forgiveness as a life necessity • Kampundu: “My husband was hiding, and men hunted him down and killed him on a Tuesday. The following Tuesday, they came back and killed my two sons. I was hoping that my daughters would be saved, but then they took them to my husband’s village and killed them and threw them in the latrine. I was not able to remove them from that hole. I knelt down and prayed for them, along with my younger brother, and covered the latrine with dirt. The reason I granted pardon is because I realized that I would never get back the beloved ones I had lost. I could not live a lonely life — I wondered, if I was ill, who was going to stay by my bedside, and if I was in trouble and cried for help, who was going to rescue me? I preferred to grant pardon.”

25. Role of faith in Truth versus justice • Mukamusoni (left): “He killed my child, then he came to ask me pardon. I immediately granted it to him because he did not do it by himself — he was haunted by the devil.

26. Individualising guilt or responsibility Nyiramana (right): “He killed my father and three brothers. He did these killings with other people, but he came alone to me and asked for pardon”

27. DRC and question of Justice Vs Peace • No effective responses to historical impunity of perpetrators of international crimes (before 1996 and from 1996 to present) • Transitional governments had to trade JUSTICE vs PEACE – offering incentives to lay down arms for senior military and economic position • ICC referrals are political than justice • Former warlords in state institutions is greatest challenge in implementing peace building • TJ prioritise national reconciliation • Domestic and international trials - verdict does not reflect the magnitude of the crimes committed e.g sexual violence

28. Peace agreements and justice • Peace agreements focuses on security and political institutions. Justice was not key priority • UN contradiction: will no use amnesties on crimes against humanities witin UN sponsored peace agreements BUT status of ‘crimes against humanities’ is given after peace agreements • Question of justice and accountability is owned by International organisations

29. DRC - ICC InterventionThomas lubanga, Bosco Ntaganda, J Pierre Bemba, J Konyi, Germain Katanga (Ituri) and Mathieu Ngujolo Chui, Callixte Mbarushimana (FDRL) and Sylvestre Mudacumura

30. International justice versus peace • Peace via international justice is advocated by civil societies (great expectations in International justice). Evidence is based on ICTY and ICTR which insignificant to DRC crimes • The ICC role as complementarity should be clearly communicated • Peace Vs Justice: Peace builders, mediators and victims advocates for peace to precede justice. - peace agreements are no guarantee for justice • ICC and victims have different expectations: ICC prosecuting individuals who bear relatively the least greatest responsibility for crimes against humanity, and war crimes. For victims crimes were collective • ICC aims to individualise responsibility and isolate rebel leaders?

31. Conclusions • Issues of occults beliefs and politics are under researched and are challenging to research • These are considered as any other concealed networks in Europe (businesses) • Justice and peace mean different thing for different people