Christian Peacemaker Teams UK

"Friends,

I will be leaving for the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire) in early December with three other CPTers to be part of an experimental three month violence reduction project. We go at the request of the Martin Luther King Group in Goma, an invitation that came last year to the third Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation into that Great Lakes Region of Central Africa.

The DRC is a very resource rich country. The conflict is a resource war, complicated by two civil wars and the tribal struggle remaining from the genocide of Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda during 1993. Goma lies in the triangle of the eastern DRC, Rwanda and Uganda, just north of Lake Kivu. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans fled to this area, especially those connected to the Hutu fighters in the aftermath of the Tutsi genocide. Alliances developed in the DRC with other militia groups and the DRC military and Gen. Nkunda, a Tutsi, formed a Rwanda-allied militia in the DRC, purportedly to protect Tutsis living in the DRC.

There are few headlines coming from this region, but over five million people have died as a result of that conflict in the last ten years. Rape, a frequent tool of war, has decimated family social structures in a time when the strong role of women is sorely needed. Just in the past weeks renewed fighting has displaced 100,000 people according to UN reports and fighting just this week may close the border we plan to cross.

The MLK Group hopes that CPT presence might alleviate some of the pressure of militias on the displaced communities. Apparently multinational corporations hire militias to facilitate the access to diamonds, gold, tin and coltan (an excellent conductor used in cell phones and computers). I read that 90% of the world's coltan is found in eastern DRC...

I have had opportunity to visit with people from that region here in the states as I prepare for my trip. One young father with his son told me, "When you meet new people, ask them how their faith inspires their way of living." He understands that our unwillingness to live the truths we pronounce destroys those very truths.

I do come begging for money for this project. I do have reserves in my CPT account, but Doug says that expenses will be much higher than we originally planned. I also ask for your prayers for our peacemaking efforts and your attention to our economic complicity in this conflict. Thankfully the US is not the lone ogre here, but is joined by Canada, China, and the European Union in this resource war. If you do feel you want to share money to support the work of CPT, the expenses to cover my part of this project will be much greater than the $3000 for which I am responsible. You may send support to CPT, PO Box 6508, Chicago, IL 60680.

I will be sharing reports and commentary while I am in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. You can access those writings at http://cpt.org/blogs/cliff-kindy.

Cliff Kindy"