Peace

Respondents were asked about their views on peace. A majority (90%) believed peace could be achieved. Respondents defined peace not only as the absence of violence (41%) and the end of fear (47%), but also in terms of unity, togetherness (49%) and, less frequently, socioeconomic dimensions such as achieving justice (20%) and obtaining work or money (16%), better health services (10%) or better education (8%).

Table 14: Definition of peace

When asked who, in their opinion, could bring peace to eastern Congo, 86 percent mentioned the government. The community itself was mentioned by 35 percent (the second most frequent answer) as the source responsible for bringing peace. MONUC and the international community were mentioned by 13 percent and 21 percent of respondents.

The survey then asked if respondents believed the actors they saw as responsible for bringing peace were committed to achieving it. More than half the respondents (58%) answered positively.

When asked what needed to be done to achieve peace, respondents provided a wide range of answers, such as a military victory over the armed groups (17%), arresting those responsible for crimes (28%), dialogue with the militias (22%) and ethnic groups (22%), and establishing the truth (20%).

Table 15: Actors for peace

* The answer ‘international community’ covers responses such as the international community, Western countries, the UN, and the like.