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Civil Society's White Paper for the Inter-Congolese Dialogue
Many people in the Congo view the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) as
an extremely important political process for their country. The ICD
could help lead to a coalition government and a transition to elections.
Despite all the hopes invested in its success, the road to the ICD has
been marked by constant bickering, posturing, and positioning and more
than disingenuousness on all sides: both between and within the components
of the ICD. Civil society has not been exempt from these characteristics
and has undergone considerable turmoil over issues of substance (such
as over questions regarding nationality and others on the form of the
new government) as well as struggles of ambition by various leaders
within civil society.
In this setting, USAID's two principal partners working in governance
in the DRC-the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES)
and the International Human Rights Law Group (IHRLG) sponsored a national
workshop for civil society delegates to the ICD that succeeded in developing
a unified position paper for civil society. This position paper, which
was adopted unanimously by the delegates, defined civil society positions
on many issues including the following:
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new political order,
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elections,
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the new army, police and public order matters,
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social and financial reconstruction issues, and
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peace and national reconciliation issues (including
nationality).
The workshop also enabled civil society to develop strategies and priorities
for the ICD. Civil society is the only component of the ICD and Lusaka
accord to develop such a unified set of positions prior to the ICD.
Its success is due to a great extent to IFES and IHRLG's extensive network
of NGO contacts throughout the country and to the respect these two
American NGOs enjoy within Congolese civil society.
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