Kinshasa, May 27th, 2025 (CPA).- Acts of violence against women in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by Rwandan aggressors and their M23-AFC supporters were condemned on Tuesday in Kinshasa, in a press release issued by the Permanent Consultation Framework for Congolese Women (Cafco). ‘I condemn the abuses resulting from the Rwandan aggression in the east of the country, in particular the heavy price paid by women in this part of the country, who have lost their families and all human dignity, because they are used as weapons of war’, said Grâce Lula, Executive Director of Cafco, quoted in the statement.
Ms Lula called for peace to return to the eastern part of the DRC in the face of the security crisis that has gripped the country for more than 30 years, before deploring the low level of participation by Congolese women in the peace process. ‘We deplored the low level of participation by women in the peace process and shared the experience of Congolese women at the Sun City conference. Our recommendation is that women take an active and effective part in the peace process, in application of UN Security Council Resolution 1325’, she concluded.
This platform of women from civil society was received in Kinshasa on Monday, May 26th, 2025 by the good offices mission of the French-speaking Parliamentary Assembly (APF). The Cafco delegation also discussed the many peace initiatives that have failed to produce any positive results, the almost culpable silence of the French-speaking world, and the people’s frustration with the continuing situation.
After Kinshasa, the APF’s mission of good offices will travel to Kigali for the same cause.