Ituri: rehabilitation of military barracks recommended for the return of peace

Bunia, May 2^nd, 2025 (CPA) – The rehabilitation of military barracks was recommended on Thursday by a scientist as a solution for the return of peace in Ituri province, in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, during the varnishing of two books. ‘Let’s try at all costs to fill the security vacuum so that peace can be established in the province of Ituri. We need to rehabilitate the rear bases that existed, place men in these rear bases, and equip these men with sophisticated equipment. That’s how we’re going to restore peace’, said university professor Pascal Ndudanga. He added that the publication of his book ‘Governance in Ituri province faced with a security vacuum. Confusion between cause and effect’, is his contribution as a scientist on the imperative need for military barracks to put an end to the cohabitation of military and police in the same neighborhoods or avenues, with all the possible consequences. In his book, Professor Ndudanga points out that the cycles of violence in Ituri province are the result of the security vacuum, which is the main cause. ‘For some people, the causes are inter-ethnic wars, etc. (…) But in the survey we conducted, we found that the main cause that gives rise to the other causes that we call effects, is the security vacuum. There is a security deficit in relation to the rear, the bases that existed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which were ransacked with the passage of the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo (AFDL)’, he maintained.  Professor Ndudanga also pointed out in his scientific work that the consequences of this security vacuum are also being felt in other provinces of the country, notably in Kisangani, the main town in the province of Tshopo, where there is conflict between the Mbole and Lengola communities and conflict between the Teke-Yaka communities in the Bandundu area. As for the second book, ‘Ethics and Research – Citizen Integrity Action in the Democratic Republic of Congo’, he suggested that it was a call to order in view of the ethical deficit in both the academic and public spheres.