Cédric: The soldier who dreams of being a good Granparent.

Cédric was one of the few people I interviewed who’s life journey had been severely marked by the armed conflict; in fact, he described the war as being: ‘his career, the only thing he knows how to do’. Still, his biggest challenges in life are to be found somewhere else...

When the war arrived-

Cédric was born in the territory of Djugu, Ituri. Like most children, Cédric spent his days going to school, playing with friends and helping his mother with the household chores. Cédric childhood was however cut short, for at the age of ten, ‘the war arrived’.

As explained by Cédric, the war arrived at night, and while before that ‘life was simple and they were all living together like brothers’- in the first hours of the morning after they were forced to learn that- ‘those who had escaped the bullets together, were now killing each other’.

Cédric clarified that this social division was at the core of the Ituri conflict, an old division between the Lendu and Hema social groups, but which during the early 2000’s saw a spike in armed violence that translated into the fighting between the FNI [1] and FRPI [2] Lendu militas supported by the Rwandan and Congolese armies, and the UPC [3], a Hema armed group supported by the Ugandan government. Neighbours turned into enemies over night as a consequence of proxy regional wars, access to gold, land, and a long story of colonially induced identity politics.

Although the physicality of the war moved somewhere else in a matter of days, the violent societal division that arrived to his homeland meant a halt to work and the closure of schools; leaving Cédric with nothing to do and driving him to join his older brother working as a gold digger in Mongbwalu in 2002.

Mongbwalu is part of the Kilo-Moto gold belt in Ituri, which in the prosper years operated as industrial mining site; however, with the decline of the Congolese economy during the 1970’s and the liberalisation of the sector during the 1980’s the mines became mainly a site of illegal, but allowed, artisanal mining in which a new entrepreneurial figure, that of gold traders, opened Ituri gold richness to the region. This lack of control by the Congolese government, mixed with regional economic interests, and the spike of armed conflict in the territory unlocked a door for proxy militias to take control of the mines.

Cédric worked with his brother for about a year, life that he did not appreciate- for getting to the gold sites meant walking long and dangerous distances; and all in all, Cédric said that he did not see himself making a life as a gold digger. Nevertheless, his time working in the mines was also cut short, for in 2003 Cédric was forcibly recruited by the FRPI. Cédric told me that armed militias liked to recruit the young ones, because: 'they will follow orders without much questioning, and were easy to maintain’.

And so, at the age of thirteen Cédric became a child solider for the FRPI.

The making of a soldier-

After six months of military formation that included not only physical training but also  psychological indoctrination to hate the other ‘as the culprit for all his suffering’, Cédric became officially a FRPI soldier. He remembers entering in the military being so small that he was unable to carry his gun during the walks from one post to another. Although he liked the sense of authority, superiority, and freedom that carrying a gun at his young age entitled, he told me that it was hard work; and after a few years of seeing ‘so many people blessed and dying’ around him, he lost his taste for the revolution. And so, In 2005 during one of the crossfires between the FRPI and the FARDC, Cédric used the confusion between retreats as his opportunity to escape the militia and made his way home to reunite with his family.

His time home did not last much, for his homecoming in 2006 coincided with the flawed DDR [4] processes in Ituri. As explained by Cédric: the Congolese army arrived to give a choice to those engaged in armed groups; to either reintegrate society as civilians or to join the ranks of the Congolese army.  In theory those that were under 18 years old did not have a choice- they were to be reintegrated in society as civilians. But Cédric shared that the officers advised him to lie about his age to join the FARDC, for after all – what hopes for the future did he had? there was nothing waiting for him back home... or so they said. And so, at the age of 15, and ‘before even growing a beard’  Cédric was send to the province of South Kivu as a FARDC soldier.

The soldier who dreams of becoming a grandparent -

Cédric was not very talkative about his years within the FARDC, but he remarked two fundamental changes compared to his previous military experience. The first one was his freedom of movement, and the other his improved relationship with civilians. He feels more at ease with civilians, and independently of their social identity, he now sees them as his brothers, and his job is to protect them.

Although Cédric is proud of protecting his country, he would like to exit the military. Yet, he sees this as a rather difficult affair, for the ‘war is his career and beyond carrying a gun and driving, there is not much that he knows how to do’. During his time in the FARDC however, he has created an affinity for cars, and he hopes to study and become a mechanic. In fact, he shared that he is trying to close a deal with his superiors in which he is allowed to study at university when he is not destined somewhere.

As per usual, I finished my life-story interview with questions about his hopes for the future, lasting regrets, his life’s projects and the difficulties to achieve them. All the answers to these set of final questions centred about one particular topic: his dreams of forming a family- more specifically his whish of ‘being a good grandparent’.

Cédric told me that he was separated from his family before even growing a beard, and negated the possibility to have his own by a lack of means. He explained that in 2014 he felt in love with a girl in Bukavu. They started dating and by 2015 she gave birth to his daughter. The girl’s family however made very clear that this relationship could not continue outside marriage, and thus, he was to pay a dowry of two-thousand dollars; money which he does not have. Until then, and to make sure they did not continue with the relationship his girlfriend was taken by her family to Goma. Trip which he made a few times, but when the family realised this was happening, they took her further away to Kampala. Cédric told me that it’s been two years since he has talked to either his girlfriend or his daughter, and that the only way he knows about them is via phone calls with the not-yet-mother-in-law, who categorically refuses to pass on the phone. 

What I find particularly interesting about Cédric’s case is that: although his life has been somehow entirely marked by the armed conflict, both, his idea of becoming and his biggest challenges and regrets in life lie somewhere else far away from the frontlines: forming a household, starting a family and becoming a loving grandparent.

Endnotes

[1] Front des Nationalistes et Intégrationnistes; in English, The Nationalist and Integrationist Front.

[2]  Force de Résistance Patriotique d’Ituri; in English, the Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri.

[3] Union des Patriotes Congolais; in English, The Union of Congolese Patriots.

[4] Disarmament, Demobilisation and Reintegration.