Cross-border cooperation is necessary to accelerate integration, enhance prospects for a peaceful resolution of cross-border conflicts and transform border areas into zones of exchange, trade and cooperation. Cross-border cooperation is also a good ingredient in strengthening good-neighborly
relationships between border populations, territorial communities and administrations, as well as other stakeholders within the jurisdiction of regional states.
Before the eruption of the COVID-19 pandemic in the region, there were dynamic movements of people and goods across borders, between the countries of the Great Lakes Region. The border between Rwanda and the DRC alone accounted for an average of 80,000 people crossing daily, making it the second busiest border worldwide, just behind the border between the US and Mexico. Border posts used to be often crowded with uninterrupted lines, and traders, mostly informal (where women make up over 85%), students, workers and tourists going back and forth. This interdependency of cross-border socioeconomic exchanges made the main corner stone of cross-border relations and cooperation between the regional populations.
However, with the outburst of the first cases of COVID-19 in the region, cross-border exchanges are, today, totally paralyzed and border movements restricted, to curb the spread of Coronavirus across borders. The first case in Rwanda was registered on March 14, 2020, while in the DRC, the first case was announced by the National Institute for Biomedical Research (INRB) on March 10, in Kinshasa, and other cases have continued to be documented in the two (North & South) Kivu Provinces, neighboring with Rwanda. In Burundi, the Minister of Health confirmed on Tuesday April 1, 2020 that two Burundians had tested positive for the virus.
Response measures were announced by the governments of the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda to curb the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, including temporary border closures and restriction of cross-border movements, with only trucks carrying goods being exempted. This has seriously impacted tens of thousands of the population, whose daily living was totally dependent on crossborder exchanges, leaving a lot of families with very limited survival options.
It is reported that cross-border restrictions have already resulted in a rise of tensions and stereotypes between border communities. The Congolese community members have claimed that Rwandans have exaggerated the situation of COVID-19 to deprive them of their sources of subsistence, while Rwandans have also accused Congolese of being too careless, which put their lives and the lives of their neighbors in imminent danger. Some cases of xenophobic sentiments were also recorded where Rwandans in some zones in South Kivu were wrongly accused by local populations of infiltrating their area to spread the “Rwandan Coronavirus”.
It was also reported that some Congolese nationals who had permanent residence in Rubavu and Kamembe in Rwanda, but used to travel back and forth to Goma and Bukavu every day for their jobs and businesses, decided to leave for Congo after the Government of Rwanda announced a total lockdown. Some of them have reported that robbers have taken advantage of their absence and have stolen their property. They have blamed Rwandans for the theft, something that is staining the relations that were under fragile construction, thanks to different organizations in cross border
peacebuilding. There are other Congolese who stayed in Rwanda hoping that the lockdown was not going to last too long. As the lockdown got extended, and could not cross over to Congo, they risked losing their jobs. Thousands of Congolese requested their Government to repatriate them, in order to return to their respective jobs and businesses. There is also a number of Congolese residing in Rwanda, for whom the lockdown started while they were at work in the DRC, and on their return, were subjected to a 14 days quarantine, separated from their families, among them were mothers separated from their children.
These new situations in the cross-border context between the two countries added to an already fragile situation and may result in more issues affecting the peaceful coexistence between the populations of the region, if not effectively and timely addressed. Never Again Rwanda, together with Interpeace and partner organisations in the DRC are now discussing a plan to regularly conduct analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on cross-border relations and regional cooperation, and engage in dialogue with relevant authorities, for appropriate measures to overcome negative effects on peace and the wellbeing of regional populations.
By Ernest Dukuzumuremyi, with contributions from Paul N. Muhozi
Ernest Dukuzumuremyi is a cross-border peacebuilding practitioner and a research fellow
Paul N. Muhozi is a cross-border peacebuilding practitioner