Petronille Vaweka (born 1948), is a humanitarian NGO activist who led the Ituri Interim Assembly of Ituri Interim Administration, while in transition from the status of a district of Orientale Province to a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She won the Women Building Peace Award in 2023.
Vaweka was born in about 1948. [1] She was brought up in small village near Lake Albert where her father's business was fish. She had a carefree childhood and she went to the Sisters of Mary Ingelmunster's school in the city of Bunia which is the capital of Ituri province. [1]
She was to have six of her own children and a good number of grandchildren, but she also adopted more. She took on about thirty children and some of those she adopted had been child soldiers [1] in the violence that was endemic in her country. [2]
She became the interim chairperson of the Ituri Interim Assembly of Ituri Interim Administration, while in transition from the status of a district of Orientale Province to a province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[ citation needed ]
She worked with the Ituri Pacification Commission in 2003, which helped establish the assembly. In addition, she was elected as Ituri's representative to the National Assembly.[ citation needed ]
Formerly, Vaweka was the head of Fondation Paix Durable.[ citation needed ]
In 2024 she was of four candidates at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) in Washington DC for the Women Building Peace Awards. The other three were the Kenyan Hamisa Zaja, Dr Marie-Marcelle Deschamps of Haiti and Abir Haj Ibrahim from Syria. [3] [4] In 2024 Pétronille Vaweka became the 2023 Women Building Peace Award Laureate. [5]
Her achievements have been lauded by the United Narions and her face was displayed as part of a UN "Peace Begins with Her" campaign, outside the UK headquarters in New York in 2023. [6]
Orientale Province is one of the former provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its predecessors the Congo Free State and the Belgian Congo. It went through a series of boundary changes between 1898 and 2015, when it was divided into smaller units.
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is an American federal institution tasked with promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. It provides research, analysis, and training to individuals in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures.
The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or MONUSCO, is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). At the request of the DRC's government, it is withdrawing completely from the country by the end of 2024.
Direct elections in the Democratic Republic of the Congo occur for the Presidency, National Assembly, and provincial assemblies. The Senate, and provincial governors are elected indirectly by members of the provincial assemblies.
Ituri Province is one of the 21 provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo created in the 2015 repartitioning. Ituri, Bas-Uele, Haut-Uele, and Tshopo provinces are the result of the subdividing of the former Orientale province. Ituri was formed from the Ituri district whose town of Bunia was elevated to capital city of the new province.
The Ituri conflict is an ongoing low intensity asymmetrical conflict between the agriculturalist Lendu and pastoralist Hema ethnic groups in the Ituri region of the north-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). While the two groups had fought since as early as 1972, the name "Ituri conflict" refers to the period of intense violence between 1999 and 2003. Armed conflict continues to the present day.
The Front for Patriotic Resistance in Ituri is a Bunia-based armed militia and political party primarily active in the south of the Ituri Province of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Bangladesh Armed Forces and the Bangladesh Police have been actively involved in a number of United Nations Peace Support Operations (UNPSO) since 1988. As of 2024, Bangladesh is the largest contributor in the UN peacekeeping missions.
The Ituri Interim Assembly is a 32-member legislative body that serves as the legislature of Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It was created in April 2003 by the Ituri Pacification Commission, a UN-sponsored commission that assessed the current state of conflict in the Ituri region. Petronille Vaweka is the chairperson of the Assembly and represents the province in the National Assembly in Kinshasa.
The Ituri Interim Administration is an interim body that administers the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It was established in 2003 by the Ituri Pacification Commission and supported by the UN mission in the DRC.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1484, adopted unanimously on 30 May 2003, after recalling previous resolutions on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Council authorised Operation Artemis in Bunia, the capital of Ituri Province, amid the deteriorating security situation in the area.
United Nations Security Council resolution 1565, adopted unanimously on 1 October 2004 after recalling all previous resolutions on the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) until 31 March 2005 and authorised an additional deployment of 5,900 troops and police. It reaffirmed the commitment to respect the “sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence [sic]” of Congo and States in the region.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ratified the 2000 UN TIP Protocol in October 2005.
The Free Republic of the Congo, often referred to as Congo-Stanleyville, was a short-lived rival government to the Republic of the Congo (Congo-Léopoldville) based in the eastern Congo and led by Antoine Gizenga.
Jean Bamanisa Saïdi is a Congolese businessman and politician who was governor of the former Orientale Province from 2013 to 2015 and governor of Ituri Province from 2019 to 2021.
Médard Autsai Asenga is a Congolese politician who was governor of the former Orientale Province, and later a National Representative.
CODECO is a loose association of various Lendu militia groups operating within the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The name is an abbreviation of the group's lesser-known full name, the Cooperative for Development of the Congo, sometimes also styled the Congo Economic Development Cooperative.
Hamisa Zaja is a Kenyan empowering persons with disabilities. She founded the Coastal Association for People with Disabilities. In 2024 she was a finalist in the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) International Women Building Peace Award.
Marie-Marcelle Deschamps is a Haitian doctor working to support women. She has received awards for her forty years leading the health facility that she helped found including the Legion of Merit. She was a finalist for the 2023 Women Building Peace Award.
Abir Haj Ibrahim is a Syrian peace activist known for her work in promoting non-violence and peacebuilding in the Middle East. She co-founded a company to train peace activists which won a Livia award. She was a finalist for the 2023 Women Building Peace Awards.
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