Twenty-six leaders from civil society organizations in the northern part of North Kivu province were trained on Wednesday and Thursday, April 24, in Beni on combating disinformation and hate speech. This initiative by MONUSCO's Civil Affairs section follows the roadmap adopted at the end of a workshop that brought together MONUSCO and the four civil society coordinations from this part of the province in November 2024.

Participants come from Beni, Butembo, and Lubero. Once trained, they will, in turn, train other members of civil society. According to Pépin Kavota, provincial coordinator of North Kivu civil society, disinformation, misinformation, rumors, and hate speech are "sources of the breakdown of the social fabric." He believes it is imperative that civil society understands these concepts and the contexts that favor them in order to better guide the population of a region where, more than once, false information has caused panic movements. Media regularly report cases of announcements of pseudo-armed attacks that displace many families in villages of Beni or Lubero.

«I admit that peace and social cohesion are essential pillars for the development of our province. However, these elements are constantly threatened by the spread of false information, rumors, and hate speech. It is therefore imperative that we, actors and artisans of peace, take a proactive and effective position to combat these threats," declared the city mayor, Senior Commissioner Jacob Nyofondo, at the opening of the two-day training. For him, this training must be an opportunity to examine the root causes of disinformation, false information, rumors, and hate speech, as well as their harmful impact on the promotion of peace and social cohesion in Greater North Kivu, our living environment. ».

«This workshop comes at the right time because, for two days, it will be about strengthening the capacities of the four civil society coordinations - vital forces - and other coordinations of civil society, youth, and women on disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech and to support their respective awareness-raising efforts on this issue. », said Adam Salami Obatoki, coordinator of the Civil Affairs section of MONUSCO's sub-office in Beni.

During the training, the issue of social media use was also addressed. Indeed, these platforms are owen the channel for spreading rumors and manipulations within public opinion. Faced with this state of affairs, the mayor of Beni calls for education: "This is how we will be able to implement better practices to raise awareness and educate the population by emphasizing the need for fact-checking and the promotion of critical thinking. I want to emphasize the importance of exploring the different methods and tools available to detect and combat disinformation, false information, rumors, and hate speech that have become commonplace in our society, especially since the advent of social media."