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Benoit Kinalegu

Guest Speaker

    Professional affiliation

    Priest and President of the Dungu-Doruma Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace (CDJP), Democratic Republic of the Congo

    Full Biography

    Father Benoit Kinalegu is a Congolese priest and the President of the Dungu-Doruma Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace (CDJP). Based in the town of Dungu in Haut-Uele district, Democratic Republic of Congo, Father Kinalegu and the CDJP have played a leading role in documenting LRA rebel violence, mobilizing local civil society voices in both Congo and the broader LRA affected region, and influencing the responses of the Congolese government and international community to the crisis.

    Father Kinalegu and the CDJP have extensively documented LRA atrocities in northern Congo. The CDJP has produced its own first-hand accounts of human rights abuses committed by the LRA and contributed directly to research by international human rights organizations. In addition, Father Kinalegu and the CDJP have helped mobilize local civil society groups from other LRA-affected countries to participate in regional peacebuilding activities. These efforts have allowed civil society leaders to share experiences of LRA violence, engage in cross-border dialogue on local community responses, and make recommendations to regional and international policymakers on how to end the conflict.

    Father Kinalegu has been interviewed and quoted by the Economist, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, the Guardian, Business Week, and the Institute for War and Peace Reporting among others.