The explosion, in the largely Shiite neighborhood of Shula, is the first major attack since a series of explosions in the last weeks of April left more than 160 dead, and it fits what security officials have described as a possible pattern: a substantial decrease in the widespread violence that once plagued the city on a daily basis, punctuated by occasional larger, more spectacular attacks.
The program, along with an overall decrease in violence in the past two years, has halved the child mortality rate in some parts of eastern Congo, said Emmanuel d'Harcourt, an expert on child health at the International Rescue Committee.
"Every year we see a decrease in the statistics of violence against women," she said.
"There has been a decrease in the level of violence -- it hasn't gone to zero, but there's been a decrease -- so these people feel more comfortable coming out".
From having to stage the most influential protest on race in a generation only to see absolutely zero decrease in the level of violence faced by the black community?
"We are very happy about the decrease in the level of violence, but we are seeing continued efforts by terror organizations to rearm themselves," said Jonathan Peled, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman.
"The mission here began in 2008 and there had actually been a decrease in the amount of violence and civilians killed, but in 2012 we saw a serious uptick and it's continued right into this year," he told me.
The result was a dramatic decrease in violence in the South.
According to one study conducted by economists, access to legal services, more than to shelters, hotlines, or counseling, was the most significant cause of a dramatic decrease in domestic violence in the 1990s.
When most people talk about the decrease in gun violence, they point to the plummeting number of gun deaths as evidence.
