CPTnet
18 December 2007
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Fighting in North Kivu displaces over a
million

People are fleeing their homes in Sake and other towns in the Masisi
district of North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) because
of fighting between the DRC armed forces and the army of Laurent Nkunda.
Families leading children and carrying babies are streaming east along
country roads with bundles of belongings and mattresses on their heads. They
are heading to camps for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) that extend for
miles through green banana groves and over volcanic rock. Huts made of
wooden sticks and banana leaves, some covered with tarpaulins, stretch as
far as the eye can see. Women tend cooking fires, groups of children roam
aimlessly, and others stare into the distance as they consider their
interrupted lives.

As of December 12, 2007, more than 80,000 people have sought refuge in IDP
camps in the Balengo-Mugunga area near Goma. The Christian Peacemaker Team
(CPT) exploratory delegation currently in DRC has heard reports that 800,000
displaced persons are now in North Kivu province. At one camp, CPTers saw
hundreds lining up in the rain to register. One official indicated that
thousands were arriving daily.

The United Nations High Commission for Refugees, United Nations Children's
Fund, World Food Program, and M�decins Sans Fronti�res (Doctors Without
Borders) are trying to cope with the influx. Large open tents serve as
reception centres. Other tents house medical clinics. The camps have water
tanks and outdoor lavatories. Trucks unload stacks of firewood for cooking.
But there are not enough supplies for everyone.

Many families are living outside the camps in the beautiful green mountains
that characterize this part of the eastern Congo. Many have fled to the city
of Goma. Families are doubling up and finding it hard to feed everyone.
Prices in Goma have skyrocketed.

CPT learned also that refugees have fled to neighbouring Uganda where the
authorities have bussed thousands to centres far from the border. Thousands
more are camping out at the border between Congo and Uganda and can only beg
to feed their families. Generous Ugandan families have been hosting even
more refugees.

The conflict in eastern Congo has festered since 1996, but the population
moving to IDP camps outside Goma has exploded since September 2007. The
struggle over North Kivu has its roots in ethnic hostilities, and has
developed into a complicated power struggle. Military solutions have only
caused suffering. Politicians must now take responsibility for the distress
of a million displaced people who just want to go home.