“I am a displaced woman and every day I live a battle to survive.”
Shukuru (not her real name) is 25 years old and her face is marked by suffering, but she shares her story with surprising strength from one of the farthest corners of the Bulengo displaced persons camp, west of the city of Goma.
More than 36,000 families, that is, more than 180,000 displaced people, live there in very difficult conditions, often in small huts built in a hurry, with flimsy materials, such as pieces of wood, tin and tarpaulins.
But among the dirt streets there are also the voices of many people who have lost everything but their determination due to the war and the humanitarian crisis generated by the violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Displaced women carry water jerrycans after walking 10 kilometers to fill them, due to a lack of water in the Bulengo displaced persons camp, near Goma, in the violence-ravaged east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Laetitia Kasongo
The Bulengo camp is located about 10 kilometers from the city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and some 180,000 people who have fled the fighting in the North Kivu region live in very precarious conditions. where the presence of the M23 rebel group increases.
Laetitia Kasongo
Shukuru (not her real name) is a 25-year-old girl displaced by the clashes between the army and the rebel group M23, who became pregnant after being raped in the Bulengo camp, near Goma.
Laetitia Kasongo
Vincent Ndahayo, father of six, poses in front of his tent.
In his city he raised cows and made cheese, now he does not know what will become of him and his family.
"We need urgent help, especially in terms of security, food and health," he insists. Laetitia Kasongo
Josephine Malimukono, director of the NGO Ligue pour la Solidarité Congolaise (League for Congolese Solidarity), with a loudspeaker in her hand, in the Kanyaruchinya countryside, during an event to promote human rights and raise awareness of gender violence.
Laetitia Kasongo
Mwasi Mirembe, a Congolese mother, and her daughters, about to arrive at the Bulengo camp, after fleeing the city of Sake, scene of heavy fighting.
Laetitia Kasongo
“I am especially concerned about security.
Being in a field like this exposes women to many types of violence and unfortunately I have been a victim,” Shukuru denounces, with a firm voice.
This young woman lived in the city of Rubaya, and she fled the M23 rebel group after losing her family in the fighting.
Once in the countryside she was raped by strangers who knew she was alone in a tent and as a result of the attack she became pregnant.
She will give birth next month.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is experiencing one of the largest internal displacement crises on the continent, with 6.9 million people forced to leave their homes, mainly due to the conflict in the east.
Since October 2022, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that 1.6 million people have been displaced.
DRC is experiencing one of the most important internal displacement crises on the continent.
Since October 2022, the International Organization for Migration estimates that 1.6 million people have been displaced
Since the reactivation of fighting about 25 kilometers from the city of Sake, in the province of North Kivu, at the beginning of February, there has been a new and important movement of population towards the already overcrowded displaced persons camps.
More than 214,000 people have joined the 500,000 already displaced in areas near the city of Goma, such as the Bulengo camp, according to Unicef figures.
Vincent Ndahayo, another resident of this camp, is also silent about the horror he has suffered and continues to suffer.
For him, it is urgent that the international community “do something.”
“This humanitarian crisis has plunged millions of people into misery and despair, we need urgent help, especially in terms of security, food and health,” he insists.
Ndahayo lived with his family in the town of Masisi, North Kivu, and made a living by raising cows, selling their milk and making cheese.
Today, he sleeps outdoors because he prefers to leave the small and precarious cabin that they have managed to build for his wife and his six children.
The offensive launched in 2022 by the M23, a majority Tutsi group, financed by Rwanda, according to the Congolese government, something that the Kigali authorities deny, has meant the reactivation of an old conflict that began in the late 1990s and that never became extinct.
The intervention of an international force from the countries of the region has been an insufficient effort to advance towards pacification.
“I prefer to return”
These days, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned that “the escalation of violence and clashes is taking a heavy toll on innocent civilians” and assured that it has received reports of murders, kidnappings and burning of homes. .
“The fighting has further aggravated an already serious humanitarian situation,” said Bintou Keita, special representative of the UN Secretary-General in the country and head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC ( MONUSCO).
I'm tired of this life, I'd rather return to my town than endure all this.
If the Congolese authorities do not find a solution to our problem, I prefer to return
Marie Jeanne Mupfuni, displaced
In the Bulengo camp there are many children, some are with their parents, others have lost their loved ones in the war and wander alone or taken in by neighbors and acquaintances.
Each family has built a shelter as best they could and struggle every day to get food and drinking water, which is especially scarce, which requires installing distribution points.
“Staying here is a permanent challenge,” confirms Marie Jeanne Mupfuni, with an extremely tired look.
“We live in a small shack made of wood and sheet metal.
The conditions are precarious, especially when it rains, because water enters the cabin and we cannot keep our things dry,” she says.
“And if it rains at night, we have to get up and try to protect the mat we sleep on, so that it doesn't get soaked with water.
I'm tired of this life, I'd rather return to my town than endure all this.
If the Congolese authorities do not find a solution to our problem, I prefer to return,” she says.
At his side, Jean Neti, a 20-year-old young man, shows greater resignation.
“We are totally dependent on humanitarian aid to survive, because without it we would have no food or shelter, but even with this assistance, life is still very hard.
We often have no food and drinking water is scarce,” he explains.
Despite everything, the young man assures that he prefers the countryside to his town, where he would have to survive alongside the M23 rebels who have occupied it.
Almost three million malnourished children
In the city of Goma, located a dozen kilometers away, the NGO League for Congolese Solidarity is one of the few sources of hope for those displaced by the war with the M23, especially women.
“But the precarious security in some areas makes access to the population very difficult and we also have limited resources, which prevents us from responding adequately to the growing needs,” explains Joséphine Malimukono, head of the entity.
The NGO continues to try to carry out its human rights awareness and sexual assault prevention programs, while offering psychological support to survivors of violence and trying to improve the living conditions of displaced people.
“We work tirelessly, but there is a terrible lack of coordination between humanitarian actors, which sometimes generates a waste of resources and a duplication of efforts,” he laments.
“The international community has a fundamental role, it can provide financial and logistical support, but also strengthen the capacities of local actors and promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict,” requests Malimukono.
We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe of massive proportions.
Make no mistake: if we don't act now, lives will be lost
Peter Musoko, PMA
On February 20, the international community and the Congolese government launched a Humanitarian Response Plan 2024, requesting $2.6 billion ($2.3 billion) to assist some 8.7 million people in the country.
At the same time, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Program (WFP) warned of the critical situation of children and families trapped in the escalation of violence in the east of the country.
“We are extremely concerned for their safety in and around the Goma camps,” admitted Grant Leaity, UNICEF representative in the country.
The most urgent needs, according to these two organizations, are the supply of food and drinking water, deploying mobile clinics to prevent and contain cholera, providing nutrition services and basic health care, and creating safe shelters where children and unaccompanied girls and respond to and prevent cases of gender violence.
For this reason and for the next six months, Unicef requested 400 million dollars (369.1 million euros) for its emergency response in the country and the WFP requests 300 million dollars (around 276.9 million euros).
According to the WFP, a total of 23.4 million people are expected to suffer from acute food insecurity between January and June 2024, and an estimated 2.8 million children are already suffering from acute malnutrition in the DRC.
“We are facing a humanitarian catastrophe of massive proportions.
Make no mistake: if we do not act now, lives will be lost,” warned Peter Musoko, WFP country director and representative.
You can follow
Planeta Futuro
on
X
,
,
and
TikTok
and subscribe
to our newsletter
here
.