Congo Bleeds

IT WAS THREE o’clock in the morning when Anatasia Ndaonduye heard the first gunshots.



“Some people were caught in the middle of the fighting,” said the mother-of-four. “I saw them die; and after seeing them I knew we had to run away or else we would also die with them.”



There had been no warning, no ratcheting of tensions; war in the north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) had simply started again. So the Ndaonduye family ran into the night, one among thousands fleeing renewed fighting between rebels and government soldiers.



“The soldiers told us it was Laurent Nkunda fighting against the government, but I cannot be sure,” 30-year-old Mrs Ndaonduye told the BBC in November. “The only ones we saw were soldiers from the national army. There were so many of them passing by our homes that night.”



Her family fled with nothing but themselves for some 20 kilometres along rock-strewn paths until they reached a camp for displaced people in Kibati, some 10 kilometres outside Goma, the regional capital of Kivu province.



There, they were forced to sleep outside in the rain. Mrs Ndaonduye described conditions in the camp as ‘desperate’, and said her husband had to walk to Goma where, if he found work, he could buy food. Otherwise, the family went hungry. Still, his wife was grateful to be alive.



“I thank God that my family are all together… I feel terrible that there was nothing I was able to bring with me. I am a tailor; a dressmaker. But not any more. I left my machine at our home – my machine that I valued so much – and so if it has been stolen I cannot call myself a tailor.”



The two things Mrs Ndaonduye feared most were the outbreak of disease in the camp and the possibility that she and other women may be raped by soldiers or other men.



Her priorities were simple, “I ask those who are able to, to help mediate so that there can be peace… I would also appreciate some help for all people like me who have lost their belongings. We want to be able to leave these camps and return home and take care of our children. Of everything though, the only thing I am asking for is peace. Peace is my first priority.”





Silent genocide



The heart-rending story of the Ndaonduye family was no isolated case. The renewed fighting between Congolese government troops and Gen Nkunda’s rebels left an estimated 250,000 homeless in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Those joined an estimated one million displaced through decades of conflict in the vast country in the heart of Africa.



Struggling to recover from a lengthy civil war that killed an estimated three million people, DR of Congo has experienced few years of peace since it gained independence from Belgium half a century ago.



Gen Nkunda said he had launched the latest attacks to protect all minorities, in particular his Tutsi community, from attacks by Rwandan Hutu rebels who fled to DR of Congo after they were implicated in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. He accuses the Congolese army of working with the Rwandan rebels to exploit eastern DR of Congo’s rich mineral resources.



The Congolese government, meanwhile, said Gen Nkunda was backed by neighbouring Rwanda – a charge Rwanda denies. The latest fighting in DR of Congo’s tangled conflict also involved a pro-government Mai Mai militia.



Whichever side was at fault, in November, Congolese bishops denounced the international community for failing to condemn what they called a ‘silent genocide’ against their county’s civilian population.



The Congolese bishops’ committee criticised the perceived inaction of both the UN hierarchy and its 17,000-strong peacekeeping mission in DR of Congo – MONUC (Mission de l’Organisation de Nations Unies en République Démocratique du Congo – French for: United Nations Observer Mission in DR of Congo). The bishops called for more troops to be deployed to the country to prevent what many were already calling a humanitarian catastrophe from escalating.



“We are calling on the international community to work sincerely to ensure respect for international law,” said the committee. “It is crucial that a peace and stabilization force be sent to re-establish order in our country. The situation has reached intolerable proportions which… could destabilize the whole region if nothing is done.”



The bishops said senseless widespread killings of civilians and systematic rapes were now part of the daily routine for those living around of Goma.



“It is obvious that the natural resources of ... DR of Congo are fuelling the greed of certain powers, and these natural resources are not unrelated to the violence now being inflicted on the population,” they said.



The bishops questioned why signatories to a peace accord signed in January 2008 were not being pressured to fulfil the terms of that agreement.





Fr. Pierre Cibambo



In a plea for peace, Pope Benedict XVI also condemned the violence. In a November 9 audience at the Vatican, the Pope appealed to all sides to “work together to restore peace in that land (that has been) martyred for too long”.



He said the fighting must be brought to an end that respected the dignity of each and every person. Pope Benedict had words of solace for those who were suffering, and words of encouragement for aid workers from Church organisations who had galvanised to combat that suffering.



Catholic aid agencies – bracketed together through Caritas Internationalis, which has been working in war-torn DR of C since 1960 – launched an emergency appeal to help an estimated 250,000 people living in dire conditions either in camps or in the bush.



“We’re witnessing the escalation of a humanitarian disaster,” said the organisation’s Africa liaison officer, Fr. Pierre Cibambo.



Although continued fighting around Goma had brought the distribution of Caritas aid to a halt and forced the evacuation of international staff from the area, local Caritas staff had stayed behind to help those in need.





Children abducted



But as international attention focused on the fighting in North Kivu province, a Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), launched attacks in northern Congo, killing dozens, abducting hundreds of young children and rendering thousands more homeless as villages were looted and burned, the British aid agency Cafod reported.



Bishop Richard Domba Mady from Doruma-Dungu diocese in northern DR of Congo raised concerns about the mounting atrocities – and particularly the fate of children whom the Lord’s Resistance Army has a history of abducting to be turned into child soldiers.



Bishop Domba said that the Lord’s Resistance Army often kidnaps children, inducts them into their ranks, and forces them to kill and maim – sometimes making them kill their own parents.



Caritas delivered aid to 2000 families in northern DR of Congo, amid reports of churches being raided in several towns. In Duru, the Catholic church was ransacked, three priests were tortured and 50 seminarians were taken prisoner, Cafod reports.



“In September [the rebels] started looting property, abducting children, killing civilians and burning villages,” said Fr. Galdino Sakondo, a Cafod partner operating in a Southern Sudanese diocese.



“Populations have crossed borders to escape, causing a refugee crisis in three neighbouring countries; Sudan, Central African Republic and Uganda. Many arrive in need of medical attention. They have nothing at all, and are dependent on the generosity of host families. The refugees have lost all their household goods, such as cooking utensils, blankets, mosquito nets, cloths and of course shelter. They are in desperate need of basic support.”



More than 5,000 refugees have crossed into Sudan to flee the fighting in DR of Congo, according to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency. Caritas launched a $5.5m appeal to help those caught up by the crisis, and distributed aid such as blankets and clothes to help those who fled the fighting. Working with UN agencies on the ground, Caritas was also able to carry out food distributions on behalf of the UN World Food Programme (WFP) in camps around Goma, handing out corn flour, beans, vegetable oil and salt.



“It is important that humanitarian assistance is provided to the victims of these atrocities, but people can’t rely only on humanitarian aid,” said Fr. Cibambo. “The security needs to be restored to allow them to go back to their villages and cultivate their lands.”





Rape – a weapon of war



There was increasing evidence that rape was being used as a weapon of war, with a Caritas team in Goma reporting 39 cases of rape in a single day – 10 of which took place in a camp for displaced people. Many women were increasingly at risk of attack as they ventured out to find wood used to cook food.



“The situation is devastating,” said Alexander Bühler, from Caritas Germany. “No one can definitely say how many people in total have fled their homes because of violence, but it is clearly more than one million.”



With a fragile ceasefire collapsing as rebels and Congolese troops took up arms again, the situation became increasingly desperate for those in and around Goma, with outbreaks of cholera being reported in overcrowded camps.



“It is dreadful,” said Mr Bühler of the conditions in one of the camps. “There is no supply of medicine, 800 people share one water tap, the latrines are overflowing and hygiene is virtually nonexistent.”



By November, with reports of sporadic clashes continuing, many of those displaced people living in fear had been forced to flee more than once from attacks by various armed factions.



“People are living in fear,” said Michel Monginda Mondengele, Cafod’s emergency programme officer in Goma. “Some have fled more than once and they are losing their ability to cope as they are reduced to living in squalid conditions. Those that are settling in and around Goma can be seen and reached. However we are gravely concerned about the large numbers of people who have ‘melted away’ – seeking refuge in the dense forest.”



He said it was vital that humanitarian aid reached those areas, where the internally displaced people were increasingly at risk of starvation and disease.



As diplomatic efforts were stepped up to end the fighting, Catholic agencies operating in DR of Congo called on leaders of nations bordering Rwanda and DR of Congo to renew their commitment to a peace agreement signed in Nairobi in November 2007. But with sporadic clashes continuing into late 2008, there was little more that many could do but pray.





A PRAYER FOR PEACE



Let us pray that peace may come to the DR of Congo with the words of



a prayer written by Fr. Cibambo:



Lord, You have said: I leave you peace, My peace I give you.



We pray that peace may come to the Democratic Republic of Congo.



Grant us the strength to work for a return to peace wherever we may be



and in particular in the east of Congo.



We pray that the suffering of so many children, women, and men who are



hostage to this deadly conflict does not leave us indifferent.



Let us mobilise to support them with everything in our power.



Inspire and guide politicians and community leaders both in Congo, its



neighbours and internationally so that they have the courage to combat



the true causes of this violence.



For too long has this conflict plagued the people of Congo and the



Great Lakes region and left millions dead.



You are the source of life, a precious gift You have given us in Your mercy.



Let us never become accomplices to those who destroy life through



cowardice, cynicism, or in search of personal interest, but grant us



the grace to accept and nurture this life in ourselves and those



around us.



Mary, Queen of Peace, pray for us.



Lord hear us, Lord, hear our prayer.