Eastern DRC: in the Kigonzi IDP camp, the population feels abandoned
Audio 01:30
Displaced people living in the Kigonzi camp (eastern DRC) for 5 years for some of them, without hope of returning home.
© Coralie Pierret/RFI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
In Ituri, in eastern DRC, civilians are particularly targeted by militias;
the armed forces struggle to protect them.
In the territory of Djugu, the community conflict between Hema and Lendu has caused thousands of displacements.
Some displaced people have gathered in camps like Kigonzi.
Reporting.
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With our special correspondent back from Bunia,
Coralie Pierret
In the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the head of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the DRC (Monusco), Bintou Keita, continues her visit to this region plagued by violence perpetrated by a myriad of groups armed.
As in the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu, in Ituri, civilians are particularly targeted by these militias and the armed forces struggle to protect them.
In the territory of Djugu, the community conflict between Hema and Lendu, which has been going on since the end of 2017, has caused thousands of displaced people.
Some of them have gathered in camps and have been living there for several years.
► To read also L'Invitée Afrique - DRC: the work of Monusco "continues despite everything in support of the FARDC"
Five years ago, Aimée left her village at full speed after a violent attack by the armed group, the Cooperative for the Development of Congo (Codeco): “When they came
to our village, they burned houses, killed people, destroyed schools, and even destroyed hospitals.
»
“We have nothing and life is very difficult”
Since then, Aimée has lived in a camp in Kigonzi, near Bunia.
Here, he tries to resume his life before.
He is a teacher.
But he receives no salary: “
So far, we have nothing and life is very difficult.
»
Roger is a neighbor.
Although he lives a few steps from here, his family lives under the plastic sheeting of the camp for the displaced.
All deplore the abandonment of the authorities and the international community: “
The M23, we talk about it all the time.
The whole world knows the situation of the people of Kivu.
In Beni, we know what the ADF Nalu are doing.
But here, it is a question of drawing the attention of the world to the massacres.
»
Especially since food aid has not arrived for 8 months.
Difficult to find something to eat.
The fields that the displaced had ended up buying near the camp are inaccessible, explains Maman Jeanne, camp manager: "
The problem is that, when they learn in the surrounding villages that there is such and such a thing, they also pass in their turn.
It can happen to them too.
It happened also in other sites.
»
On January 19, ten displaced people were killed on the Plaine Savo site by militiamen, presumed to be Codeco.
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