Violence in Congo Forces Families To Run

All six of this woman’s children were missing after an attack by an armed group on her village in North Kivu. “When they were burning the houses and saw you fleeing,” she said, “they caught you and threw you back in the burning houses. Those who stayed behind were burned.”

Thousands of families have sought safe shelter in the lakeside towns of Minova and Kalungu in South Kivu.

This has made access to food, health care, and other essentials even more difficult for residents, many of whom have taken in families in need.

“This has been happening every year since the 90s,” said the president of a local government committee, “but this year it is much worse.”

Since April, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has treated more than 200 patients who were wounded as a direct result of clashes between armed actors in the region. Teams are also supporting two health centers and treating patients for malnutrition.

Teams are improving access to safe water and sanitation services in an area where displaced persons have gathered.

MSF staff spoke with 26 displaced families who fled attacks on 21 different villages throughout the Ziralo zone in South Kivu and the Masisi, Walikale, and Bufamando zones in North Kivu in late May.

This couple fled their village in North Kivu after it was attacked. They are now missing two of their five children. “We don’t know why we came here,” the husband said. “We are at war and we don’t know which direction to go. Everywhere there is war and everyone has fled.”

This 38-year-old mother of five still has hope. “If we have peace, we can return and we will have things to sell, food—a normal life.” She was in the market and heard gunshots coming towards her. She took her children and fled from her village in North Kivu. They spent the night in the forest and then tried to find shelter in another village, but were told it was not safe. Eventually they reached the Minova displacement camp where MSF has constructed latrines and a water pump and is providing health care at the nearby health center.

This mother of six children fled a conflict-ridden area and was taken in by a family in Kalungu. “We saw family members from other villages who had fled towards us. In those villages, the houses had already been burned, people killed, and the women raped.”

But now, after the arrival of four displaced families, there are 43 people in the household.

Violence in Congo Forces Families To Run

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Violence in Congo Forces Families To Run

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