Nov 01 2008
Eastern Congo – A Humanitarian Catastrophe - Refugee Crisis Worsens
The Congo conflict
In Eastern Congo, over 25,000 people have been forced to flee from their homes and they are now in scattered temporary refugee camps. This ongoing situation has been caused by ethnic tension and regions battling for the rich mineral deposits. This is an area that has for many years been fraught with renegade soldiers, Local militias and the army fighting for control. This latest flare-up of violence is threatening to erupt into a war akin to the one that involved eight African nations and killed more than 5 million people.
The Second Congo War, also known as Africa’s World War and the Great War of Africa, began in August 1998 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly called Zaire), and officially ended in July 2003 when the Transitional Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo took power (though hostilities continue to this day). The largest war in modern African history, it directly involved eight African nations, as well as about 25 armed groups.
By 2008 the war and its aftermath had killed 5.4 million people, mostly from disease and starvation, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict worldwide since World War II. Millions more were displaced from their homes or sought asylum in neighboring countries. Despite a formal end to the war in July 2003 and an agreement by the former belligerents to create a government of national unity, 1,000 people died daily in 2004 from easily preventable cases of malnutrition and disease.
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British troops are now on ‘stand by’ as the situation in Eastern Congo is being closely monitored. If all negotiations and the ceasefire between the government and the rebels fail, then British troops could well be on their way to this war torn faction. They are still hoping at this stage that diplomatic efforts can bring a solution to the situation, but at the moment, talks are little consolation to the many thousands of wandering refugees, helpless, starving and without shelter.
Behind rebel lines thousands of refugees have been forced out of their camps with no known knowledge of their fate. At this stage though the focus is on talks and leaders are hoping that there will be resolve to this highly fused situation. As of today, about 20,000 Congolese refugees had crossed into western Uganda in less than 24 hours and many Congolese had fled their homes to go to the east and to other parts of the Congo.
200 Peacekeepers have been draughted into the area along with an additional back-up of army troops. There has been reported cases of many lootings, killings and rapes, and in a heartbreaking dash for the first food delivery to get into the region for a week, the ensuing crush and panic caused people to faint and get trampled upon and one small child looking for biscuits, got caught in the middle of it all and lost her life, according to UN refugee officials. Aid workers battled to calm the situation and police with sticks beat them back.
There have been clashes on the border of Uganda and Rwanda towards the end of last week between the former General Laurent Nkunda’s troops and the Congo army. “Nkunda, who is believed to be close to top military officials in Rwanda, quit the army and launched his own rebellion after Congo’s war ended; claiming the country’s transition to democracy was flawed and excluded the country’s ethnic Tutsi minority”.
He now collects his own taxes and commands an army believed to number in the thousands in his own fiefdom in the hills. In 2004, Nkunda briefly captured the eastern city of Bukavu and his troops have been accused of torture and rape. He is named in an international arrest warrant for war crimes”.
Pierre Emmauel Ducre, of the Red Cross’ and the spokeman for Democratic Republic of Congo told that “Rwandan-backed Tutsi rebels had forced 50,000 civilians from the camps where they had taken refugee and burned them to the ground”.
The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, the current Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, and Bernard Kouchner, France, have flown out to the Congo to meet with the countries President to hold talks to try and find a way to diffuse this highly volatile situation. At this stage the hope is that the ceasefire will hold and the negotiations will bring some kind of calm.-
Christianna Garrett-Martin
That’s terrible about the food delivery and the people that were crushed, particularly the lost life of the child. How horrible that must have been, and how hungry those people must have been having not had a food delivery for so long!
I hope they are able to diffuse the situation, it’s going to be tough though and something tells me that the ceasefire probably won’t hold and that calm is a long way off yet. It’s a dreadful situation and it really is going to be extremely difficult to sort out.
Excellent news post from you as always and thanks for keeping me up to date! I always love your writing and your way with words never fails to astonish and impress me. A true writing talent.