In Pictures

Gallery

In pictures: Congo fighting enters third week

Fighting between a rebel group and the Congolese military continues unabated, causing thousands to flee their homes.

Veronica Nyiramitana and her husband, Josephu Jibesho, sit outside their small home in the village of Gisiza, two of only three people known to have stayed after fighting broke out. Their home is overlooked by a rebel position on a nearby hill from which gunfire regularly echoes.
By Phil Moore
Published On 2 Jun 2012

The conflict between the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) and M23 rebels in Rutshuru territory has now entered its third week, and is showing no signs of abating. Villages lie empty on the front lines, as thousands of internally displaced persons take refuge in neighbouring settlements, living side-by-side with the army trying to reclaim rebel-held positions.

As heavy machine gun fire, rockets and mortars pound the lush green hills on the Rwandan border, civilians lie in hospitals, and memories of North Kivu’s previous conflicts are stirred.

Eastern Congo has been the stage for much of the region’s conflict since 1996, fuelled by the fall-out of the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

In 2009, CNDP rebels were integrated into the government army following a rebellion the previous year. It is now many of these soldiers who are once again fighting the FARDC.

Josephu Jibesho, an elderly man left behind in the the now-deserted village of Gisiza, says that he has seen many people die. A rocket-propelled grenade landed just a few metres behind his hut. Rebels occupy the hills overlooking Gisiza.

Advertisement

“I’ve seen many bad things,” he said. “I’ve seen some other wars, but this is the worst.”

"Everyone ran away," says Mr Jibesho, propping himself up with the aid of two bamboo poles. "I don(***)t have the strength in my legs to leave."
Advertisement
The FARDC has been using heavy weaponry such as mortars, rockets and anti-aircraft guns to try to oust the rebels from the hills nestled near Congo(***)s borders with Uganda and Rwanda.
Fighting has caused thousands from the villages in Rutshuru territory to flee their homes, leaving markets empty.
In Bunagana, on the Congo-Uganda border, an informal camp for the internally displaced has emerged in the grounds of a school. Thomas Hakizma from the now rebel-held village of Chanzu came here with his family three weeks ago. "There was fighting," he says. "I have no news from there."
Fighting can be sporadic and very localised, fought in the very testing, hilly terrain of Rutshuru territory, where small villages lie nestled between the positions of the two armed forces.
Baraka, 15 years old, thought he had found safety in the village of Kasebea after fleeing fighting in his own village. But while he sheltered in a house in Kasebea, a stray bullet came through the wall and shattered his wrist.
Advertisement
United Nations peacekeepers have set up temporary bases around Bunagana. The UN mission(***)s force commander vowed to protect the town and its civilians on a recent visit.
This is not the first time that conflict has disrupted the region. At a meeting of a women(***)s association in Rutshuru, most of those present said they were widows. "The women of Rutshuru suffer a lot. Our children are being killed at the front," says volunteer Chiza Ntamenya.
The fighting in Rutshuru territory is now in its third week, as the FARDC tries to regain ground from the rebels. The United Nations has evidence that the conflict is being sustained by Rwandan support to M23.
As entire villages remain abandoned, those with padlocks have bolted their doors in an attempt to protect their belongings against widespread looting by the poorly paid army.
Maria Domitilla Nyabayazana is alone in the village of Kabanda on the front line. She injured her leg when she tried to leave Kabanda with the rest of the population. "I have heard bombs since this morning," she says.
High-level diplomatic talks between Kinshasa and Kigali continue, occasionally causing lulls in the fighting. Here, an FARDC soldier sleeps at an army position overlooked by the rebel-held Mbuzi hill.
Meanwhile, the population of nearby Bunagana waits for the fighting to end, so that those displaced can return to their homes.