MiaFarrow.org |
Humanitarian and Advocacy Information |
Archives
| December 16, 2008 |
KiwandjaPeople here are on the run. Some people I've spoken with have fled more than 10 times.
Armed groups are everywhere; the Congolese army is drunk and in disarray; two local rebel groups called Maimai ( support the government); there is the notorious Rwandan backed Tutsi rebel group led by Laurent Nkundu; and the beyond-brutal Hutu rebel group of former genocidaires. All are rampaging through North Kivu attacking each other, abducting, raping, and slaughtering people as they go.
I visited a camp where 65,000 people have gathered . Women told me they are attacked every afternoon by "military" who rape women and girls as young as one year old. This encampment is very near the front lines. I saw UNHCR trucks moving them to a 'safer' site - at a rate of 400 a day. The most vulnerable first.
One unforgettable, wrenching image - 5,000-10,000 people pressed against the walls of the UN Peacekeeping (MONUC) compound for protection. Little kids are starving to death.
This is the town where a massacre of 150 people occurred on Nov 4-5th. It seems quite today but everyone believes the CNDP (Tutsi) is preparing another attack. Who knows. And all this set in the most spectacularly beautiful countryside imaginable.
Armed groups are everywhere; the Congolese army is drunk and in disarray; two local rebel groups called Maimai ( support the government); there is the notorious Rwandan backed Tutsi rebel group led by Laurent Nkundu; and the beyond-brutal Hutu rebel group of former genocidaires. All are rampaging through North Kivu attacking each other, abducting, raping, and slaughtering people as they go.
I visited a camp where 65,000 people have gathered . Women told me they are attacked every afternoon by "military" who rape women and girls as young as one year old. This encampment is very near the front lines. I saw UNHCR trucks moving them to a 'safer' site - at a rate of 400 a day. The most vulnerable first.
One unforgettable, wrenching image - 5,000-10,000 people pressed against the walls of the UN Peacekeeping (MONUC) compound for protection. Little kids are starving to death.
This is the town where a massacre of 150 people occurred on Nov 4-5th. It seems quite today but everyone believes the CNDP (Tutsi) is preparing another attack. Who knows. And all this set in the most spectacularly beautiful countryside imaginable.
Labels: starving-boy