Few of DRC’s displaced enjoy festivities
M23 rebels spoil the holiday celebration of hundreds of thousands of people
Daily TribuneM23 rebels spoil the holiday celebration of hundreds of thousands of people
GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — Few in the giant displacement camps north of Goma, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, are enjoying the feasting and festivities they usually reserve for Christmas.
Hundreds of thousands of people have fled an advance by M23 rebels, who have captured swathes of territory in recent months, with many displaced people settling in flimsy makeshift shelters on lava fields near Goma.
Conditions in such informal settlements, which line the road leading to the city of over one million people, are dire.
Luckier residents sleep on the floors of schools and churches. But many others have cobbled together huts from sticks and tarpaulin. Hunger is rampant, and poor hygiene has caused an explosion of cholera cases.
"I can't celebrate because I don't have anything to eat," Olive Pandezi, 35, said, holding rosary beads as she walked to her makeshift hut in Kanyaruchinya, a hillside area near Goma packed with the displaced.
The sentiment is common. Justine Muhindo, a 25-year-old mother of three, said: "We're celebrating in anguish because of war and hunger."
Her neighbor, Sifa, said that in her native village a group of women would pool money together to slaughter a cow on Christmas day.
"This will no longer happen," explained the mother of four, on Christmas eve. "How can we celebrate without food or clothes?"
At least 510,000 people have been displaced in the Rutshuru area of North Kivu province since the outbreak of conflict between the M23 and the Congolese army in March, the United Nations' humanitarian agency OCHA said this week.
