Wave of displacement in DRC amid violence uptick

As Eastern Congo has witnessed an uptick in violence in recent weeks, the country's displacement crisis continues to deteriorate, with more waves of people fleeing their villages to live in camps.

In Bunia, thousands live in precarious houses or tents made with plastic and clothes located in camps for displaced people established in the capital of the Ituri region.

Mahiso Sikuzote ran away from her home in Djugu more than six  months ago.

The 65-year-old widow, whose four children were killed by the rebels, is now completely alone.

"I fled the fighting, but in arriving here, I'm physically here but without any hope to live" she said while preparing some food in her makeshift home.

"We don't have joy in life because we don't eat well and equally, we sleep in very bad conditions," she said.

Years of violence and continued fighting between rebel groups and Congo armed forces have left tens of thousands of people displaced.

Two million displacements were registered in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2020, making it the country with the largest number of new displacements due to conflict in the world, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.

In total, more than five million people are internally displaced in the country, and an additional million have fled DRC. .

Adults, children, elderly, live sometimes all together in a small space where they sleep, cook and spend the day.

Francine Yibo, her baby, her mother and her sister left Komanda when the rebels arrived. Now they live together in a small room in the camp.

They are concerned about the health and living conditions in there.

"You know yourself that the disease is here, there is COVID-19, there is Ebola. With coronavirus we were really scared given the situation in which we are living with lots of other displaced. Only God can protect us," the 39-year-old widow, whose husband was killed by rebels, said.

The village of Komanda in the eastern province of Ituri is one of the towns that was recently attacked by rebel forces.

According to eyewitnesses, during the attack in September several inhabitants were killed with machetes, many others were wounded and kidnapped, and houses and shop fronts were razed to the ground.

"The Congolese government has to end this war. We want to return to our homes and go and cultivate the fields with our children, but to stay in this situation now is total suffering," said Cecile Simbo who took her children and walked from Djugu to Bunia, after an attack where she saw bodies and injured people lying on the streets of her village.

Gracien Lugi, Vice president of the displaced committee in the camp, said that the place is already overcrowded and people keep arriving, he called the authorities to find a solution to ensure displaced people to return to their homes in security to retake their lives.

The peacekeepers of MONUSCO, the UN mission in the country, provides security around the camps where thousands live.

"Because of the war, the insecurity, we have a population that is displaced, and these displaced people are in the camps and around these camps we have MONUSCO forces which give protection to the displaced" said Josiah Obat, head of MONUSCO in Ituri region, adding that if there is violence, people will continue to flee.

"I see a link between the security situation and humanitarian problems, because if there is no safety, people are forced to flee," he added.

According to the Norwegian Refugee Council, 1 in 12 people in the DR Congo are in need of humanitarian assistance.

In the most recent episode of violence in the region this week, Congo's military said that members of the M23 rebellion group had attacked a base in eastern Congo's Rutshuru area.

The rebel group denied any involvement in the attack.