Aid to the Church in Need: Eastern Congo: The horrors of Goma and the war-torn Kivu region

Eastern Congo: The horrors of Goma and the war-torn Kivu region

Posted by ACN News on 4/11/2008, 7:46 am
Board Administrator

Like Darfur - and the world looks away.

Is history repeating itself? Are we about to witness another genocide? The images have a familiar look. Hundreds of thousands of people in the frontier region of the Eastern Congo, close to the Rwandan border, are fleeing from the rebels, who are obviously supported by the Rwandan government. The great majority of them are Catholics, peaceful peasant families who had wanted to start a new life, planting their crops and tending their livestock, following the last war 14 years ago. But since the 7th of October things have begun to look just like they did then. The fields are empty, abandoned children wander helplessly, widows and old people are seeking shelter, the schools are filled with refugees who have nothing. "Not even blankets or a handful of beans or corn, with which they can pause and settle for a moment", says a priest in the vast diocese of Goma. He doesn't know where to begin with these people, who have fled in panic. All the trauma of the past has suddenly come to life again and stares, terrified, from their eyes. "The mothers and children need water, they need blankets, because the nights are already so cold". Somehow, he must find a roof and something to eat for close on a thousand families and several thousand other lost and wandering individuals. Together with the other Church personal in the region, he is for many people their one hope of survival. The Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) is working with them and has already given immediate emergency aid. If more donations come in, then still more can be done, said a spokesman from ACN's international headquarters in Königstein, Germany.

Democratic Republic of Congo/Goma
Emergency aid for the displaced people in the parish of Rutshuru.

The parish of Rutshuru belongs to the diocese of Goma. The town of Goma lies in the north of the Congolese province of Kivu, on the shores of Lake Kivu. Since late October Kivu region has been at the mercy of the Tutsi rebel leader Laurent Nkunda and his soldiers. They have looted, raped, burned and murdered - as have the fleeing soldiers of the Congolese army.

"We must not let Kivu become a second Darfur", says one aid worker, who prefers not to be named. "But Kivu is already a second Darfur, only the world doesn't want to hear about it", he adds resignedly.

The world is obsessed with the current financial crisis, yet in the shadow of this crisis people are dying in Kivu as the result of an uncontrolled war - right under the eyes of the UN and its troops. Most of these troops are well-equipped and they are three times as strong numerically as the rebels. But they are not really intervening decisively but in some cases even abandoning their positions. The Security Council prefers to wag a warning finger rather than issue a clear command to intervene.

Over a million people - reliable estimates put the figure at 1.2 million - have now fled to the north of the province; this is roughly the same number as in Darfur. And as in Sudan, so too in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo all kinds of reasons are being given for the war - ethnic conflicts, Hutu versus Tutsi, attacks by the police, oppression of minorities, etc. Only one is not mentioned, namely the enormous mineral reserves in the region, which the government in Rwanda has set its eyes on.

Goma is a diocese of horror and of hope. Already in 1992 and 1993 this diocese was repeatedly looted and destroyed. In 1994 over a million refugees from Rwanda fled the war and the genocide, overwhelming this region. One cholera epidemic alone caused the death of 50,000 refugees. Families of six were living on less than half a dollar a day. Then six years ago, the volcano, Mount Nyiragongo erupted, wreaking havoc. There was chaos, hunger, lack of drinking water; entire villages and suburbs were destroyed and fields rendered useless. Yet despite this, the courageous priests and sisters managed again and again to bring some hope of a better life to the people. They built schools and health centres. But now everything has once more been overwhelmed by the refugees. Just half a dollar and a family could survive - but meanwhile the world has its eyes fixed on the Stock Exchange...

So is it to be Mammon or mankind? In Kivu there is misery, and nobody is stepping in. The history of the genocide must not be allowed to repeat itself. Who will help to confront war and Mammon?

To help this cause please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

Democratic Republic of Congo/Goma 08 / 00156.

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Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148 ABN: 62 418 911 594
Ph/Fax (02) 9679-1929 e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org web: www.aidtochurch.org