05/04/2005

RI advocates Andrea Lari, Sarah Martin and board member Sandra Sennett Tully recently surveyed humanitarian and security conditions in the eastern Congo, a vast area where brutal fighting has led to the death of an estimated 3.8 million people from starvation, exposure, disease and other war related causes since 1998.  Despite the presence of a large UN peacekeeping force, called MONUC, violence in the area continues. Sometimes the UN peacekeepers themselves are targets; some have been killed.

There is another peacekeeping problem.  Members of the UN force have been accused of trading food and other commodities for sex.  A UN investigation found that some of the girls involved in the sex for food scandal were as young as 13 years old.

Despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, there is a prevailing sense of insecurity.  Thousands of people have fled from their homes and live in camps for the internally displaced.  Sarah Martin and Andrea Lari filed these notes from the field.

Bunia, in the Ituri Region of the eastern part of Democratic Republic of Congo near the border with Uganda, is -- on first impression -- a small, picturesque, rather sleepy town, but first appearances are deceiving. Many buildings have been damaged by years of brutal tribal fighting, and the town is patrolled by soldiers assigned to a UN peacekeeping mission, MONUC.  

Reaching Bunia, once a thriving city of 250,000, is not easy.  To get there on MONUC planes, we had to fly from the DRC capital of Kinshasa to Kisangani (in the middle of the country) and then take a plane across the border to Entebbe, Uganda.  From there we took a little Ukrainian puddle-jumper across Lake Albert to Bunia.  

Unfortunately, we arrived on the weekend, when most humanitarian agencies -- the town’s major industry now -- are closed.  This particular Sunday, there was a soccer game of workers in humanitarian agencies vs. UN peacekeepers.  The other major diversion is to visit one of Bunia’s two restaurants -- one Greek, the other Indian -- to eat or play pool.  (The UN report on sexual exploitation said that both restaurants also had doubled as brothels).

After the weekend, we had planned to visit a camp for displaced people in Tché, but we couldn’t get there.  Poor security made travel by road too dangerous, and we were bumped from a UN helicopter by a bunch of journalists. Instead, we visited a camp where about 8,500 internally displaced people live near the airport outside town. The camp is notorious because the sexual exploitation and abuse scandal that is rocking MONUC and the UN started here. The camp population is mostly from around Bunia and very poor.  The Moroccan MONUC contingent stationed next to the camp provides security.  Several women told us that violent ethnic rivalries — the fighting is largely between extremists in the Hema and the Lendu tribes — drove them from their houses in Bunia to seek security in the camp.  

The hilly area around Bunia is lush, green and beautiful. It's amazing what grows here -- zinnias, mango trees, peanuts, dahlias, morning glories. This is an area were people could survive and even thrive, if it weren’t for fighting.  The people are friendly, but nervous about their security.  The first night we were in Bunia, our driver told us that he is afraid to be out after sunset. Bunia is surrounded by different warring militias who prey upon civilians;  the UN warned us to avoid being out past ten o’clock at night.

A militia group killed nine UN peacekeepers two months ago.  Since then, MONUC troops have stepped up their engagement with the militias. They are in the process of disarming some of the militias and have brought in reinforcements from the internationally-trained National Congolese Army Brigade.  Still, there are large, insecure areas were neither Congolese nor aid workers feel safe.  Bandtry, kidnapping and massacres are among the threats.

Bunia, a town that looks so green and peaceful, is in fact an outpost on a dangerous frontier.