Refugees International: Publications: DRC Report

Home About Us Donate Where We Work Issues Blog

Seizing This Moment of Hope: South Kivu

Seizing This Moment of Hope

The Province of South Kivu lies across the eastern Congolese border from Rwanda, Burundi, and Tanzania, separated in the south by the deep waters of Lake Tanganyika. The towns there emptied in 1996 and 1998 as residents fled ahead of invading Rwandan troops, many to seek refuge in Tanzania, others to the interior. The Rwandans eventually withdrew, leaving behind local troops loyal to them, but violently opposed by local Mai-Mai militia. By the end of 2004, the Rwandan-backed forces were gone and the Mai-Mai brigades were incorporated into the new national army. The displaced have started to return, but are finding their villages burnt and homes destroyed.

The small town of Fizi lies at the end of four hours of bad road, a main gathering point for returnees.There, the RI team met a woman who had arrived just a few days earlier from the refugee camp in Tanzania where she lived for ten years. She was staying with nine others in the home of her father-inlaw because her house was destroyed, although her plot of land had not yet been occupied by squatters, a common risk for those who had fled. She had received food and household goods from the local office of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, but had no seeds or tools, essential to help her restart her life.

Those who fled into the interior of the province instead of crossing the lake into Tanzania were also waiting in Fizi, close to their fields but not yet ready to return to their villages. A man with five children explained that he was in Fizi trying to get the means together to rebuild his house, while a girl said she was too scared to go back home because her village was deserted. RI also met a young widow who had resettled permanently in Fizi, refusing to return to her home village because her dead husband’s brother would, according to custom, force her to marry him. None of them had received any outside assistance, as aid agencies were focusing exclusively on those coming back from Tanzania. They managed to cope, though, finding land to till, relying on their hosts in Fizi, doing the best they could until they could get home.

Table of Contents