Dungu, Haut Uélé: Fleeing the LRA and struggling to survive

March 12th, 2009

In remote villages in northeastern DRC, mothers tell staff at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) health clinics about the tragedies they have experienced. They speak about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) attacks and the struggle to feed their families.

In villages around the town of Dungu, in DRC’s northeastern Haut Uélé province, thousands of people have sought refuge from brutal attacks by LRA militias. Traumatised by the terrible scenes they have witnessed, in constant fear of renewed LRA attacks and with rapidly diminishing food stocks, these families and their host communities are facing a grim reality. There is little outside help and no prospect of a life of peace.

The LRA entered the village in camouflage uniforms, armed with rifles and machetes: the villagers counted 37 militia men altogether. They started looting the village immediately. They came into the clinic too

Georgette fled with her children from her village, Kiliwa, close to Duru. She is trying to protect them from terror, abduction and hunger.

Georgette has come to the MSF health post, which was set up this morning in the village of Ambitiko, 18 km from Dungu, to seek medical help for four of her children. She has a serious look on her face. She is sitting patiently on one of the wood logs covered by straw roofs that serve as the waiting area for the little clinic. Her children sit next to her, the older ones playing cheerfully with the youngest, a boy of five.

She talks about the attack on her village: “It was a Wednesday in September. My eldest children had just left for school and I had brought my younger ones to the health centre, to get their weight and height measured. It was around 10am when the attack happened. The LRA entered the village in camouflage uniforms, armed with rifles and machetes: the villagers counted 37 militia men altogether. They started looting the village immediately. They came into the clinic too. I managed to hide with my children but saw other boys and girls being abducted. The LRA burned the school, killed the village Chief and burned his office. They abducted many children and young people, among them my nephew and niece who are 17 and 12 years old. Neither have been released. They took the children and killed the adults.”

Georgette left the village with her husband and six children on the day of the attack. The family walked to Ambitiko where her older sister lives, about 45 kilometres to the southeast. Since then, the two families have lived together. Food is scare, although they still manage to have one meal a day, which consists of plain rice, or rice with manioc (cassava). “ But it won’t last for long,” worries Georgette.

Georgette feels she is lucky her sister can take care of her family: “Many others had to go back to their villages. They had no alternative. Apparently, the rebels stayed in the village for another day, ate the goats and other stock, then burned what was left.” Georgette’s husband went back to the village once, only to find their house in ashes and everything they had owned gone.

Since the day they left their village, they have lived in fear. “I cannot sleep,” Georgette complains. “I am constantly worried that the LRA soldiers may suddenly come out of the bush and kill us all. The children are worried too, although they have adapted well to their new home. Whenever they see the marks of boots on the ground they get a terrifying reminder of the soldiers that ransacked their village.” Since the attack happened, Georgette has not sent her children to school out of fear they might be captured by the LRA.

Today, they are all suffering from health problems. They all have diarrhoea: one son complains about chest pain, and a daughter has a severe skin infection. “There are not many places where I can turn for help,” Georgette says “I feel terrible. I am trapped.”

February 18th, 2009

Patients at the MSF clinics have provided the following information on LRA attacks on Kiliwa and neighbouring villages on September 17 – 18, 2009.

In Kiliwa, the LRA looted and burned the village; they killed the village chief with axes and machetes.

In Duru, the LRA looted and burned down the convent, houses and schools and abducted teachers and students.

In Bayote, they burned schools and motorbikes, looted houses and abducted people.

The attacks happened at the same time in each of the three villages. The group that looted Bayote travelled as far as 38km from Dungu and according to survivors claimed that they would reach Dungu.