More Violence in Eastern Congo

More Violence in Eastern Congo

Salesians Serve the Needy

(ANS – Goma, DRC – Feb. 21, 2024) – In the territory of Masisi, a few dozen kilometers from Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, clashes between the regular army and rebels have intensified in recent days, with a consequent new and massive resumption of exoduses by huge masses of the population who fear violence. The humanitarian situation is serious and risks worsening further at any moment. While the Salesians continue to do everything possible to help the needy, moving on all possible fronts, appeals are going to the civilized world not to pretend they can’t see.

Clashes have come closer to Sake, bombs have fallen on the city, the crackle of bullets can be heard. Sake is located about 4 miles from Goma, in the territory of Masisi. The traditional leaders and inhabitants here are utterly desolate. They say that more than 3,000 families had already left their homes and work four days ago and now are wanderers without a fixed address. They have neither water nor food. Due to poor hygienic conditions, cholera affects some people and is a risk for everyone.

“Along the Sake-Goma road, toward Mugunga, we see children, young and old, sitting, tired, not knowing where to go. They were displaced people who had previously set their sights on Sake; now, following the approaching clashes, they were forced to leave Sake and head toward Goma. This is a second exodus for those who have been displaced,” testifies Pascal Bauma, from the Salesians’ Goma Project Office.

The new emergency is in addition to all the previous ones. Now there is no more space in the refugee camps, and those displaced must find other alternatives.

“We cannot yet estimate the number of people who have moved from Sake to Goma. On the other hand, the exodus is ongoing and is a mass phenomenon,” Mr. Bauma said. “Thousands of families have been forced to flee. There are those who stayed in Shasha and Sake because they were afraid of living as a displaced person; others stayed in Mugunga waiting for the situation to improve so they can quickly return home.”

This already difficult and painful situation has been aggravated by the approach of the fighting. Fortunately, no loss of life has been reported, and this is a mystery of Providence. But the bombs seem to follow wherever the fugitives flee.

In Goma, the anomalous situation and the difficult living conditions of the displaced have become the norm, a permanent reality. But now, all the streets that supplied the city with food and other supplies are no longer accessible. If things don’t change, a serious famine looms for all the inhabitants of Goma. The scarcity of some foodstuffs is already perceived, and the population lives in an extreme psychosis. They don’t care about the displaced, but are protecting themselves in the face of the risk of the city’s falling into the hands of the rebels.

Among other organizations, the Salesians are alongside the displaced, there with them in different camps, and they intervene at various levels. At first they tried to collaborate with the local parish to support the population taken in at the Kanyaruchinya refugee camp. Then the gradual saturation of the camps in the area pushed the displaced to create other refugee camps, including those built on the land of the Salesians’ Don Bosco-Ngangi work, which currently has more than 3,500 families, and Don Bosco Shasha, where until a few days ago almost 1,000 families were gathered, but which is empty now because the militant rebels have moved in.

The Salesians help the displaced people through frequent distributions of food and non-food items; the displaced are essentially dependent on humanitarian aid. In particular, it’s essential to distribute corn, soy, and sorghum to the children of the displaced, waiting for a possible meal in the evening. Other children benefit in one way or another from other types of support, such as games, hot meals, school, and medical care.

The Salesians in Goma would like to improve their service further, in order to buffer the emergency situation. In their projects there are an external dispensary in Ngangi; the activation of schooling possibilities adapted to displaced children who will otherwise have their entire education compromised; similar vocational training initiatives for older children; the training of social workers to accompany unaccompanied minors; and economic support for families to be able to start small income-generating activities.

But for a long-term solution to the difficulties that thousands and thousands of families have been experiencing for years in Eastern Congo, the decisive and real intervention of the international community is needed. In this sense, the work of raising awareness that even famous personalities and sportsmen – such as the Leopards of the National Soccer Team of the Democratic Republic of Congo – carried out during the last series of the African Cup of Nations should be welcomed with pleasure, as a reminder that in the indifference of many in the Eastern Congo there are those who continue to kill. “No lives are more important than others,” echoed the defender of Paris Saint-Germain, Presnel Kimpembe, a Congolese-born Frenchman.