Congo Refugees Shun Camps, Risk Violence

To thousands of refugees caught in the Congo conflict, returning to their homes in rebel-controlled territory is favourable to remaining in refugee camps.

Citing intolerable living conditions, thousands of refugees are returning to their homes in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The camps are devoid of basic necessities such as food, water and sanitation, forcing a mass exodus to rebel-controlled areas of Congo. This is despite the killing and raping carried out by the rebels. Refugees have said that their villages have been looted and are abandoned. Other Congolese, still afraid of the possible outbreak of violence, continue to make their way to refugee camps, stretching the capabilities of aid centres. Some world leaders have been actively trying to broker peace between the government of Congo and the rebels. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made a joint statement on Sunday urging the extension of a tenuous ceasefire. "We saw them yesterday. The cease-fire last Wednesday needs to be bolstered. The humanitarian needs for food, shelter, water and health care must be met through universal provision and secure routes for delivery," they said. The ceasefire still holds, but troop masses from both sides have been observed at the ceasefire line. The latest trouble in Congo appears to have its roots in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda where the Hutu majority slaughtered 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. When the Tutsis came to power in Rwanda, many Hutus fled to Congo. Afraid of revenge attacks by Tutsis, they stayed on in the eastern Congo jungles, terrorizing the locals. According to globalsecurity.org, Rwandan Hutu rebels in Congo executed, raped, beat and kidnapped hundreds of Congolese citizens in South Kivu in 2005.