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UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs |
DRC: Bunia erupts in violence
NAIROBI, 8 May 2003 (IRIN) - Fighting involving heavy weaponry and light arms erupted on Wednesday between ethnic Hema and Lendu militias in the town of Bunia in Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The ensuing situation was described by residents as "chaotic" and "terrifying", with sporadic fighting continuing to erupt at irregular intervals on Thursday. The situation outside Bunia, however, remained largely unknown because of prevailing insecurity and lack of access.
The international NGO Medair said on Wednesday that insecurity had prevented it and other NGOs from carrying out their relief efforts, forcing them to take refuge in their homes. It reported groups of men and children, armed and drugged, roaming the streets, pillaging and killing.
One Bunia resident, who requested anonymity, said the current situation could be defined as an ongoing contest for control, on the one hand, between the Ituri Pacification Commission (IPC), which seeks to restore order in the region, and on the other hand ethnic Lendu and Hema militias fighting each other, while both trying to disrupt the establishment of order within Bunia by all means.
"The population, no matter what [ethnic] community, is in constant fear of looting and harassment by Lendu combatants," the resident reported, and this was forcing thousands of ethnic Hema civilians, in particular, to flee.
"The general situation remains totally fluid. Overall control of Ituri by any element inside or outside the IPC process cannot be expected within the foreseeable future. Ethnic clashes will intensify as the behaviour of Lendu elements against the Hema/Gegere community seems to have given sufficient reason for Hema/Gegere elements like Chief Kawa, Cdt Jerome and others to renew the cycle of violence," he said.
The resident further cautioned that the exodus of ethnic Hema/Gegere from Bunia would result in an aggravated humanitarian situation at their destination points, and that continued restriction of movement for the humanitarian community due to insecurity would result in further deterioration of the humanitarian situation of populations in inaccessible areas.
Although specific information on the number of people displaced, injured or killed remained unavailable, at least 1,000 people sought refuge in the MONUC compound on Wednesday.
The Roman Catholic Church information service, MISNA, reported on Thursday that a Congolese priest, Father Raphael Ngoma, was killed in his bedroom in the diocesan house where he had sought refuge. His body, with a shot to the head, was found on Tuesday, along with those of three other people. Ngoma was parish priest of Drodro, 80 km from Bunia, where ethnic clashes in April left hundreds dead.
In an effort to evaluate the current situation and discuss possibilities with the IPC for the demilitarisation of Bunia and the cantonment of armed groups outside the city, Gen Mountaga Diallo, the force commander of the UN Mission in DRC, known as MONUC, arrived in Bunia on Wednesday.
MONUC's spokesman, Hamadoun Toure, on Wednesday hailed the courage of the interim organs of the IPC, "whose determination to resolve the crisis has not been undermined by the recent fighting".
"We feared that the organs would dislocate due to the fights, but such has not been the case," Toure said.
MONUC reported on Wednesday that its forces controlled the airport and were patrolling Bunia, stating that its priority was to reassure the population following the withdrawal of Ugandan troops and to seek ways of containing further violence, if not preventing it. By Wednesday, MONUC had 411 troops in Bunia, and was expected to reach 600 by weekend, with the ultimate objective being the deployment of 850 troops in the coming weeks.
Local sources have complained that the UN forces are in reality deployed to protect only the UN's civilian personnel, and are not authorised to intervene militarily. "The MONUC contingent has found itself completely overwhelmed and is limited to defending the airport and its own security," one NGO reported.
MONUC has confirmed that its forces have not been authorised by the UN Security Council to intervene militarily.
In an effort to address this dilemma, international NGOs together with UN agencies in Bunia adopted a resolution calling on MONUC to protect their personnel and goods in order to ensure continued humanitarian assistance for the population of Ituri. They complained that MONUC had not thus far recognised the role and function of international NGOs and UN humanitarian agencies in Ituri, nor had it accepted international NGOs as viable partners of MONUC during the pacification process.
"The presence and work of the humanitarian community in Ituri constitute a major promoting factor of the overall pacification process in Ituri. Further presence and work of the humanitarian community in Ituri constitutes a stabilising factor for the population within an environment and political context which deprives the population of all kinds of government welfare and protection," the resolution said.
The statement was copied to international donor governments, including the EU and the US, urging them to bring their influence to bear on the UN Security Council towards changing MONUC's mandate from peacekeeping to peace enforcement.
The situation has left both international NGOs and UN agencies facing a moral dilemma: to evacuate or not. "The decision to evacuate has always been seen as a last resort," one senior UN humanitarian official reported, "because it would result almost instantaneously in widespread pillage, tragic choices with regard to decisions about who would be evacuated, given limited logistic capabilities, and resentment among the local population" left behind.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring Uganda, about 50 armed men were reported to have attacked Kamuga village in the western district of Bundibugyo, killing and abducting an indeterminate number of people, according to The New Vision Ugandan government-owned newspaper. The raid was the second in less than a month.
Residents told The New Vision that they believed the attackers to have been Lendus from Ituri. A search has been mounted for the missing bodies suspected to have been dumped in the lake. The army has been deployed to the area following the surprise attack.
In late April, a similar incident was reported in the village of Lukwanze, also on Lake Albert, during which about 80 people, most of them Congolese Hema, were abducted. The attackers also reportedly looted about 40 fishing boats, and killed some captives.
Themes: (IRIN) Conflict
[ENDS]
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