DRC refugees flee Kabila’s thugs

Exiles tell eerie tales of rapes, murders

Nchelenge, Zambia – Recounting horrific stories of rape and murder by government soldiers, thousands of refugees from the DRC have sought safety on the Zambian side of Lake Mweru.

About 6 000 Congolese residents have fled across the border since August, triggering an emergency response from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), which has struggled to provide basic food rations and shelter.

The DRC’s huge eastern region has long been wracked by violence, but fighting between government soldiers and militia groups, as well as inter-ethnic clashes, has increased this year.

The UNHCR said the unrest had caused the largest influx into Zambia for the past five years, with many refugees blaming DRC President Joseph Kabila’s troops for the violence.

“I witnessed an incident where one pregnant woman was raped, her stomach ripped open and the baby killed before they killed her,” Kaimba Kazili, 39, a former subsistence farmer, said at the Kenani transit camp in Nchelenge, northern Zambia.

“It is not safe to live in Congo anymore because soldiers are killing people,” she said.

On her journey to the camp, Kazili gave birth to triplets Ari, Kalangila and Kanaila — two boys and a girl — who were born on August 20, before she arrived in Zambia on September 14.

“It was not an easy thing but luckily we found a man driving a minibus who gave us a lift,” said Kazili from Kivu in DR Congo.

The triplets were shown to Zambian President Edgar Lungu when he visited the camp last week accompanied by UNHCR officials.

But Lungu had an uncompromising message for the refugees: “You have run away from lawlessness, so don’t bring lawlessness here. We have laws which should be obeyed by everyone. If we jail you, when you finish your jail [term], we will send you back to DRC.”

The UNHCR said the refugees have fled inter-ethnic violence and clashes between the army and myriad militia groups since end of August.

Earlier this year, security worsened sharply in the Pweto area of Haut Katanga, which shares a border with Zambia.

Many refugees said that they feel safer in Zambia but that food rations were scarce and children were not getting enough to eat. “We are also asking for medical clinics for the children,” said refugee Mauno Rukogo, 42, fearful of rampant malaria and diarrhoea posing major health problems.

The UNHCR has set up tents and grass-thatched shelters at the site, as well as two boreholes and nearly 300 pit latrines.

“I saw my wife being killed by government troops and I only just managed to run away with my three children,” said Minga wa Minga, a school teacher.

“I had to keep going until I found some Congolese heading to Zambia,” he added.

Kabila failed to step down after his second and final term last December. Elections were re-scheduled for this year, but have now been set for December 2018. – AFP