Concerning Concern
Karambi Village, Masisi Territory, North Kivu. I am standing on a rocky outcrop on the edge of a dust road in Masisi Territory, North Kivu, talking to a group of men and woman through a Kinyarwanda interpreter. The skies have cleared and as far as the eye can see in every direction, the lush mountains of North Kivu unfold into dreamy infinity. We have walked and driven a 15km stretch of road on which Concern has been working with the displaced and returnee communities for the past months. Members of the community are explaining to me how the road repairs were carried out, I am trying to be excited along with them as they explain how the water drainage systems will ensure the durability of the roads, I get genuinely excited when they start telling me that they are trying to work out a way of setting up road maintenance committees to ensure a long term maintenance of the roads.
Its hard to believe that a matter of months ago, this little corner of North Kivu witnessed the latest movement of armed groups across this scarred land. The newly integrated forces of the Congolese government and the CNDP, heavily supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces moved across the hills to finally resolve the problem of the long time resident Hutu Forces Democratique pour la Liberation du Rwanda, the descendants of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In truth it seems unlikely that the coalition has been successful in routing the FDLR, however a semblance of peace has settled over the hills.
Concern has been present in Masisi since the violent events of 2007 to work towards the strategy for stabilization and post conflict reconstruction of the war torn Kivus. In Masisi, Concern identified 30 km of key roads that will facilitate the return of displaced people and to open up access for poor farmers to the local markets. And today at the end of our project cycle I am talking to a group of Congolese farmers who are returning to rebuild their homes after fleeing the ethnic violence of the early 1990s. Mr Yoramama, a Hutu farmer shows me where his home once stood, here in his village of Karambi, the stone foundations of several homes are visible, overgrown with weeds.
He tells me that there are about 100 households which will return to Karambi in the coming weeks, work is already underway to prepare the fields for cultivation by these longtime displaced farmers, who have been living as IDPs in Matanda, 30 kms away for the last 14 years.
‘We have our land, all we have been awaiting has been the peace…..Now the road has been opened, the bridges repaired we can return, trucks arrive here to collect our harvests…. It’s the same for all off these villages you see around the sides of the hills…’
He points out the scattered homesteads, conical grass roofs dotted across the green hills.
‘These people have all started to return in the last few months’
The possibility of going home is not so bright for everyone; only 10kms away in Masisi town, at least 15,000 displaced people are living in four IDP camps, still fearful to return home.
Another man from the group told me that before the war his family had 58 head of cattle, all of them pillaged in the past years. He hopes slowly to start rebuilding his herds to graze on the lands that he left behind so long ago.
Its hard to believe that a matter of months ago, this little corner of North Kivu witnessed the latest movement of armed groups across this scarred land. The newly integrated forces of the Congolese government and the CNDP, heavily supported by the Rwandan Defense Forces moved across the hills to finally resolve the problem of the long time resident Hutu Forces Democratique pour la Liberation du Rwanda, the descendants of those responsible for the 1994 Rwandan genocide. In truth it seems unlikely that the coalition has been successful in routing the FDLR, however a semblance of peace has settled over the hills.
Concern has been present in Masisi since the violent events of 2007 to work towards the strategy for stabilization and post conflict reconstruction of the war torn Kivus. In Masisi, Concern identified 30 km of key roads that will facilitate the return of displaced people and to open up access for poor farmers to the local markets. And today at the end of our project cycle I am talking to a group of Congolese farmers who are returning to rebuild their homes after fleeing the ethnic violence of the early 1990s. Mr Yoramama, a Hutu farmer shows me where his home once stood, here in his village of Karambi, the stone foundations of several homes are visible, overgrown with weeds.
He tells me that there are about 100 households which will return to Karambi in the coming weeks, work is already underway to prepare the fields for cultivation by these longtime displaced farmers, who have been living as IDPs in Matanda, 30 kms away for the last 14 years.
‘We have our land, all we have been awaiting has been the peace…..Now the road has been opened, the bridges repaired we can return, trucks arrive here to collect our harvests…. It’s the same for all off these villages you see around the sides of the hills…’
He points out the scattered homesteads, conical grass roofs dotted across the green hills.
‘These people have all started to return in the last few months’
The possibility of going home is not so bright for everyone; only 10kms away in Masisi town, at least 15,000 displaced people are living in four IDP camps, still fearful to return home.
Another man from the group told me that before the war his family had 58 head of cattle, all of them pillaged in the past years. He hopes slowly to start rebuilding his herds to graze on the lands that he left behind so long ago.
posted by Gabriello Princip at 5:26 AM
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