‘We’re afraid to return home’: Uprooted again, Congolese civilians face hunger and more insecurity

On 9 February, M23 fighters gave Tumusifu, her six children and all the other residents of Bulengo displacement camp just 72 hours to leave. For the second time in a matter of weeks they would have to pick up their belongings and flee. 

In January they were among the hundreds of thousands who sought refuge from the fighting when Goma fell to M23, but Bulengo is no longer safe. Going back to the city region may be the only option, but it is fraught with danger.

“We’re afraid to return home,” Tumusifu, a mother of six, told UN aid workers at the time. “There is still fighting in our home village. We are hungry and do not have money to help ourselves. We’re waiting alongside the road because we do not know where to go.” 

Since then, the crisis has continued to escalate. After Goma, M23 fighters took over Bukavu, the second-largest city in eastern DRC, and other key towns, and thousands more have been displaced.

This insecurity extends to Goma itself, where there have been reports of crime and targeted violence, including home invasions and kidnappings. The UN peacekeeping mission for DRC, MONUSCO, has described the security situation in areas seized by M23 rebels as “unstable and highly unpredictable.”

‘Some children are starving to death’

Despite the dangers, and with nowhere else to go, Tumusifu and her family went back to their home village near Goma. Conditions are extremely precarious. “Food is our biggest need right now,” she says. “Some children are starving to death. There are no medicines because the clinics are closed.”

When Francine fled the displacement camp she lived in near Goma, she was separated from her husband. She fled in one direction with five of her children, whilst her husband ran in another with the couple’s sixth child. 

“We have not seen each other since,” she said. “I’m currently taking shelter in a school, and our lives are even more challenging than they were in the camps. The most difficult thing for us is the scarcity of food and the lack of water. We have no access to a health centre.”

After two of WFP’s warehouses in Goma were looted, 70 per cent of the food stored there, some 9,000 metric tons, was taken, severely limiting the World Food Programme, WFP’s ability to support the population.

Across the country, looting has severely disrupted humanitarian operations, leaving over 450,000 people without shelter, food, or water. 

“Displaced people have not had assistance for six weeks,” said Shelley Thakral, WFP spokesperson in DRC. “It is critical to bring food in – people are running out.”

Markets are collapsing under the strain. A recent WFP study found that maize flour – one of the region’s staples – has risen in price by almost 70 per cent, with sharp increases also seen for salt and peanut oil.

Another critical factor is transport. Goma’s airport has been closed for more than two weeks, cutting off a vital humanitarian supply route, and the WFP-operated UN Humanitarian Air Service (UNHAS) is facing a funding crisis that could see services suspended by the end of March, unless the agency can raise $33.1 million to keep the planes in the air.

Women and girls on the frontline

As conditions worsen, women and girls face an increased risk of sexual violence and exploitation. Many are attacked while searching for firewood, and in extreme cases, some resort to providing sexual services to feed their families. Female-headed households are particularly vulnerable.

“Putting food in the hands of women and providing them with livelihood opportunities is key to curbing violence targeting women and girls,” said Ms. Thakral, adding that WFP plans to distribute 57 metric tons of food to support 11,000 children and pregnant or breastfeeding women at risk of severe malnutrition.

Amid all the hardship, people’s dreams of returning to the homes they had before they were forced to live in displacement camps are intact. 

“We will not choose a life of displacement over the peace of our homeland,” said Tumusifu. “Even if we have lost everything – including our farms and our livestock – we have the skills to restart.”

Surnames in this story are omitted for protection reasons