Several villages visited on the Bule-Largu-Maze axis, considered "the epicenter of violence" for having been the starting point in December 2017, are almost uninhabited and present an image of desolation, with houses for the most burned down and fields of crops abandoned and devastated.
For two days, from June 25 to 27, 2020, our reporter who traveled on a completely dilapidated road during this rainy period, the localities of Katoto, Lita, Kparanganza, Largu, Ché, Saliboko, Dheja, Blukua, Drodro, Roe, Maze… paints a picture of a dying territory, with a population mainly on the run.
Katoto, a locality located some 20 km from Bunia, the residents timidly fear in their stomachs, fearing possible attacks from the surrounding villages where the militiamen operate.
Despite the almost regular patrols of UN soldiers, a large part of the population of this locality remains on the move in the capital of the province, where several hundred thousand IDPs live, living in makeshift camps, supported by the humanitarian.
Farther away, Kparanganza is among the rare villages inhabited by the two antagonistic tribes of the region, the Hema and the Lendu, whose dwellings are only separated by a road. Here, only houses with closed doors offer a welcome to visitors.
This is also the case of other entities like Che, Saliboko on the road to Drodro, which have almost completely emptied of their inhabitants following multiple attacks. Most of them took refuge in the Roe site, which today hosts between 4,000 and 5,300 civilians, according to estimates by Charité Banza, leader of civil society in the region.
The security of this largest IDP site inside Djugu is provided by the Bangladeshi contingent of Monusco.
Children displaced at Roe site
But Banza condemns the way international NGOs distribute food for these vulnerable people.
"How can we distribute food to some and leave others?" More than 1,500 displaced people live in unknown sites that are not receiving assistance, "he said, citing in particular the Djangi, Una and Vongi camps located just a few kilometers from Drodro.
Exchange between Monusco peacekeepers, FARDC soldiers and the civilian population in Maze
Passing Roe to go to Dheja, Gustave Dhendro and other local notables pleaded for the installation of a temporary base of peacekeepers in this environment which constitutes a great passage for the attackers during their attacks.
On their way back from Dheja, MONUSCO soldiers administered medicine to a few residents of Maze who were found sick.
Arriving at Drodro, the main town in the region, the Curé of the Catholic parish, which also receives a large number of displaced people, called on Monusco to intensify its patrols.
Father Dieudonné Londjiringa also called for increased humanitarian assistance in food and drinking water for people who fled their villages.
Displaced people accommodated within the catholic parish of Drodro
Formerly considered as one of the “granaries” of the province and the country for its supply of agricultural products, in particular beans, potatoes, corn and others which flooded the markets of Bunia, Kisangani and even Kinshasa where they were routed via the Congo River, the territory of Djugu, is now only a shadow of itself.
Despite all the efforts of the national army, the UN mission, the provincial and national authorities to destroy the CODECO militia whose motivations are often badly or little expressed, peace is slow to return.
It should be noted that Djugu is in the center of the province of Ituri and is among the most populated territories in the Congo with a population estimated at more than 2 million inhabitants, making it one of the main hotbeds of conflicts.
The reestablishment of state authority poses a huge problem in this entity, there are entire villages devoid of a police or military presence.
Access to justice is also one of the biggest challenges.
Djugu’s entire territory has only one peace tribunal, which sits in the mining town of Mungwalu in the far west. This means that entire populations have to travel several kilometers to meet with a judge.
The only prison in Djugu’s territory since the colonial era is also being abandoned following its very dilapidated state. The promise of its rehabilitation made last year by Congolese President Félix Tshisekedi during his visit to the region is slow to materialize.
You can get my questioning about these CODECO militiamen here
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