DR Congo insurgent uprising cuts off children from families and classrooms

NORTH-KIVU, DRC – It could have been a typical scene of a lazy afternoon in the Congolese countryside. Shouts of joy and excitement ring out as children play in a field. Nearby, mothers sing lullabies as they try to rock their babies in the crook of their arms. Men huddle in groups, some smoking their pipes, as they engage in idle talk.

But this sense of tranquillity is a facade. And peace is a rare commodity in this camp for thousands of people who were forced to flee their homes following the eruption of an armed insurgency in the Rutshuru province in the far east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Over the past few months, more than 1,70,000 people, including women and children, have become refugees in their own country, as the Congolese army battled an armed group called the M23, thought to have been long suppressed and disbanded.

More than 30 civilians have been killed since the resumption of the clashes.

Among the worst affected are children, many of whom have been cut off from their families. The Red Cross says more than 800 children have been separated from their immediate family members.

As the days turn to weeks and weeks to months, the sense of despair has deepened among the camp’s inmates—there is no indication of the violence ending soon, and there is no hope for the people returning home in the near future.

For the children, it has become even more desperate as they yearn to return to school. Most of the schools have become camps to house the displaced people. Some have been occupied by the rebels as their temporary camps in areas they overran since the launch of their blitzkrieg in March.

The new academic session started on September 5, but for these children, trapped in a war they don’t understand, life has come to a standstill.

Life’s harsh lessons

Among the children at the camp in North Kivu province is 13-year-old Lucien Nsabimana, who found refuge here with his family after fleeing their village, about 25 kms away, when the rebels occupied it.

“It is difficult for me to study… My family and I are living in a school classroom in very bad conditions,” he tells TRT World. “It hurts when I see other children like me going to school while I can’t study,” he adds, referring to school children in other provinces not affected by the insurgency.

Lucien's only appeal to the authorities is to “solve the problem of insecurity” as he thinks that if peace returns to his village, he will be able to resume his studies without difficulty.

Francine, 16, fears losing another academic year after missing out on her studies in 2021 due to the volatile situation in her village. “I left the village of Jomba…I didn’t even finish the school year last year because of the war. I regret to see that I risk losing another school year because peace has not yet returned to my village,” she says.

Armed insurgencies and violence have blighted DR Congo’s eastern region bordering Rwanda and Uganda. Over the years, thousands of people have been killed in clashes between rebel groups representing the ethnic Hutu and Tutsi tribes, and between armed groups and the Congolese security forces.

And each cycle of violence has impacted children the most. Many of them have become ‘child soldiers’, some on their own, some forced to trade their pen and pencil for the gun.

The current situation too has brought out the worst fears of teachers and parents, as many schools in the affected areas are yet to resume classes for the new academic session.

“School activities have been difficult to start because children and their parents are on the move and have not yet returned,” says Kweli Mukeshimana, a teacher in one of the schools occupied by M23 rebels. “Even children who have returned to areas occupied by rebels have not yet resumed studies because their parents do not want to send them to school…many parents fear their children will be forcibly recruited into the rebel group,” he adds.

For the worried parents, it has been an endless wait for the war to end. “It hurts me to see that my children cannot go to school. If we could live in peace we would not be in this situation. I fear for their future,” says Sifa Sengiyumva, a mother of six. None of her children have returned to school. “I plead with the authorities to act quickly.”

Anger and hunger

Desperate and angry, hundreds of displaced children demonstrated at the office of the administrator of Rutshuru territory, demanding a solution to the security problem and ensuring a conducive atmosphere for them to resume their studies.

Luc Albert Bakole Nyengeke, the military administrator of Rutshuru territory, assured the children that a solution to their plight is near. “We have promised the children that the authorities are working to ensure that they live in peace and study in good conditions, which explains the offensives we are launching against the rebels, we are trying to fight them so that they leave us in peace,” he says. “For children who are on the move, we are considering measures that would allow them to study where they are.”

But it will be easier said than done.

At the camps for the internally displaced people (IDP), hunger and death stalk the inmates who are living in subhuman conditions with scant resources. Providing medicines, food and clean water has become a gargantuan task for relief workers.

Several inmates are said to have died of starvation in the relief camps though there is no official confirmation.

Even more worrying is the fact that the M23 rebels appear to have dug in for the long haul, entrenching themselves in school buildings and other infrastructure. They are also said to be better armed and more determined since the last time they were active in 2013.

The name M23 refers to March 23 2009, when an accord ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo. The M23 accused the authorities of not living up to promises to fully integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and government.

The M23 and its predecessor groups claim to defend Tutsi interests against ethnic Hutu militias whose leaders participated in the 1994 genocide against more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.