10 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO FMR 36 Displacement trends in DRC Greta Zeender and Jacob Rothing

Internal displacement has plagued the Democratic Republic of in eastern DRC as well as during Congo (DRC) for nearly 20 years. This article provides an overview displacement and in the search for durable solutions. Access to land of the scale and causes of displacement during this period as through displacement has even well as efforts to address the assistance and protection needs of been an objective of the armed internally displaced persons (IDPs). conflict itself, illustrated by how CNDP since 2006 have expelled In the early 1990s inter-ethnic an undisciplined national army, Kivu peasants from one ethnic confrontations in the central and which acquired the characteristics group to replace them with peasants eastern regions aggravated political of the rebel groups it was absorbing. from their own constituency. IDPs instability which spread throughout From the end of 2004 until mid- who need to cultivate during the country and turned into a 2006, the Congolese army launched displacement in order to survive full-scale civil war in 1996. In the a series of military operations – have put pressure on scarce land years that followed, the process of some with the support of the UN’s resources leading to disputes with return and reintegration for IDPs peace keeping mission MONUC1 host communities. When attempting was halted when a major rebellion – to disarm groups in Ituri and the to return, they have often been against the Kinshasa government Kivus before the national elections met by angry farmers who have almost tripled the number of IDPs in June 2006. However, while these occupied their land in their absence. which reached two million by the operations contributed to improving end of 2000. Continued hostilities access to IDPs and allowed some Patterns of displacements between government forces, to return home – particularly in The vast majority of IDPs find refuge armed contingents from several Katanga province in 2005 – they outside camp settings, whether with African nations and three rebel also caused the displacement of host families in other villages and factions affected nine of DRC’s hundreds of thousands of people. urban areas, or in forests. Very often ten provinces, plus the capital people are displaced on multiple Kinshasa, with IDP numbers In Orientale province, where the occasions but for a short time. As peaking at 3.4 million in 2003. Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was a general rule, IDPs try to remain subject to a joint military strike close to their place of origin but With the establishment in mid-2003 by Uganda, DRC and Southern shifting frontlines in the Kivus have of a Transitional Government, which Sudan armies in late 2008, the forced many to flee greater distances, included the armed opposition, LRA retaliated against civilians by making it more difficult for them to violence decreased by mid-2004 killing thousand and displacing maintain communication with home and many IDPs returned home. tens of thousands more. areas or to return home permanently. However, despite the power-sharing agreement and the withdrawal of The struggle for resources Host communities have become foreign troops, the government Members of the army as well as increasingly unable to cope with the struggled to assert its authority in militia groups have been involved in influx of people and several hundred the eastern provinces. The continued the illegal exploitation of minerals, thousand IDPs have built makeshift presence of up to twenty armed contributing to further displacement. settlements or found refuge in groups remained a threat to the In early 2007, for example, several dilapidated buildings or camps population. The activities of domestic thousand people in Kasai Oriental in Ituri, North Kivu and Katanga. armed groups – entrenched within province fled as their villages were According to OCHA, the percentage the local population and antagonistic burned down following a conflict of IDPs living in camps in North Kivu towards civilians associated with over a diamond mine in the area. In increased from 5% in 2005 to 35% in other groups – triggered new Lubero territory in North Kivu, Hutu 2008 but fell to 16% by mid-2010. displacement at alarming levels, militia forced the civilian population illustrating that displacement in to act as slave porters for their mining A number of IDPs have fled to urban DRC does not depend so much on activities, causing many to flee areas. Whilst such urbanisation the scale of warfare but rather on their villages. Competition between swells slum areas, it is also an how such warfare is carried out. two communities over access to opportunity for adept IDPs to fishing ponds in Dongo, Equateur, integrate locally. Camp residents The government’s response has in October 2009 turned into a full- near Goma, for instance, have been to integrate militants into the fledged insurgency which forced found work in urban areas while army and to disarm and repatriate 200,000 people to flee, two-thirds maintaining part of the family in foreign armed groups but this over the borders to the Republic camps to access food rations. process has been marred by of Congo and the Central African corruption and further conflict, often Republic, the rest within DRC. The total of IDPs in DRC at August reflecting local ethnic divisions and 2010 stood at almost 2 million.2 competing command structures. Control over arable land has been at North and South Kivu provinces The flawed integration resulted in the core of the cause of displacement had the highest numbers of IDPs, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO 11 FMR 36 UNHCR/S Schulman

with some 1,542,000 people reported, when the conflicts started, has been school under the current war-torn i.e. close to 78% of the total number degraded by looting, fleeing staff and education system, reducing their of IDPs. While close to a million lack of funds. On several occasions prospects for a more secure future. people had returned home over the displacement crises have coincided previous 18 months, the number with a sharp increase of epidemic Rape has been used extensively in of IDPs had still increased due to diseases, such as hemorrhagic fever, the context of military operations ongoing military operations against measles and cholera. Some groups by most of the forces involved in rebel groups and due to reprisal are more affected than others. the conflicts. Within the context attacks against the population. Those who are forced to flee into the of existing gender relations in forests are particularly vulnerable, DRC, much of the sexual violence Vulnerability exacerbated as are the Pygmies who, uprooted is directed against women by displacement from their traditional lands since and girls; however, internally The International Rescue Committee’s 2003-04, struggle to survive. displaced men and boys are also (IRC) mortality surveys indicate that sexually assaulted by combatants. the number of deaths resulting from Many displaced children have been Despite all initiatives undertaken conflict has grown steadily from 2.4 forced into the ranks of the armed to counter sexual violence, it million in 2001 to 5.4 million in 2009.3 groups. UNICEF estimates that continues to be widespread IDPs also suffer gross human rights 20-40,000 children were associated throughout the country, used violations and social marginalisation. with armed groups between 2003 against the population generally, and 2005, falling to 3,000 by 2008. against displaced people, and as The displacement of farmers, the Displaced children in North Kivu, an instrument of displacement. burning of fields and food stocks, and particularly those separated from the destruction of infrastructure have their families, remain at risk not only Erosion of local capacity made trade and commerce extremely of being recruited by militias but Despite the national government’s difficult and caused widespread also of being raped and exploited. primary responsibility to protect and malnutrition in eastern DRC, an Left on their own, many are assist IDPs, there is still no national area with considerable agricultural homeless. Without food, medicines IDP strategy nor policies with a potential. Moreover, millions lack and shelter, displaced children direct positive impact on the lives of access to basic services. The health- have also been denied a range of IDPs. Some government ministries care system, already in a weak state other essential rights. Few attend have been tasked with responding 12 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO FMR 36

to their needs, and governors of that do not respect restitution rights peacekeepers who since 2004 have several provinces have established and international human rights. regularly threatened to withdraw offices to coordinate humanitarian their support for the army. assistance but with little success. In International humanitarian search of new sources of revenue, the assistance and protection Rather than supporting local DRC authorities have inconsistently International humanitarian agencies authorities (which can protect taxed humanitarian supplies. have been providing food assistance, IDPs but which also come from a health and other basic services to tradition that has favoured older Solutions at the local level have large numbers of IDPs for several men over women and children), been far more in evidence. The vast years, both during displacement agencies have instead strengthened majority of IDPs have survived on and upon return, focusing mainly alternative (and competing) their own or with the support of on camps and small towns in structures such as national NGOs relatives, friends and people of the eastern Congo. It has not been easy. and women’s groups. While these same ethnic group who have taken Constraints on mobility have been a groups may coincide better with the them in with the encouragement of significant obstacle to assisting IDPs Western worldview, the question local authorities. Church and IDP and ensuring quality in humanitarian is whether these groups really are leaders have often negotiated the interventions; attacks against national capable of increasing protection. modalities of settlements of IDPs and international staff are common. with the host communities. Local UN agencies in 2009, for instance, Recommendations to the authorities have also assigned to were unable to access 94% of North international community IDPs a place to stay, as well as land Kivu without a MONUC escort, and ■■Promote the development of to cultivate while they are displaced. have become reliant on international policies for durable solutions and national NGOs to reach the IDPs. for IDPs, focusing on security With customary laws guiding and on land tenure. most social relations in DRC, local The Protection Cluster, led by authorities have an important role UNHCR, coordinates its action with ■■Support customary law in to play in managing most protection MONUC. They have developed a tandem with the formal legal issues between civilians, including handbook for peacekeepers, detailing system in ways which are not IDPs. In some cases, they have measures for the protection of IDPs vulnerable to abuse i.e. so that had some success in persuading and a strategy to better assist IDPs it neither legalises the injustices militia commanders to change in host communities.4 However, of the past nor poses serious their conduct towards civilians, in December 2009 Human Rights obstacles to durable solutions. such as keeping combatants out Watch commented that, while this of communities, the creation of was an important initiative, there ■■Work with existing governance safe spaces for communities in had been no formal training on structures and support their danger of being displaced and the guidelines, no mechanism strengthening in line with making military looting and for monitoring and evaluation on international standards rather recruitment practices less harmful. whether and how these guidelines than creating parallel structures However, conflict has eroded their are followed, and nothing in which can lead to further capacity to manage disputes. the rules of engagement or force erosion of local governance. directives instructing troops to follow Internal displacement has affected these guidelines.5 The creation of ■■Ensure that the most vulnerable are the regulating role of local specific mechanisms to respond to reached by channelling resources authorities in at least four ways. pressing protection issues, including through organisations which First, the influx of large numbers of MONUC’s Joint Protection Teams have access to the frontline. people from other areas has fuelled (comprising civil affairs, human rights Greta Zeender ([email protected]) competition over scarce resources, and child protection staff), has given is Senior Analyst for the African Great leading to an overall increase in the international community the Lakes with the Internal Displacement poverty. Second, due to the mixing of capacity to catalogue violations and Monitoring Centre (Norwegian Refugee populations following displacement, assess protection issues – but they Council) and Jacob Rothing (jacob. local authorities have had to manage have yet to find a way of translating [email protected]) was formerly NRC the conflict of interests of different that knowledge into effective action in Protection and Advocacy Adviser in DRC ethnic groups for which custom and the field. and is currently IDMC Analyst. IDMC: tradition offers limited guidance. http://www.internal-displacement.org; Third, IDPs – having lost most of MONUC has been crucial to guaran- NRC: http://www.nrc.no their resources – cannot compensate teeing UN access to communities wronged families where there has in insecure environments, and 1. Known from 1 July 2010 as MONUSCO – Mission de l’Organisation des Nations Unies en République been conflict as in the past, leading in people living near MONUC bases Démocratique du Congo / United Nations Organization some situations to a logic of revenge are reported to be safer than in other Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the rather than resolution between areas. At the same time, MONUC’s Congo (Security Council Resolution 1925) 2. See latest statistics at IDPs and their hosts. Finally, reputation has been tarnished both http://www.internal-displacement.org/countries/DRCongo local military commanders have, by its inability to keep rebels at 3. http://www.theirc.org/special-reports/congo-forgotten-crisis to a certain degree, replaced the bay and by its support to a poorly 4. Protection in Practice traditional leaders trained to uphold trained, abusive national army. The http://tinyurl.com/DRCpeacekeepers-handbook 5. http://www.hrw.org/en/node/87142/section/12 customary law, leading to decisions relationship has embarrassed UN