NUMBER 145 • ISSUE 1 • 2007 Huge Country, Huge Problems —Huge Potential Can DR Congo Turn the Page? THE EDITOR’S DESK Fulfilling the potential t is a huge country with immense problems. the rape of tens of thousands of women and girls? – it is Potentially one of the richest countries in Africa, but nevertheless, in a way, misleading. currently one of the poorest. A country full of tragic Much of DRC has not been actively involved in conflict – Iparadoxes. including some parts of the east. Hundreds of thousands of Its inhabitants are for the most part energetic and creative. internally displaced people and refugees have returned They are people who enjoy a good debate, have a great sense home, and are reintegrating successfully. Repatriations of of humour and love music – and they are brilliant at getting Congolese refugees are currently, or will shortly, be taking by on very little. place from six countries to DRC – and refugees from four of Meet the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo. DRC’s neighbours have also been benefitting from repatria- The majority: those who would just like to get on with liv- tion operations in the opposite direction. ing, and who came out in their millions to vote in the recent But all Congolese, even those who live thousands of kilo- elections. The people who are fed up with fighting, with cor- metres from the conflict zones, have been affected one way or ruption, with warlords, with foreign invasions. The people another by the troubles: through interrupted food and med- who just want to see ical supplies, decayed or their country back on destroyed infrastructure its feet. and lack of investment. And then there is the And DRC’s nine small minority: the peo- neighbours have been ple fostered by the ty- affected too: through di- phoon of violence and ©AP / A.SUNDARAM DRC•2006 minished trade, popula- anarchy that swept tion movements, and across the east of the above all through shared country between 1996 insecurity – with the and 2003 – and which conflicts in Uganda, continues sporadically Rwanda and Burundi to this day. The people fuelling and then who have grown accus- becoming lethally tomed to killing and to intertwined with those taking what they want, in DRC. and destroying what they don’t want. The people who have A peaceful, functioning DRC could – should – be an raped, pillaged, turned at least 30,000 children into soldiers, economic turbo-charger for the other countries in the region. and caused millions to flee their homes. The country possesses an incredible array of mineral wealth, In the immediate aftermath of a successful referendum on and could generate enough electricity to light up the whole of the country’s constitution in 2005, and tense but in the end Africa. But from the time of the Belgian King Leopold II, via equally successful presidential elections concluded in three decades of kleptocracy under President Mobutu, to November 2006, there is some hope that the latter group today’s collection of local warlords and foreign exploiters, may – finally – be on the wane. DRC’s wealth has so far brought it little except war, It is virtually impossible to give a properly balanced corruption, and – ironically – intense poverty. picture of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is just The recent advances on the political front are important too big. DRC has been generally neglected by foreign media milestones in the development of the nation, achieved with – especially outside the Francophone countries. What news immense effort and the help of over 17,000 UN peacekeepers. there has been, has inevitably focused mainly on the fighting But they represent only the first steps on the path to stability and atrocities taking place in the east. and prosperity that so many Congolese desire and deserve. Yet, even if the scale of these horrors makes such coverage The rest of the journey promises to be equally hard – and will unavoidable – how can you ignore massacres, mutilation and take much longer. 2 REFUGEES Editor N°145 • 2007 Rupert Colville French Editor Cécile Pouilly Contributors Cyprien Fabre, David Nthengwe, 4 COVER STORY Georges Charrière, Jens Hesemann, Michel Kassa, Philippe Maughan, Recent elections led to cautious hopes Sandra Candolfi, Simon Lubuku and unhcr for a better future in DR Congo – after a staff worldwide. decade of violence and anarchy on a scale Editorial Assistant Manuela Raffoni that defies the imagination. UNHCR/R. CHALASANI/ZRE•1997 Photo Department Suzy Hopper, Anne Kellner It is vast, and should be ONE AMONG THOUSANDS rich, but war, chaos and 15 Design 4corruption have taken a A Congolese rape victim, now Vincent Winter Associés, Paris huge toll on DR Congo. living as a refugee in Kenya, describes Production Françoise Jaccoud her ordeal as the captive of a marauding Distribution militia group. John O’Connor, Frédéric Tissot Photo Engraving Aloha Scan, Geneva 16 SHEER BRUTALITY Maps Experts fear that an HIV epidemic may unhcr Mapping Unit compound the suffering of some of the Historical documents tens of thousands of women raped in unhcr archives eastern DRC. REFUGEES is published by the Media Relations and Public Information Service of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The Women have suffered immensely at the THE CONGOLESE opinions expressed by contributors are not hands of rampaging necessarily those of unhcr. The designations 15 18 IN SOUTH AFRICA groups in eastern DRC. and maps used do not imply the expression With DRC still facing an uncertain of any opinion or recognition on the part of unhcr concerning the legal status of a future, the flow of Congolese refugees territory or of its authorities. and migrants to South Africa shows REFUGEES reserves the right to edit all articles little sign of stopping. before publication. Articles and photos not covered by copyright © may be reprinted without prior permission. Please credit unhcr and the 20 LEBANON DIARIES photographer. Requests for copyrighted photos should be directed to the agency credited. Seven UNHCR staff who worked in English and French editions printed in Italy Lebanon, Syria and Israel give a vivid by amilcare pizzi S.p.A., Milan. account of their experiences as last Circulation: 114,000 in English, French, UNHCR/A.BRANTHWAITE/LBN•2006 MONUC summer’s war unfolded around them. Italian and Spanish. Over a million people were ISSN 0252-791 X 20displaced by the Cover Clockwise from top left: short but devastatingly Congolese woman heading home. destructive war in Lebanon. UNHCR / J. OSE / ROC•2005 Voter in Bunia, Ituri. ©REUTERS / J. AKENA / DRC•2006 Lendu militiaman. ©AP / K.PRINSLOO / DRC•2003 Rainforest background. UNHCR / C. BOWERS / DRC•1997 Back cover Rwandan refugees in Goma. UNHCR / A. HOLLMANN / ZRE•1994 UNHCR P.O. Box 2500 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland www.unhcr.org REFUGEES 3 Huge Country, Huge Prob Once known as “one of the most magical and cut-off places in the world,” the Ituri Forest, in north-east DRC, has in recent years witnessed some of the country’s worst atrocities. 4 REFUGEES lems — Huge Potential Can DR Congo turn the page? BY C ÉCILE P OUILLY one of the richest countries in Africa. The Congo River – the country’s legendary back- irst impressions of the Democratic bone – is capable of generating immense quantities Republic of the Congo are often seductive. of hydroelectric power, its output of 40,000 cubic Visitors arriving in Kinshasa are confronted metres of water per second making it the second with an intoxicating blend of colour, noise, most powerful river in the world after the Amazon. Fsmells and movement. Against a background DRC also possesses the largest rainforest in of Congolese rumba and animated discussions, an ex- Africa; and a staggering array of subterranean traordinary range of market stalls decorates every wealth that includes between 50 and 80 percent of street corner: peanuts, smoked meats, ginger juice the entire global reserves of cobalt, niobium and and brooms are bought, sold and haggled over with coltan (a rare metal used in the manufacture of good humour and a certain panache. portable telephones and game consoles), as well as More than 80 percent of the economic activity is dozens of other valuable minerals including located in this lively informal sector, generated by diamonds, uranium, gold, silver and oil. legions of struggling but tenacious street sellers, Despite all this intrinsic wealth, DRC is currently bicycle traders and shoe-shine boys. And it is not just one of the poorest countries in the world – ranked 167 Kinshasa, tucked down in the bottom left corner out of 177 countries in the 2006 Human Develop- of the country, which functions in this way: “In ment Index. Eighty percent of the population live on the large cities, every street is turned into an open less than a dollar a day; and more than half do not air market. That's all the people have to live on,” have access to health care or drinking water. explains Zacharie Kasongo, head of the research The statistics are numbing: over 12,000 reported network Réseau Grands Lacs. rapes in eastern DRC alone in the six months up to But this vivacious street life cannot mask the sad October 2006; as many as 3.4 million internally dis- reality of a country where the problems are as gigantic placed people (IDPs) at the peak in 2003; around 4 as the terrain (the total land area is bigger than France, million deaths attributed directly or indirectly to Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK combined). the 1998-2003 war; and one in five children dead The Democratic Republic of the Congo should be before the age of five.