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 Some 50,000 residents of Bunia in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week fled violence between rival militias. Increased fighting has followed the May 7 pullout of the Ugandan army – one of seven international fighting forces involved in what has been called “Africa’s First World War.”
The United Nations Mission in the DRC is sheltering some 12,000 people in a Bunia compound and at a refugee camp. Several cases of dysentery have been diagnosed, and aid workers fear an outbreak of cholera may follow. While civilians here hope for peace, many are skeptical.
“The problem is they may talk nice out there and sign every piece of paper pushed in front of them, but when they come back here they will return to the same cycle of violence,” Pablo Walifoli, a 28-year-old Congolese staying at the U.N. compound in Bunia, told The New York Times.
“These people desperately need peace – not just peace talks,” said Wilfred Mlay, World Vision’s Regional Vice President in Africa. “Multiple peace plans have been signed, but no one has moved to enact them.”
The latest cease-fire was signed Friday, May 16. More than three million civilians have died during Congo’s five-year war.
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