The Road to the Horizon

[i-MSF: Afghan elder with child]
Just like Christmas carols, pennies in the Salvation Army collection tin, loads of booze, turkey experiments in the oven, and presents you never asked for, MSF (or "Doctors without Borders" for the Anglophones) has its annual traditions too: Every year-end, them release theirs "Top Ten Humanitarian Crisis of 2009".

On The Road, we have the tradition of summarizing this Top 10 of "world shame" (see our 2008 and 2007 posts).

Top 10 humanitarian crisis of 2009[i-Top 10 humanitarian crisis of 2009]MSF began with the "Top Ten" list in 1998, when a famine in southern Sudan went largely unreported in the US media. Maybe due to the CNN effect ("no media attention, no aid pesos"), MSF went a more commercial course last year, converting "the most Underreported Crisis" list, to "the Top 10 Humanitarian Crisis".

This year, MSF reports in their top 10:

• Unrelenting Violence Stalks Civilians Throughout Eastern DR Congo (Tell me something new, DRC tops the list every year)
• Somalis Endure Violence and Lack of Access to Health Care (been in the top list since.. well, since for ever)
• Precarious Situation for People in Southern Sudan and Darfur (tell me something new)
• Thousands Injured during the Final Stage of Sri Lanka's Decades-long War (ok, the Sri Lanka government topped themselves this year, I have to admit. They deserved a special mention for nearing genocide this year.)
• Civilians Suffer From Violence & Neglect in Pakistan (Mjah... More than last year, I agree. But mostly over-reported news this year.)
• Politics of Aid Leaves many Afghans Cut off from Humanitarian Assistance (On the hit list since the 70's, but US violence in Afghanistan definitively increased, I agree. Hardly underreported news, though).
• Civilians Trapped in Violent War in Northern Yemen ("North, South, Left, Right:Yemen is always in the Fight. North, South, Left, Right...." Now that the US and Saudis start bombing Yemen rebels, all will be over soon. Rrright.)
• Woefully Inadequate Funding Undermines Gains in Childhood Malnutrition Treatment (True. No change.)
• Funding for AIDS Treatment Stagnating Despite Millions Still in Need (True. No change)
• Lack of R&D and Scale Up of Treatment Plagues Patients with Neglected Diseases (True. No change).
  

[Loband: Embedded Object Removed - http://blip.tv/play/AYGyp2UC]
Today, 44,000 people are reported to be on the run again in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Do me a favour. Leave a message on Condition Critical, MSF's advocacy and awareness campaign about the plight of people in the DRC.

It is a small deed, as a sign of solidarity. May it help stop the violence.

The discussion around MSF UK's controversial video sparked quite a lot of comments around the topic 'How do you portray aid and poverty' or 'How do you make people think about these subjects'.

So I thought it is a good idea to show another way. A way that touched me. Meet Emily Troutman.

[i-Emily Troutman]Emily Troutman is a writer and photographer living in Washington. She just came back after a month travelling around Kivu, in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She made a video collage of her pictures, mounted it with some gripping music and appropriate text. Its simplicity took me in, and contrasted sharply with the MSF video we talked about a few days ago. Have a look for yourself:

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I contacted Emily, and we had an interesting exchange:

Why did you make this video?
Emily: It was a rare opportunity to give voice to an issue that at this moment only exists at the fringes of the mainstream media.

Was this your first trip to rural Africa?
Emily: I also traveled with UNOCHA in the Gulu area of Uganda in 2006. I took some wisdom and knowledge from that trip into Congo. For example, I already knew what real poverty and starvation looked like, so I was able to pay attention to what could maybe be called higher-level needs, but are still urgent: space, pots to cook in, blankets. Of course in Congo, the biggest issue is safety.

What was different in the experience between the two trips, Congo and Uganda?
Emily: In Congo, I generally saw less hungry people, but still some malnutrition, and a whole new complexity of issues facing internally displaced people (IDPs). In Congo, IDPs are still running in a way that they were not in Uganda in 2006. I was also profoundly impacted by the enormity of the jungle in Congo. My four day trip to Pinga, through an area where civilians and aid workers have been shot, really brought home the sense of danger that the Congolese face in simple day-to-day tasks like gathering wood, or walking to market.

These are areas where the authorities or even the people, are not always happy to see a photographer
Emily: The DRC was a very frustrating place to take photos because the work I was doing was technically illegal.
It is exceptionally difficult to get permission to take photos there, so most of the time when I shot, it was in IDP camps or traveling with UN MONUC escorts. I have a profound respect for those photographers who risk their lives to take photos of the military or shine light on issues like child soldiers.

But DRC.. So many have published stuff about the DRC?
Emily: I recognized that Congo, like so many intractable problems, has a way of receding into the noise of daily life. Even for me, it became one of these world crises that are too far away and too foreign to matter on a daily basis. It becomes hard to summon the energy to pay attention. Like, why even look at the issue if I can’t do anything to help?

And did you? Did you help?
Emily: I wanted to go, just so I could see. And ultimately, to decide if that experience of seeing and sharing what I saw could transform how all of us think about Congo, and more generally, the problems of “other people.” Although I have written and photographed similar issues in the past, Congo seemed uniquely overlooked, especially in light of the scale of its tragedy.

People talk a lot about “awareness” and “action” and “making a difference.” But honestly, this was not an aspiration of mine. I only wanted to be open to the moment and encourage those I photograph to also be open to me. The next part is like a witnessing, seeing what happens when two people enter a silent pact to tell the truth. I wanted to make the video because it is an easy way to draw people in; a photo doesn't ask anything of us except our attention.


You can find the stories behind the pictures, on Emily's blog. More of her work, you can find on on her website.

[i-LRA child soldiers]
Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was founded back in 1987 as an armed opposition against the Ugandan government. At that time they based themselves in South Sudan, but operated mainly in Uganda.

They became mostly known through their numerous abuses and atrocities against civilians, including the abduction, rape, maiming, and killing of defenseless people. They regularly kidnap children to enslave them as child prostitutes and soldiers in there so-called "army".

Since they were pushed out of North Uganda in 2005, the LRA has been terrorizing civilians in the DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo), South Sudan and Uganda, hopping over the borders.

In February this year, the Ugandan army - apparently aided by the US - tried to root out the LRA from DRC. The LRA retreated, killing 900 civilians in the process (Full)

Even just a few days ago, the LRA kidnapped around 135 villagers, including children, during two attacks in DRC's North East. (Full)

I invite you to look at this excellent video, one of the very few interviews ever made with Kony, the LRA's leader.
It stroke me how the LRA seems to be mostly a loosely knit group of bandits, clearly with a wide network of informants, held together by the Thuraya telephone network. There is no clear goal nor ideology behind the LRA. When Kony was asked "why are you fighting?", he answered "for democracy", but it did not go any deeper than that.

Add to these impressions that their overall troop strength is estimated anywhere between 500 and 3,000 soldiers (half of them estimated to be women and children), I am left with only two, but fundamental questions:

1. How come nobody has been able to smoke out this gang of bandits (wanted by the ICC - International Criminal Court by the way)? In this day and age where technology exists and is routinely used to track the movement of people using satellite phones? Why is there an apparent unwillingness of the international community to make an end to these atrocities, which, to top it all up, continue to contribute to the instability in Eastern Congo, one of the longest lasting conflicts in Africa?
   
   
2. Who supports these rebels? They would not be able to operate without the financial and logistics backing of an entity. What entity? Who would contribute to an instable South Sudan, Uganda and DRC? Khartoum?
   

Today, March 8th is International Women's Day. While in the past decennia we witnessed a significant change in attitude both in women's and society's opinion about women's equality and emancipation, there are still places in the world where women suffer greatly.

One of those is Eastern DRC where women are systematically raped as a war strategy between warring fractions. Used as a weapon of war, sexual violence and rape exist on a scale seen nowhere else in the world.

Often successful in its intent to destroy and exterminate, rape is causing the destruction of women, their families, and their communities. While Congo’s women are the backbone of their society, efforts to protect women and girls in the Congo are failing spectacularly.

Here is a video from a shelter for women, victims of sexual assault, in Bukavu in DRC.

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The video was produced by Raise Hope For Congo, a movement aiming to protect and empower Congolese women and girls. You can help them, and the women of Congo by raising awareness and rolling up your sleeves with a toolkit they provide.

Renewed fighting in Congo today pushed 10,000 new refugees into Uganda. (Full)

MSF created "Condition Critical", a site dedicated to the war in DRC, filled with news, blogs and pictures.
[Loband: Embedded Object Removed - http://www.condition-critical.org/wp-content/themes/condition-critical/feature/player3.swf]
More on The Road about DRC.

Thanks to Gianluca for the tip.

soldier[i-soldier]

A government soldier walks through the looted village of Kayna after a day of fighting in eastern Congo. (Check this excellent picture series on The Boston Globe)

More Pictures of the Day on The Road

Picture courtesy REUTERS/Finbarr O'Reilly

Protegee and her niece[i-Protegee and her niece]

On this Nov. 6, AP reporter Jerome Delay took this picture of two girls, Protegee carrying her niece, Response, as they looked for their parents in the village Kiwanja in the midst of the confusion of the Congo (DRC) civil war.

Protegee was in a crowd of thousands about 90 kms north of Goma, eastern Congo, having walked for three days by herself. She had been separated from her mother and fled on foot from their town about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away.

Encouraged by reactions from readers all over the world, the reporter returned to the spot and managed to reunite Protegee with her mother. (the full story)


Read the eBook story Goma, The Scent of Africa about my work with refugees in East Congo.
More on The Road about DRC.

Picture courtesy AP Photo/Jerome Delay

As civilians flee the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an increase in attacks on aid workers has left humanitarian organisations struggling to help them.

"We've got enough aid, but now the problem is access," said the OCHA office in Kinshasa, adding there have been 21 attacks on aid workers in Nord-Kivu since the fighting resumed. (Full).

While some aid agencies are hesitating to go into the most affected areas, several others are on the forefront. Check out this unedited video from WFP to understand what the situation is on the ground, and what it means when we say "We Provide Aid"... It is shot at a point while people were fleeing fighting in the surrounding hills:

Congolese seeking refuge[i-Congolese seeking refuge]

Congolese displaced by the latest fighting seek refuge near a U.N. base in the village of Kiwanja, north of Goma, eastern Congo.

More Pictures of the Day on The Road

Picture courtesy Jerome Delay-AP

Fullscreen capture 10112008 094444 PM-1[i-Fullscreen capture 10112008 094444 PM-1]

A girl touches a U.N. armored vehicle as she walks in the street in the provincial capital of Goma, Congo. The UN's top human rights official slammed government forces in Congo for lootings, killings and rapes in the city of Goma, amid fears of a humanitarian disaster. Meanwhile the UN peace keepers keep on drawing criticism about their limited response to the crisis.

More Pictures of the Day on The Road

Picture courtesy Yasuyoshi Chiba-AFP/Getty Images

raise your voice![i-raise your voice!]Rebels smashed a ceasefire and wrested control of another town in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on the eve of a regional summit.

National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP) rebels seized control of the centre of Nyanzale, an important army base in Nord-Kivu province after government forces fled. (Full)

Now is the time to raise your voice to put a stop to this endless escalation of violence in Congo.

More posts on The Road about DRC

Often people relate to ethnic differences when trying to explain the cause of the war in Congo. Others blame the break down of any law-and-order system, in a free-for-all society where "the one with the gun, rules".

The root cause of the conflict might be closer to home. You might be staring at it: your laptop...

Coltan, or "columbite-tantalite" is a unique metal used in the batteries of small electronics: your iPod, cell phone, pager, and laptop use it.

Eastern Congo, where fighting has recently taken a dramatic upswing, is one of the best places in the world to mine Coltan.

Coltan, just like other minerals in Eastern DRC, are mined in pretty much the same way gold used to be mined in the 19th century during The Goldrush in California. Except that in DRC, often children are the miners. The mines are mostly ruled by the warring fractions, or entities protected by the warring fractions with DRC's neighbours Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi smuggling the Coltan out of DRC.

By one estimate, the Rwandan army made at least US$250 million over a period of 18 months through the sale of coltan, while there is no Coltan mining in Rwanda, so go figure. (Full)

It is now said that competition over Coltan mines between the governments of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda and a panoply of armed groups in eastern Congo helped fuel a civil war in Congo that has claimed over 4 million lives over the past decade.

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Discovered via UN Dispatch

Cyprien in Sudan[i-Cyprien in Sudan]
You have met Cyprien, one of my dearest colleagues, before on The Road. "Citoyen Cyprien", as I jokingly call him, currently works with us in South Sudan.
You might remember his from this heart warming story from Aweill. What you might not have realized is that Cyprien was born and raised in East Kivu (DRC), which now is engulfed in violence once again.

I wrote to him today. I wanted to know how his extended family and friends in East Kivu, in the midst of the violence, were holding up.

I want to share his answer with you. It puts a face on the misery people in Congo endure. It puts a face on the avalanche of numbers poured over us.
When we speak of 2,000,000 people affected by the recent violence in Congo, we have to remember each of these 2 million people is an individual, with a life. With children, parents, friends, all affected by what we read about. We have to see the face of the violence to understand its impact.

Here is what Cyprien wrote:

I am sad. I have worked in Goma, Bukavu, Kisangani and Uvira. I know the places they are talking about on the radio, I personally know some of the people shown on the TV carrying whatever they could pick-up from their belongings. Fleeing for their lives.

I feel devastated. I am appalled and i am thinking of maybe taking some leave without pay and go back to Congo and see if I can be of help somehow, somewhere. I do not have yet a proper plan nor the channel or institution through which i would offer my voluntary services. But the shock-waves sent by news and images are too strong for me to resist.

If you are disturbed with the situation, you can imagine how much I am. Since 1993, I have shared almost half or my salary with my people in paying school fees for some Congolese kids whose families could not afford school fees.
Every month, I contributed to maternity fees for ladies who give birth to babies that are sometimes kept captive until mothers can afford the hospital bills. I paid dowries for young people who were willing to build families through marriage and who could not afford the dowry, or their clothing for the marriage ceremony. I have shared food and shelter with some of them during the previous conflicts.

Many of these people were strangers to me, but have become close friends because we have shared those tough times. I did do all of this because I love my country, and that gives me so much hope. Seeing it all collapse simply kills me.

I know how far what is happening can go. I have experienced it first hand. I understand how acute is the suffering of our people.
I know that the soldiers on the front lines are not paid their salaries. I know schools are closed and that kids, the future of Congo, are not attending classes. I know how many women, the biggest Congolese workforce, are being raped by the belligerent. I know our minerals are being looted and used to buy guns.
I know that DRC is under an arms embargo and that our government can not buy army equipment while the rebels are equipped with the latest military hardware. I also hear that some peace keepers are in many cases the trouble makers. I can not explain to myself why out of 17.000 peacekeepers available in Congo, only 800 are deployed in Goma.

I can go on and on. I am sad. I feel helpless.

Refugees in Kisangani (1996)[i-Refugees in Kisangani (1996)]
Why I am so touched with the recent violence in DRC (Congo)? I worked in East Congo, in Goma to be precise, early 1995 right after the Rwanda genocide. I wrote the short story "Goma, The Scent of Africa" in The Road's eBook about my experiences there.

Later on, I worked in the regional office in Kampala, Uganda and was actively involved in the relief operations in East Congo after the -then- rebels headed by Kabila, headed from Uvira northwards, pushing all the refugees out of the camps and dispersing them into the jungle. That was 1996-1997.

The picture above is from that time, in Kisangani. But it could have been taken yesterday. The violence is the same. The human suffering is the same.

That is why I care about Congo.

Update: (10 minutes after I posted the above)
This press article just came in: Aid convoy finds east Congo refugee camps empty. This is exactly what happened in 1996-'97. I am so pissed off. Once again, the international community saw this coming, and stood by. Watching.

congo[i-congo]

Eastern DR Congo was once memorably described by the journalist Kate Thomas. The place "looks like heaven", she wrote, "but it feels like hell".

You need to watch this amazing video from MediaStorm to understand the extend of the hell.

east congo[i-east congo]
Thousands of people in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo have been fleeing a new outburst of fighting between government troops and rebel forces. (Full)

[Ed: This picture is taken now, but could have been taken in 1994 when we saw the influx of Rwandese refugees into East Congo. Or in 1996-7 when those refugees fled into the jungle, some of them ending up thousands of miles further away... This short story was written during that time. I hope we are not going back into a situation we will have 2-3 million refugees]


More pictures of the day on The Road.

Picture courtesy BBC

Congo living with fear[i-Congo living with fear]
A woman carries her belongings past Congolese army soldiers
as she flees to escape fighting in Eastern Congo (DRC).

With fighting renewed between the government and rebel troops, and the UN "shooting in the air" in between, a reminder is needed at what this means for the 'ordinary people'. (Full)

A recent report report entitled "Living With Fear" offers an insight as to how life is in East Congo, based on a survey of 4,000 people.

Here is East Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) by numbers:

55%: interrogated or persecuted by armed groups
53%: forced to work or enslaved
46%: beaten by armed groups
46% threatened with death
34%: abducted for at least a week
23%: witnessed an act of sexual violence
16%: victims of sexual violence

More posts on The Road about DRC

Picture courtesy AP Photo/Riccardo Gangale

[Loband: Object Removed -]
This video was filmed by an amateur in East Congo (DRC), interviewing a Virunga National Park ranger. As the interview progresses, the cross fire between rebel and government troops comes nearer. You can almost feel the fear and panic from the people running past the camera.

The conflict in DRC is one of the most underreported civil wars, killing an estimated 45,000 people per month. Per month!
Fighting in eastern Congo has driven some 200,000 from their homes during the last eight weeks, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis. (Full)

Update: Regarding the actual video shoot: It was shot to show the plight of the wardens at the Virunga National Park. Things just got worse. Rebels took over Rumangabo's ranger station, in what seems a major offensive. The Virunga rangers have fled into the mountains. (Full)

More posts on The Road about DRC.

Video courtesy Gorilla.cd - The Virunga National Park website. Picked up from Humanitarian Relief, discovered on AidBlogs.

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