Emergencies in Congo

Goma diary

Goma diary

This morning Caritas Goma Director Fr. Oswald Musoni gave us his reflections on the situation following the fall of the city to M23 rebels on 20 November. “The bombs and bullets were terrifying.  I’m finally feeling better after three days and am back and at work,” he said. “Yesterday it was difficult to get around, ...

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Congolese rebels take Goma as people flee

Congolese rebels take Goma as people flee

“There is still crackling fire this morning,” says Caritas Goma Head of Emergencies Eddy Yamwenziyo. “But it’s very sporadic and is just shooting in the air.” Congolese ‘M23’ rebels entered Goma this morning according to Radio Okapi. Goma is a city of about a million people in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo ...

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Thousands forced to flee in Congo

A humanitarian crisis is underway in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo after rebels claimed control of Goma, a city of one million inhabitants. An estimated 2.2 million people are said to be displaced within Congo, Africa’s second largest country which is the size of Western Europe. Caritas Congo with its local diocesan Caritas Goma staff ...

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Anxiety in Goma

Anxiety in Goma

Conflict in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo is getting worse. Rebels called the ‘M23’ are only a couple of kilometers from the main regional city of Goma. Any attack would create a largescale humanitarian emergency as Goma has around one million residents. A Caritas staff member Eddy Yamwenzyio spoke to Valerie Kaye ...

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Peacebuilding in Eastern Congo

Peacebuilding in Eastern Congo

En français:E x-combattants The situation in the eastern Congo province of North Kivu continues to deteriorate since conflict resumed in March after hundreds of former rebels defected from the army to join a renegade general. Keeping ex-rebels from returning to the bush is difficult. Poverty, lack of opportunities and lack of acceptance within their communities ...

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Caritas food aid gets though in eastern Congo

Caritas food aid gets though in eastern Congo

Despite fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu between the government army and rebels, Caritas has been able to get food aid through to people in desperate need. Caritas Goma, the local diocesan arm of Caritas Congo, has provided food in Minova, Kalungu, Ntamugenga and Kitshanga to 37,000 people forced from their homes. ...

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Recruitment of child soldiers returns to Congo

Recruitment of child soldiers returns to Congo

All week they come. The children arrive at the centre tired and breathless. They say they’ve been seized by fighters who want to use them as child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s renewed wars. “We were captured on the hill overlooking our school,” says one child, who has just arrived at a transit ...

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Thousands flee as horror returns to Congo

Thousands flee as horror returns to Congo

“They come haggard, exhausted and desperate,” said Taylor Kakala, communications officer for Caritas Goma. “These men, women and children fled in panic, leaving with nothing.” They’re coming from the Masisi region in North Kivu, a troubled part of eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to the safer towns of Sake and Goma. They’ve fled under machine ...

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En République démocratique du Congo, l’intensification des combats dans la province du Nord-Kivu jette des milliers de familles sur les routes.

En République démocratique du Congo, l’intensification des combats dans la province du Nord-Kivu jette des milliers de familles sur les routes.

Fin d’après-midi pluvieuse sur Goma. Dans la cour d’une école de Mugunga (à la périphérie ouest de la ville), Delphine, une déplacée de guerre, somnole depuis quelques minutes. « Je ne suis pas vraiment habituée à ne rien faire toute la journée, déclare-t-elle. Vous savez ce que je n’aime pas dans un camp de déplacés, demande-t-elle. La ...

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