{UAH} Congo's war and peace: Haunting pictures shed light on ravaged country

Congo's war and peace: Haunting pictures shed light on ravaged country swarming with refugees and rival militias on the eve of 20th anniversary of Rwandan genocide  

By SNEJANA FARBEROV

PUBLISHED: 01:11 GMT, 28 March 2014 | UPDATED: 01:21 GMT, 28 March 2014

 
 
 
 

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The Democratic Republic of Congo has been in a near-constant state of war for a generation in a region of Africa afflicted by unimaginable violence, which culminated in genocide 20 years ago. 

After attaining independence from Belgium in 1960, Congo descended into a civil war during a UN mission there. 

The international organization, tasked with keeping peace around the world, has often been ineffective, as National Geographic investigative journalist James Verini details in a new in-depth special report titled, Should the United Nations Wage War to Keep Peace?    

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Refugees in their own land: Tens of thousands of internally displaced Congolese from Sake flee on a road linking Goma and Bukavu after escaping from clashes between M23 rebels and Congolese army soldiers in 2012

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Warriors: Congolese commandos celebrate as they advance up the mountainous road toward Bunagana, the last remaining stronghold of the M-23 rebels Wednesday

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Sub-human conditions: Children scramble up a hillside at a refugee camp in Rubaya, where locals fled as a result of the fighting between M23 and the Congolese army

It became all the more apparent in 1994 when, in neighboring Rwanda, United Nations peacekeeping forces stood by as about a million men, women and children, mostly from the Tutsi tribe, were slaughtered by rival Hutu rebels in 100 days. 

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the UN is hoping to find a more effective way of keeping peace in Congo, where between four and six million people have fallen victim to violence, disease and starvation since 1997. 

Last March, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2098 authorizing its troops to attack armed groups, leading to the defeat of the vicious and well-equipped M23 militia. 

Earlier this month, the International Criminal Court convicted notorious Congolese warlord Germain Katanga. 

But despite the signs of apparent progress, Congo, and Central Africa in general, remain in a state of peril. 

The worst fighting between rival warlords has been raging in eastern Congo, in the provinces of North and South Kivu.

In a territory roughly the size of Afghanistan, a perfect storm of official corruption, systemized sexual violence, rampant hunger, incompetence and foreign interference has come together to render the harsh and beautiful land hell on earth for its inhabitants. 

Historian Gérard Prunier called Congo, with its landmass roughly equivalent to western Europe, a ‘huge sick blob.’

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Searching for a silver lining: With Nyiragongo volcano looming in the background, a refugee takes cover in a makeshift shelter at the Mungungu 2 camp near the city of Goma

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Eye of the storm: A truck of the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (FARDC) leaves a firing position during a heavy rain storm through a village in Jomba, in D. R. Congo's restive North Kivu province on May 17, 2012

At least 25 different militias rule parts of eastern Congo, according to the UN's latest estimates, with the M23 having been only the best armed. 

There are also the Allied Democratic Forces of Congo; the Alliance of Patriots for a Free and Sovereign Congo; the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, a group descended from Hutu genocide killers; Raia Mutomboki and dozens of Mai Mais, informal local militias.

Groups of armed men, women and children brandishing anything from machetes to machine guns and anti-aircraft cannon have been roaming the countryside, terrorizing inhabitants, skirmishing with other militias and running smuggling operations in a largely lawless territory. 

Many Congolese blame Rwanda for their current predicament, and the vestiges of Mobuto Sese Seko’s corrupt and dictatorial regime that collapsed 20 years ago. 

Others look beyond Africa, to Belgian King Leopold II who colonized the nation at the turn of the previous century to take advantage of Congo’s natural resources.

And UN also has not escaped criticism. But the world organization is not trying to work out a solution to turn around the grave economic, financial and geopolitical situation in the long-suffering, war-torn Congo so that the next generation of Congolese may finally know some peace. 

Read more:

• Should the United Nations Wage War to Keep Peace?

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Gwokto La'Kitgum

"Even a small dog can piss on a tall Building", Jim Hightower

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