The DRC conflict
2009-11-27 10:36
Cape Town - It's been a year since a massive rebel offence was halted in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Thousands of civilians still remain victims of the atrocities in the restive region after they fled their homes in fear of violence.
More than half a million people have sought treatment from Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) clinics, where thousands have also undergone surgery and more than 5 000 reported being sexually abused. News24's Betha Madhomu spoke to Banu Altunbas, head of the MSF mission in Sud- and Nord-Kivu provinces.
News24: In a nutshell, what would you say is the situation on the ground in terms of the impact of the conflict in the DRC?
Altunbas: The situation is bad. Civilians are coming to our health facilities everyday. There is a lot of suffering and a lot of violence against civilians with rape cases reported every now and then. A lot of communicable disease and cholera outbreaks have become the order of the day. People are being displaced and are living in miserable conditions.
News24: Talking about displacements - how serious is the problem?
Altunbas: What we see in the field is that a lot of people fear going back to their homes as they still think of the violence that forced them out of their villages. Most of them remain squashed in various places while some are taken in by host families. There are some people who have been kind enough to shelter the displaced but again there are a lot of challenges with such arrangements as most of the time the hosts can't provide food and all the necessities. You have to understand that most of the displaced lost their belongings while they fled.
News24: How do the host families manage the situation - do they have big houses to accommodate large numbers of people?
Altunbas: It's a tough situation where in some instances people simply have to crowd in a house with very few rooms. I can tell you that 30 people can live in a three or four roomed house. They sleep on plastic sheeting right on the floor. Humanitarian agencies do provide them with food from time to time but they have to supplement it through other survival means. In some areas, the civilians have tried to tend their fields, others get into mining and others try to sell various wares but at times - due to security forces manning the roads - they fail to reach the market where they are supposed to sell the goods.
News24: How has the MSF managed to carry on with its duties in this war torn county? What are some of the challenges you face on a daily basis in light of the fact that humanitarian organisations are almost always targeted in such areas in their endeavour to save lives?
Altunbas: It's very difficult. But we try to despatch our teams in such a way that we are able to deliver our services adequately to the needy. We operate mostly in areas where active conflicts are taking place and these are provinces like Kivu, Oriental, Katanga and Kinshasa. Most of the people there require primary healthcare and we have managed to attend to close to half a million people. We get lots of sexually abused women who often have terrible stories to tell. We also receive children suffering from various diseases. Last year alone, we managed to attend to more than 300 000 children with varying health conditions.
News24: How many MSF staff members are in the DRC and would you say the number is enough to attend to all those in need of your services?
Altunbas: We have about 115 expatriates and they work closely with 3 000 Congolese staff. So we are managing although the situation sometimes gets out of hand depending on the casualties we get in certain areas. We have mobile clinics, which are often available in areas where we feel people need help. Through these mobile clinics which operate from health centre structures within villages, we are able to conduct at least 150 - 200 consultations per day.
News24: Can you highlight some of the diseases you have to deal with on a daily basis apart from the cholera outbreak you mentioned earlier?
Altunbas: We have major concerns when it comes to respiratory conditions. We also have malaria and of course people who are wounded as a result of the violence going on. Last year alone, we attended to 16 000 surgical conditions. Pregnant women also need our attention. So these are some of the significant cases that require our care.
News24: I understand you have carried out more than 530 000 medical consultations and treated more than 5 300 victims of sexual violence. Can we have a breakdown of these figures in terms of how many you treat on a daily basis and who the most affected are?
Altunbas: Unfortunately, I can't give figures off hand but I must say that women and children are the most affected.
News24: The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the DRC earlier this year and she expressed a lot of concern at the high levels of rape cases. In your own view, how has the international community responded to the DRC crisis?
Altunbas: There isn't much I can say on that because a lot of lives have been lost in the DRC and yet the conflict is still going on. People still can't go back to their homes and continue with their normal lives. Peace is not certain and there is a lot of trauma associated with the conflict. So yes, the international community might be trying but there are still a lot of challenges.
News24: To what extent would you say the DRC war has impacted on civilians, especially the children who have grown up in a war-torn zone - any psychological effects? Do they have a future at all?
Altunbas: We can only offer humanitarian assistance, but securing a conducive environment for children and making sure that peace prevails really calls for intensified efforts from those in authority.
News24: You are currently undertaking a week's campaign to raise awareness and to highlight the impact of conflict and violence in the DRC. What do you hope to achieve from this?
Altunbas: Yes, we have launched a website Condition-critical.org to ensure we highlight the humanitarian situation in the DRC to a wider audience. The site has been dedicated to the civilians in this country so that they can tell the story of their experiences to the world. It portrays victims of violence. We are extremely proud of the website as it enlightens people on the impact of the DRC conflict.