Oxfam is working with a Sudanese partner organization to respond to the humanitarian emergency that began unfolding in the summer of 2011, when armed conflict erupted between government and rebel forces in the states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile; in April of 2012, border clashes between Sudan and South Sudan triggered another wave of displacement in the same states; in all, more than 900,000 people have been displaced or severely affected by the recent conflicts in South Kordofan and Blue Nile.
Aid providers are unable to reach many of those who are caught in this latest conflict, but an Oxfam partner has reached 45,000 people with a range of interventions, including:
Refugees from the conflict between Sudan and the SPLM-N continue to flow across the borders into Ethiopia and South Sudan. In the camps of Jamam in Upper Nile, South Sudan, many are arriving in a traumatized state, having trekked long distances without enough food or water. But the conditions in the camps where they have sought refuge are dire: residents and aid providers have had to contend with severe shortages of food and water, soft soil conditions that interfere with well drilling, and huge price increases for essentials like fuel and food.
Oxfam is helping more than 32,000 refugees in the Upper Nile region gain access to drinking water and sanitation, as well as hygiene materials like soap, and we are providing cash relief to help people cope with rising food prices.
Read more about the Jamam camps.
]]>Oxfam and our partners are now assisting more than 330,000 people in Darfur who have been affected by the conflict that began in 2003.
Armed clashes in Sudan continue to drive people from their homes. In January, more than 100,000 people fled the gold-mining area of Jebel Amir in North Darfur. Oxfam and a local partner have been assisting thousands of families with clean water, sanitation facilities, and relief materials like plastic sheeting and blankets.
Oxfam America is working with local Sudanese partners and community members to provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene programs to more than 260,000 people in camps and villages in Darfur. Our water engineers are helping maintain the wells, pumps, tanks, pipes, and taps that deliver treated water to the settlements, and our sanitation and public health staff are ensuring that camp residents have latrines, bathing areas, soap, water cans, and access to the information they need to stay healthy under challenging camp conditions.
Many people affected by the conflict no longer have the means to make a dignified living. Farmers who have been displaced from their land, herders who have lost their animals, and widows who are trying to raise children alone have a range of needs as they try to restore their incomes. Oxfam partners have offered small business grants and loans, as well as vocational training and assets like donkey carts to many of the most vulnerable residents of the camps. In rural areas affected by the conflict, we are providing seeds, plows, and horse carts for farmers, as well as small business loans.
High-efficiency stoves can address an array of problems in Darfur. In a joint program with two partners, Oxfam America has supported local camp residents to assemble and distribute more than 15,000 stoves that are more than twice as efficient as traditional three-stone fireplaces. For the women who purchase their firewood in the market, the stoves reduce the cost of fuel and ease the heavy economic pressure on their families. But for those who must trek into the countryside to gather firewood, facing the risk of assault from armed bandits and militias, fuel-efficient stoves are even more critical. Read more about how the stoves have been making a difference.
Oxfam America's fuel-efficient stove program is helping protect Darfur’s fragile environment by reducing the need for firewood and charcoal.
Other environmental initiatives include planting and protecting tens of thousands of tree seedlings around school and camps for displaced people.
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Over time, that will mean one third of the dangerous fuel-gathering trips to the countryside, one third the loss of trees, one third the smoke inhaled by Dawelbiat and her young ones, one third the air emissions. And now that she is buying her fuel in the marketplace, she’s spending a third of what she used to and has more money to feed and clothe and educate her children.
Her stove—known as the Berkeley-Darfur Stove—is the brainchild of the Darfur Stoves Project (DSP), a US-based Oxfam partner organization that draws on the work of engineers at the Lawrence-Berkeley National Laboratory in California. DSP worked with women in Darfur to develop a stove suited to their needs that would use less than half the fuel of a traditional three-stone fireplace and significantly less than other stove models that are available locally. The result is a portable 12-sided metal stove - around 12” in every dimension - that is as advanced in its design as it is simple in its construction. And whose frugal output is a match for the scarce resources of the Darfur camps.
On a day in December, while her daughter and a friend play on a mat behind her and a neighbor holds her ten-month-old baby, Dawelbiat sits down on a low stool next to her stove and begins to cook her family’s mid-morning meal. The kitchen is a low mud-brick building, shadowy but brightly lit where the sun slips in through the doorway.
She places a pot of water on the stove, adds a few pieces of wood to the firebox, and sets the fire going with a match. When the water boils, she sprinkles ground millet into the pot and stirs it with a long, carved wooden stick until she’s created a thick porridge—known as asida—which she sets aside in a bowl. The next course is mullah, a soup made of onions fried in oil with dried meat, crushed tomato, okra, and spices. And finally, tea. In the space of an hour, Dawelbiat and her fistful of kindling have produced a meal for six.
At the compound of Oxfam partner SAG (Sustainable Action Group) in nearby El Fasher, the usual sounds of a Darfur town—the roar of vehicles, the clatter of grain mills, and the bleats and brays of animals—is replaced with the banging of metal on metal. Here in a building sided and thatched with sorghum stalks, eight men from the Al Salaam camp work at tables assembling Berkeley-Darfur stoves. They smile at visitors and get back to work, bending and hammering metal into its designated size and shape. To the list of benefits of the stoves can be added one more: employing survivors of the conflict, who—uprooted from their homes and farms—struggle to find any work at all.
So far, SAG and the workers from the camps have produced and distributed around 9,000 stoves. With enough funds, they’ll create 15,000 stoves in 2011. Some will go to the camps, others to rural areas hard up against the deadly combination of deforestation and armed conflict.
Dawelbiat is shy with strangers, but her praise for the stove is effusive all the same. “The stove is good because it’s efficient and saves fuel and cooks faster. It’s better at keeping the kitchen clean, and there is less smoke. You can easily cook with it and easily move it around. Even a small portion of fuel can make your food.”
“More people should have these stoves,” she concludes.
It is a point that no one argues.
]]>With the crack of a sledgehammer on concrete, Oxfam's water and sanitation program in Delmas, Haiti, got underway.
The earth was still shuddering with aftershocks when survivors began to dig, carving out latrine trenches 10 feet long, 10 feet deep, and three feet wide through every kind of soil and pavement. Others did their part by quickly shaping platforms out of rocks and earth to support their new source of drinking water: Oxfam water bladders.
It was a race against time, and against deadly water-related bacteria like typhoid, hepatitis, and cholera that can thrive in crowded, unsanitary conditions. And it is a race that—so far, at least—we are winning. After the quake, hundreds of thousands of people had no access to toilets, and the water available wasn't fit to drink; yet, thanks to an all-out effort on the part of the displaced communities and aid agencies like Oxfam, there have been no outbreaks of waterborne disease.
But there is more to water and sanitation programs than health.
"We build latrines not only because they help prevent the spread of disease, but because they should help protect the dignity and safety of disaster survivors living in camps," says Oxfam engineer Kenny Rae, who led the first phase of Oxfam's water and sanitation effort in Delmas.
There is a special focus on the safety of women and girls, because in the chaotic aftermath of disasters, they are particularly vulnerable to harassment and assault. The structure of a latrine—like the firmness of its latches and whether its doors open toward or away from the general population of a camp—has implications for safety, so Rae and his team listened closely to the concerns of women residents.
Shower construction was another important issue. Haiti's weather is so warm that shower stalls can be open to the sky, but where they were installed within view of multi-story buildings, women in Delmas had understandable concerns about privacy—which Rae and his team quickly addressed by adding roofs.
"When it came to sanitation facilities," says Rae, "women in the camps had the first and last word."
Helping survivors recover after disasters is not as simple as doling out goods and services: it requires attention to the many facets of community well-being.
For example, working for pay can help disaster survivors meet a range of needs, both financial and psychological. Oxfam offered wages to residents to dig latrine trenches, cover them with slabs of molded concrete or plastic, and build structures of wood and plastic sheeting around them for shelter and safety.
"We ended up employing more than 300 people to build latrines in Delmas," says Rae. "Their communities benefited from the project, and their families benefited from the income."
But in some cases, the need for community-building trumped the need for money. When it came to constructing platforms for water bladders, everyone worked for free, says Rae. "They treated the work as a contribution to their communities."
Caring for Haiti's fragile environment was another key consideration for the water and sanitation team, which needed wood for construction.
"From the outset," says Rae, "we determined that we weren’t going to use local timber poles because of the impact on deforestation."
The team found a source of timber imported from the US. It was more expensive than local wood, and at first it was hard to find enough of it. But, says Rae, in a country as deforested and as vulnerable to landslides as Haiti, the environmental cost of harvesting timber is tremendous.
When Rae and his team assessed the local water and sanitation situation, they found settlements where thousands of displaced residents had gathered. But Delmas is also dotted with tiny camps and informal schools, and it took time to understand the full extent of the needs. Oxfam staff kept their eyes—and their office—open, continually updating their plans and assessments.
"We had an open-door policy," says Rae. "Pastors, school directors, and other community leaders would bring their requests and concerns to the Oxfam office on a near-daily basis, and we were almost always able to respond."
After helping create water and sanitation facilities in 21 sites, serving 40,000 people, Rae has returned home for a rest. Sort of.
"Of course, I was pleased to get back to the people I love," says Rae, "but I was torn because the needs on the ground in Haiti are so enormous."
When he goes back to Haiti, it will be to work on another key issue in the recovery: shelter. His focus will be not only the homeless in Port-au-Prince, but also the tens of thousands of rural families that are hosting relatives who fled the capital and are now living in very crowded conditions. Rae will be looking for efficient ways to build temporary housing and house extensions to reduce the stress on families.
"Shelter is—and will remain for a while—a huge, huge need," he says.
As for the water and sanitation program in Delmas, says Rae, "I'm confident that the Haitian engineers I helped to train will be able to carry it forward."
]]>Here are Rankin's opening thoughts about the project—and about a place in which he has found "the basic, beautiful business of life."
I first visited the DRC with Oxfam in June 2008. I expected to be depressed. I had done my homework; the statistics were horrific. I could only imagine what the human face of those statistics would look like. The people I met confounded my expectations. I met fathers, mothers, children... all getting on with life, making it through, even having a laugh and a joke. These people didn't see themselves as victims, despite the bad hand that fate had dealt them. They were human beings, exactly the same as you and me.
I wanted my portraits to do something different. The West has been anesthetized to traditional pictures of disaster zones. My style of portraiture is always about bringing people out of themselves, getting them to share something. I chose to photograph the people against a stark white background instead of in their physical environment. The expressions in their eyes and on their faces—their humanity—was what I wanted people to notice and relate to.
It didn't seem morally or politically right to just go and take pictures. So I decided to put on a show in the refugee camp, and give the people prints of their portraits. Give them something back. It was incredible. One guy said to me, 'This photograph is amazing. I wanted to let you know that I will use it on my coffin when I die.' No-one has ever said anything so moving to me.
The overriding feeling I had while I was out in the DRC was one of anger and powerlessness. That taking a few snaps was inconsequential in the face of the insurmountable problems that were being faced there. But when I got back, we put on an exhibition. I pushed the images, did press interviews, raised awareness. I believe that it made a difference to the people I met.
I was inspired to return to the DRC in October 2009. I didn't want to do the same thing as I had done the year before and, as on my first trip, I felt that it was important and right to give something back. So this time I held photographic workshops. I gave out cameras so that the people could have authorship over their own images—show us what was important in their lives. The collection of shots from my second trip builds on those from the first one, but focuses on the relationships that bind people to each other—a mother's love for her child, a husband's love for his wife, two friends. The basic, beautiful business of life.
I hope that these photographs can aid understanding. They are neither ugly images of brutality, nor sentimental images of suffering. The world needs a more sustainable form of imagery that, instead of encouraging pity and powerlessness, promotes understanding, connection, and ultimately action. It's about making people accessible to each other."
]]>“These disasters have left millions of people in need of assistance from groups like Oxfam,” said Michael Delaney, director of humanitarian response.
“This week’s emergencies come at time when we are already responding to many ongoing disasters around the world—including a crippling drought in East Africa, floods in West Africa, and drought in Central America,” Delaney added.
Oxfam America is launching an appeal to support its response to the earthquake in Sumatra, Typhoon Ketsana and for the South Pacific tsunami. With extreme weather in the forecast, Oxfam expects to respond to more destruction in the coming days.
Oxfam is sending an emergency response team to Padang, Indonesia, following the devastating earthquake on the island of Sumatra yesterday. They will join staff from local partner organizations who are distributing Oxfam’s pre-positioned emergency stocks, including 5,000 tarps for shelter.
The Sumatra earthquake came in the wake of Typhoon Ketsana, which swept through the Philippines, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos earlier in the week, causing severe flooding. An estimated two million homes were inundated with floodwater in Manila, and more than 400,000 people are now homeless.
“According to current forecasts, a super-typhoon is set to strike the Philippines again within the next two days, so for us it’s all hands on deck,” said Delaney.
Right now, Oxfam is helping 25,000 of the worst-affected families in the Philippines by providing clean water and emergency materials like blankets, soaps, cleaning equipment, clothes, and water containers.
Oxfam is also responding to the South Pacific tsunami, which hit the islands of Samoa and Tonga on Tuesday. Waves flattened villages and swept people and cars out to sea. Oxfam has emergency supplies on hand for up to 10,000 people and expects to help coordinate the supply of clean water and sanitation for those affected by the disaster.
“This is a time of great need around the world, and particularly in the Asia-Pacific region,” said Delaney. “Americans have always shown incredible generosity when disasters strike.”
To support Oxfam’s Asia Pacific Emergency Response please donate online or call 1 800 77-OXFAM.
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Oxfam says poor sanitation and little access to basic services such as water and medicine due to an ineffective response are creating a public health emergency in camps, which needs to be urgently addressed.
“Somalis flee one of the world’s most brutal conflicts and a desperate drought, only to end up in unimaginable conditions in camps that are barely fit for humans. Hundreds of thousands of children are affected, and the world is abandoning the next generation of Somalis when they most need our help. Why does it seem like you matter less in this world if you are from Somalia?” said Robbert Van den Berg Oxfam International’s spokesman for the Horn of Africa.
Somalia has recently seen a major increase in conflict, and the country is suffering its worst drought in a decade. The failure of the international community to address adequately these overcrowded and unsanitary camps is shameful given the level of need and human suffering,
In Northern Kenya, each and every month, around 8,000 Somali refugees pour into Dadaab camp. Now home to 280,000 people, the camp was originally built to only house a third of that amount. The severe overcrowding means many families do not have regular access to latrines or clean water, and in some of the worst parts of the camp over 20 families share one single latrine. “The Kenyan government has repeatedly promised to provide more land to ease the overcrowding but has so far failed to do so, despite the urgent and critical needs. More pressure from the international community is needed to make it happen”, Van den Berg continued.
In Ethiopia’s Bokolmayo camp, almost 10,000 people are already in the camp and nearly 1,000 people a month continue to arrive. Yet the current infrastructure and services are insufficient to cope with more arrivals, and there is still an important funding gap for the operation. The UN refugee agency’s response to the impending crisis has been weak and inefficient. Oxfam called on the agency to exercise much greater leadership in ensuring Somalis get adequate assistance by supporting host countries to respond effectively to the humanitarian crisis.
In Somalia many of those fleeing Mogadishu have looked for refuge in the nearby Afgooye area, which with up to at least 485,000 people sheltering on a 15km strip of land is now said to be the world’s densest concentration of displaced people. The high insecurity makes it extremely difficult for international agencies to deliver enough aid to meet people’s needs. Somalis themselves are now on the frontline of delivering aid through their local organisations, yet they lack funds to carry out their life-saving work and need much more support from donors.
“In all three locations – Afgooye, Dadaab and Bokolmayo – the services being provided to vulnerable and desperate people are far below international standards. While NGOs need to scale up their response, donors cannot shy away from providing funding for this emergency. This is a human tragedy of unthinkable proportions where countless people have now been deprived of a home and a sense of normality for months and months,” said Van den Berg.
“Ultimately, the root cause of the problems in all of these camps is the ongoing conflict, lawlessness and humanitarian disaster inside Somalia. Our governments must put Somalia top of their list and do more than simply keeping the country on life-support. What we need is a different approach and sustained senior level commitment to end this outrageous human suffering that has been going on for over 15 years,” he said.
]]>After speaking to nearly 100 IDP women in focus group discussions held in camps and host communities over the last two weeks, Oxfam International found that despite a strong desire to return home, many still fear for the safety of their families. The displaced women living in Swabi and Mardan districts said that relatives in Swat district contacted them by mobile phones to say that homes and livelihoods have been destroyed and sporadic fighting is continuing. Others spoke of confusion on the returns process and its implications, with only limited information provided at short notice. "We hear that we should return to Swat. But there are no options for us except to go and sit on our destroyed house," said Zemit, 52, after she learned that her family home was bombed last week.
Oxfam Country Director in Pakistan Neva Khan said, "After the largest internal displacement crisis in Pakistan's history, everyone wants to see a return to normalcy including a secure and dignified return for all displaced people. We are encouraged that the Government has agreed to international guidelines but stress that the information campaign is also vital to the repatriation process."
The voluntary, safe, informed and dignified return of the IDPs is a paramount consideration for Oxfam International which, along with other members of the humanitarian community, is working with the government to help meet the needs of displaced people and particularly vulnerable women. Oxfam International is providing water, cash, cooking materials, latrines and hygiene kits for up to 360,000 men, women and children affected by fighting.
Adhering to the three-phase plan of return set up by the government, buses and security vehicles have been taking families back to the NWFP since 13 July, first from displacement and spontaneous camps followed by those staying with host families. As the IDPs return to their villages, Oxfam International will shift its focus with local partners to help provide shelter in devastated areas. In particular, assisting people who have lost their crops, livestock, shops and other livelihoods.
Between July 15th and 25th, Oxfam International staff spoke to nearly 100 IDP women in focus groups discussions in Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district and in three host communities in Mardan district. The displaced women came from Upper Swat villages including Aliadab, Khalam and Khabal. Their stories include:
"I fear my husband and son are dead. I have no income and five daughters so I must get them married quickly." When Zwahara and her five daughters were given just 30 minutes notice to vacate their village, she had to leave her paralysed son behind with his father. Taken in by a distant relative living in Swabi district, her family and 20 others of the extended family are sharing one toilet and water tap. The women are sleeping on the ground in the courtyard and desperately want to be allowed into one of the official camps for displaced families, where they believe conditions will be better. Because Zwahara has no male family member with her and no official ID card, the family have been turned away from the camps. Every member of the family suffers from diarrhoea and skin infections due to the heat and poor hygiene. Zwahara has learned from former neighbours that her house has been destroyed. No one has seen her husband or son for several weeks. The family do not plan to return to Swat.
Rahmatun's husband returned to their village several weeks ago. He told her that there is shooting in their village and the curfew makes it too dangerous for him to go out to buy food. He plans to leave their village and travel south to join her in Mardan if they can find a place to live. Rahmatun said, "The militants will behead us if we peek our heads outside of the door—we cannot send our girl children to school or anywhere with this being the case. They warned communities that if they fled during the fighting that would mean that they had sided with the Government." Rahmatun and her three small children were staying in Yar Husseim displacement camp in Swabi district.
Eighty-year-old Sahib, her daughter and granddaughter walked for two days and two nights to escape the fighting in Swat. For the last three months they have been living in the empty home of a wealthy family in Swabi district, the relatives of a family friend in their home village. All the family suffer from diarrhoea and the skin rash scabies because of the intense heat and lack of mobility from living in purdah. Sahib said: "I don't know what will happen to us if we go back. I want to stay here—there are too many problems in Swat."
"We hear that everyone should return to Swat. But there are no options for us except to go and sit on our destroyed house," said Zemit, 52, after she learned that her family home was destroyed by bombing last week. Living with 90 family members in a temporary home, Zemit says that she misses baking bread for her family at home and desperately wishes to return. But family members who remained in Swat tell her not to return because fresh hostilities coupled with a volatile curfew order makes it dangerous for them to get food and other necessities. A local administrator in Marden district invited Zemit and her large family to stay in his guesthouse, where they've lived for nearly three months and relied on the generosity of neighbors.
]]>Many of the displaced people are now sheltering with host families and often crowded into single-room houses with poor access to clean water and sanitation. To help meet their needs, Oxfam has set up a rapid response office in Bukavu, a city in the province of South Kivu, and is scaling up its work in North Kivu province.
Together with a local organization, Oxfam is now trucking 200,000 liters of clean water each day into major population centers, such as Lubero in North Kivu, where many displaced people have sought refuge. The organizations are also working to rehabilitate the water systems in those communities and Oxfam is distributing essential household items such as soap and buckets.
Though Oxfam is now helping 130,000 additional people, insecurity is making the delivery of this life-saving aid difficult in some areas. Fighters have cut off the roads to places such as Walikale in North Kivu and also to parts of South Kivu. Oxfam is calling on all parties to the conflict to respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and let aid through.
The harsh conditions many displaced people now face follow on the heels of the escalating violence they have endured in the months since the military offensive began. In a recent survey Oxfam conducted, villagers recounted the horrors of rape, torture, forced labor, and reprisal attacks. One woman told Oxfam she had been raped nine times. Other people talked about underground rooms where villagers were beaten and plunged in barrels of salt water. Residents of one community said their entire village emptied out at night, with everyone preferring to sleep in the fields rather than in their own homes. It was safer in the open, they said.
Who is attacking the civilians in Congo? In the survey, which included nearly 600 interviews, villagers reported that both the Congolese army and members of the FDLR were responsible for the atrocities. Earlier this year, members of militia and a rebel group were hastily integrated into the Congolese army, which has led to human rights abuses. Civilians surveyed said that one of the solutions to the trauma they have endured would be to improve the discipline, pay, and training of the Congolese army many of whose members—especially those newly integrated—have not been paid. As a consequence, extortion is widespread.
The UN's peacekeeping force—known as MONUC and the largest of its kind in the world—has a broad mandate in this conflict. While MONUC is reportedly providing rations and logistical support to the Congolese army, Oxfam maintains that the force's main priority should be to protect civilians, and it's concerned that there are not enough safeguards in place for that protection. Oxfam is calling on MONUC to set conditions for its involvement in these operations which, at the moment, are having a devastating impact on civilians.
For example, Oxfam says that MONUC should ensure that the Congolese government is taking clear steps to minimize the impact of this military initiative on civilians by not deploying officers with a documented record of human rights violations and by punishing violations committed by its own forces. The peacekeeping force should withhold its support of the operation if abuses continue, says Oxfam.
The organization also says that the international community needs to recognize that military action alone will not provide the answer for the insecurity that has plagued eastern Congo for so long. In the Oxfam survey, the vast majority of communities affected by the FDLR called for peaceful dialogue, and only two favored forced disarmament. Time and investment need to be put into non-military methods of disarming militia. And there needs to be a widespread recognition that sustainable peace will come to Congo only when the root causes of the conflict have been addressed.
]]>The survey of 569 civilians living in 20 conflict-ridden communities across North and South Kivu shows that the Congolese government's military operations against the rebel Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR) are resulting in escalating insecurity for civilians, who are being attacked by all sides. Many in the Congolese army are committing abuses, with the FDLR increasing its retaliation against civilians for the offensive, the agency said.
Some 800,000 people have been displaced in North and South Kivu since the offensive was launched at the beginning of the year, according to the UN.
"The war is far from over for ordinary civilians. Over 80 percent of the people we interviewed said that security is worse now compared to a year ago," said Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of Congo. "The offensive against the FDLR was supposed to bring peace to eastern Congo, but our survey shows people are living in constant fear of violent attack. This suffering is not inevitable. It is happening because world leaders have decided that collateral damage is an acceptable price to pay for removing the FDLR. But as the people we met can testify, that price is far too high."
Half the communities surveyed said sexual violence had increased dramatically since the offensive began in January, and it was found to be widespread in all communities. Women were at most risk of sexual violence, but cases of children, some as young as four, being brutally raped were reported in more than half of the communities. Three of the 20 communities reported rape against men, including eight recent cases of male rape in one community in South Kivu.
A quarter of the communities spoke of torture. People were reportedly being buried up to their necks in holes in the ground by the FDLR until they agreed to pay a 'fine' in exchange for their release, with a few communities speaking of underground rooms where people are beaten and plunged in barrels of salt water. In addition, other militias were reportedly carrying out torture, as well as looting and child recruitment.
Abuses by large sections of the Congolese army were reported in every community. Half of communities spoke of forced labor, with mostly men and adolescent boys made to carry goods for the army. Communities in North Kivu reported particular aggression by newly integrated units made up of ex-rebel soldiers from the disbanded Mai Mai and the National Congress for People's Defense (CNDP), who have not yet been paid and justify extortion as "contributions" to their up-keep. In North Kivu, the Congolese army was identified as the main perpetrator of sexual violence.
All communities with an FDLR presence reported an upsurge in attacks on civilians by the militia in response to the recent government military operations, with one group describing the operations as "like waking a sleeping devil." In Mwenga region, South Kivu, communities taking part in an earlier survey in March 2009 had reported that violence by the FDLR had diminished, but just two months later they were reporting high levels of death threats, sexual violence and violent looting. People had reportedly been killed for saying the rebel group should return to Rwanda. Many of these villages have now been abandoned.
All communities feared reprisal attacks, and looting and extortion were widespread. Both the FDLR and large parts of the Congolese army were reported to force civilians to hand-over money and possessions. When opposing forces arrived, the civilians were then branded as collaborators for this and subjected to attack.
All communities surveyed asked to be protected better by the Congolese army and peacekeepers. More foot patrols by MONUC peacekeepers were requested, especially in the fields and small roads where violence was a great threat. The majority of those surveyed supported dialogue and peaceful repatriation of foreign armed groups, and in four communities, respondents went so far as to call for the military action against the FDLR to be abandoned. Only two communities supported forced disarmament.
"The results of this survey should be a wake-up call to those in the UN Security Council supporting the current military offensive, said Stoessel. "In only five communities, people said the Congolese army was keeping them safe. Many interviewees said they feared the army and the FDLR equally. The Congolese people need an army that protects on them, not preys on them. Oxfam welcomes the Congolese government's recent announcement that there will be zero tolerance of abuses in the army, and urges them to keep to this bold commitment. The peacekeeping force should withhold support from the operation if abuses continue or go unpunished, and must insist that known human rights abusers are removed from participating in the operations."
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