In April, former rebel fighters, who had been integrated into the Congolese army, mutinied. Dubbing themselves M23, or Mouvement 23, they took control of an area close to the borders of Rwanda and Uganda. When the Congolese army called up troops from across the region to quell the rebellion, that deployment left a security vacuum, prompting other rebel groups and militia to reassert their control.

Now, caught in the crossfire, civilians face appalling abuse at the hands of multiple armed groups. One town—Kashuga in northern Masisi—was attacked 12 times between April and July. In a new report, Commodities of War, Oxfam has documented how these waves of conflict have affected more than 760,000 people so far this year.

“Ruthless militias and government troops are both mercilessly exploiting local communities to help fund their war,” said Elodie Martel, Oxfam’s associate country director.  Forced labor and recruitment, illegal taxation, and pillaging are all tactics in this conflict, along with rape, kidnap, and murder.

“These armed men enter our homes and demand money. If you don’t give it, they will kill you,” said one man from Fizi in South Kivu.

“Men no longer walk around this village since they are the ones who are taken, mostly,” added a woman from Kalehe in South Kivu.

As insecurity and uncertainty mount, the pressure on people is growing.

“More than 50,000 people have fled camps and homes since yesterday and are in dire need of shelter, water, and food,” said Tariq Riebl on Monday. Riebl is Oxfam’s humanitarian coordinator in Goma, the threatened capital of North Kivu and one of Congo’s larger cities around which cluster camps for displaced people. “Families have been split up overnight and people are desperately going between sites trying to find loved ones. If fighting intensifies further, there are very few places people can go for safety.”

Oxfam is aiming to reach about 230,000 people affected by this new crisis and since July has been responding to the needs of families in three camps near Goma. As of Tuesday the organization had helped 123,000 with clean water, sanitation services, and protection support. And public health teams have launched education campaigns to reduce the risk that waterborne diseases, such as cholera, could spread. But the largest of the camps, Kanyaruchina, where Oxfam has been building 700 latrines and 120 bathing stalls, is now deserted after people were forced to flee again.

For people of the eastern provinces, the violence is a grim reminder of how weak Congo’s national justice system is. Coupled with a lack of state authority and an ill-trained and poorly paid army, the consequence of that weakness has been decades of sporadic conflict triggered in part by ethnic tensions and disputes over land and resources. The danger and volatility make it very difficult for people to earn a living and have pulled many deeper into poverty.

“This war brings us extreme poverty and leave many killed,” a woman from Rutshuru in North Kivu told Oxfam. “Children no longer go to school and people flee to zones that are somehow safe. Those who return to their village to work their land to provide for their families are killed during clashes, or raped when a woman or girl is alone in the field.”

Oxfam is calling for an immediate halt to the fighting so that humanitarian aid can reach more civilians, especially those who have been displaced.

This paper was produced by organizations working in the affected countries or advocacy groups with a long-standing commitment to resolving the LRA threat: Broederlijk Delen, Cafod, Christian Aid, Conciliation Resources, Cordaid, Danish Refugee Council, Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, Intersos, Norwegian Refugee Council, Oxfam, Pax Christi Flanders, Peace Direct, Refugees International, Resolve, Society For Threatened Peoples, Tearfund, Trocaire, War Child UK, World vision.

The US has provided tens of millions of dollars in support of armed forces and police reform in the DRC, yet the impact of the US efforts has not been measured and thus is not actually known. Moreover, notwithstanding these and other donor efforts, it is clear that true reform in the DRC security sector has yet to occur: “No progress at all,” according to one senior MONUC official. True reform, including the training of all security forces in civilian protection and human rights principles and the implementation of that training in field operations, plus effective application of military justice and measures to remove known human rights abusers from the army and the implementation of a judicial system based on the rule of law, is crucial to improving the humanitarian situation in DRC and moving DRC to a position of stability, economic development, and robust democracy.

Though the mandate was renewed, the mission’s make-up is set to change. As many as 2,000 troops may leave by June 30 and the peacekeeping force will become a stabilization force on July 1. It will be re-named MONUSCO. The UN says that any further reductions of troops will be based on the security situation on the ground.

Marcel Stoessel, Head of Oxfam in Congo, said:

“Many parts of Congo are still extremely insecure and violence is a daily threat. Any reduction in peacekeepers could be bad news for ordinary Congolese, women and men.

“Congo needs each peacekeeper that it has, every pair of boots counts. While we’d like to see them be more proactive and effective in their daily operations, peacekeepers continue to have an important deterrent effect, particularly in eastern Congo. Some 162,000 people have fled from their homes this year alone, and in recent weeks UN reports have talked of more murder and mass rape.

“The Security Council needs to keep its word. It must ensure that any future cuts to peacekeeping numbers are determined by the security situation on the ground, the wishes of local Congolese communities and the ability of the Congolese army to protect its own civilians.  According to communities we work with, elements of the Congolese army, as well as armed militia, continues to be responsible for many of the abuses civilians face. The government has taken some positive steps to address this, such as its zero tolerance policy on abuse, but there is still much work to be done to reform the Army.”

Oxfam also stressed that the UN Security Council needed to develop clear indicators for assessing progress in army reform. These must include appropriate vetting procedures to ensure human rights abusers do not become commanders, training on human rights and ensuring that any wrong-doer in the army can and will be brought to court.

With the support of Oxfam America and in collaboration with medical staff at Panzi Hospital, researchers from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative (HHI) performed a retrospective cohort study of sexual violence survivors presenting to Panzi Hospital with a specific aim of answering the following outstanding questions:

1. When, where and how are women being attacked and what makes them vulnerable to sexual violence?
2. How has the rape epidemic in South Kivu evolved over the last five years?

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."

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.

Escalating violence

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.

Role of the peacekeeping force

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."

According to Oxfam, while a solution is needed to halt appalling levels of human rights abuses committed by armed rebels, the answer cannot be action that knowingly increases levels of human suffering.

Marcel Stoessel, head of Oxfam in DRC, said:

"Four months ago an offensive against the FDLR set in train a spiral of violence against civilians which has forced 250,000 to flee their homes and caused untold death and suffering that continues to this day. By any yardstick it has been a humanitarian disaster, and one the world has ignored. The UN force's top priority in Congo must be to protect the lives of innocent civilians. The UN needs to be aware of the full implications of continuing to support military action in the present circumstances."

Oxfam said any military action should ensure that risks to civilians are kept to an absolute minimum and, in accordance with international humanitarian law. The agency also called for appropriate sanctions for any violations of international humanitarian law noting that for too long human rights abuses, including by government soldiers, have gone largely unpunished.

The aid agency urged the UN to set out and stand by clear preconditions, based on rigorous observance of international humanitarian law, for MONUC support to any military action by the FARDC. It also called for greater emphasis on non-military efforts to disarm rebel groups, which present less risk to civilians but so far have not been given sufficient priority.

The previous joint offensive against the FDLR in North Kivu, launched in January 2009, has already created immense suffering for thousands of civilians. An estimated 250,000 people are still unable to return to their homes. Villagers have reported that thousands of homes have been burned to the ground in reprisal attacks mainly by the FDLR. Rape and looting by all sides, including government forces, has also been reported. According to recent reports, 100,000 people have already fled their homes in South Kivu, even before the new offensive has started. Aid agencies are planning for the possible displacement of a further 400,000 people in South Kivu.

Oxfam had to expand its programs in North Kivu after the first offensive, bringing life-saving assistance to at least a further 85,000 people, in addition to those that it was helping already. Oxfam has also opened a new rapid response office in Bukavu, South Kivu, to be prepared for possible humanitarian fallout there. The international agency urged all major donor countries to give sufficient attention to the humanitarian crisis, which has been raging since January.

Oxfam is helping to support more than 500,000 people affected by the conflict.

It was in late March that I started receiving increasingly worrying reports about alleged atrocities in remote areas of North Kivu province. Military operations by the Congolese army against a rebel group known as FDLR—Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda—had continued (Rwandan troops deployed in a joint operation with the Congolese army withdrew in February); and reports suggested that the offensive was likely to expand to South Kivu.

I heard about reprisal attacks, the burning of houses, sexual violence, looting, and people being prevented from accessing their fields—their only source of food. Many of these reports were coming from areas where Oxfam teams had begun carrying out life-saving work with a local partner, helping to provide safe drinking water, clean latrines, and public health education.

I could not believe what I was reading: Up to 250,000 people reported to have left their homes since January.

Some of our senior staff, as skeptical as me, went to the field and came back with a clear report: It is true, they told me; it's just not on TV yet. Our immediate response was to scale up our emergency operations in South Lubero, which is in North Kivu. Water trucks were sent to provide clean water to displaced placed and the families who hosted them. Hygiene items were distributed, and health promoters were deployed to help prevent the outbreak of epidemics.

We also decided to open an emergency response office in the neighboring province of South Kivu where we were getting reports of another military build-up, indicating that a similar tragedy could happen there.

A few days later, I was on a plane crossing this vast country towards the conflict zone to support our field staff and to get a first-hand view of what was happening. After two flights and a trip by road I finally arrived in Lubero. The government representative there told me people needed urgent help.

I continued by road southwards into what the United Nations called the "red zone"—an area where military escorts are recommended. Oxfam refuses such escorts, due to concerns that we may be perceived as supporting a particular side in any conflict. It was one day after an attack on the town of Luofu, where 255 houses were burned to the ground.

We met some displaced people on the road, who were fleeing the fighting, carrying the few possessions they could take with them. They were exhausted and desperate. They were heading to a town called Kirumba, which was also our destination. Several thousand people had gathered there for an Oxfam emergency distribution of essential hygiene items.

Through an interpreter, I heard some of their stories. One woman witnessed another being gang-raped by three armed men. The victim died later, the witness told me. The witness—an old woman—ran away from her village with her children, but had become separated from her husband, who fled in another direction. She told me the few items she had managed to carry with her were taken away by soldiers.

As the Oxfam distribution of hygiene items continued, we travelled further south to a town called Kanyabayonga, where Oxfam was distributing water. The town's population has more than doubled during the recent fighting, and Oxfam is trucking in 180,000 liters of clean water every day.

Village chiefs gathered to tell me their stories. Since the start of the military operations, civilians are seen with suspicion by both warring sides, and accused of being collaborators. People have had no choice but to leave their villages—but they also have had nowhere safe to go.

They arrived in Kanyabayonga, they said, terrified, tired, and in need of protection and help. The fighting had not stopped. One day before we arrived, the FDLR rebels had attacked Kanyabayonga itself.

People were living with host families—in some cases, up to five other families in a house. I tried to imagine how it would be—no clean water, only basic squat latrines, with little money and a war going on around me.

But what really broke my heart was to hear about the systematic burning of houses in these remote areas of North Kivu province. Villagers reported that many thousands of homes had been burned to the ground.

There are about 17,500 UN peacekeepers stationed in Congo—but with little visible presence here to give these vulnerable people any sense of safety. People I spoke to wanted to see UN peacekeepers patrol on foot, to be present in their communities. To protect them.

Now I'm back in the eastern provincial capital, Goma, where Oxfam coordinates its emergency operations in Congo. I am happy that we have managed to scale up our emergency work in South Lubero. More help will come, if the security situation permits. If only the world would not look away.

Marcel Stoessel, Head of Oxfam in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who just came back from the conflict zone, said: "There is nowhere that is safe in the area I visited. Villagers are being forced to flee, some for the fifth or sixth time, losing family members on the way. Women are being raped and abused. People have been looted of the few possessions they owned, and have had their houses burned to the ground—all of this is happening as we speak, but the world is looking away.

"The stories I heard are heartbreaking. A woman told me how she witnessed a brutal gang rape of a neighbor by three armed men. She thinks the victim must have died afterwards. She ran away with her children, but her husband ran in another direction. She does not know where he is."

At least 250,000 people have been forced to leave their homes since January. Oxfam is alarmed about the lack of protection of civilians in their home villages, but also about their safety in the towns they fled to, where armed men are also carrying out serious abuses.

There are not enough UN peacekeepers patrolling the areas affected by the new violence, leaving civilians feeling scared and vulnerable. While there are around 17,500 MONUC peacekeepers in the country, the force has very little visible presence in the areas to which people have fled.

"Communities tell us that they would like to see more peacekeepers patrolling the areas on foot, so that they feel safer," said Stoessel.

Oxfam called on MONUC to ensure that its resources are deployed in areas where they can best protect people at risk.

Oxfam this month significantly scaled up its life-saving emergency response by providing clean water, sanitation, and carrying out crucial hygiene promotion activities. Up to 150,000 additional people will benefit from this assistance.

With the military operations against the FDLR now expanding to South Kivu, Oxfam is also concerned for civilians there, with initial reports of thousands of people already fleeing in anticipation of increased violence and attacks. Oxfam has opened a new rapid response office in Bukavu, South Kivu, to be prepared for possible humanitarian fallout.

"What we have seen in North Kivu sets a terrible precedent for what may happen in South Kivu," said Stoessel. "Oxfam calls on all parties to the conflict, including the Government, to respect the life, dignity and property of civilians."