In eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23 rebel offensive has caused panic in the province of North Kivu. At least 50,000 people have fled their villages since October 20, the United Nations said on November 1. According to local civil society, there are surely many more. In a school transformed into a camp, in Kayembé, living conditions are Spartan.
With our special correspondent in Goma, Coralie Pierret
In the courtyard of this school invaded by the displaced, students make the children sing to make them wait before the distribution of porridge. A parenthesis of joy for the thousand households that crowd the Kayembé site.
Desimana arrived a few hours ago from Kisigari, a village in Rutshuru territory. It builds itself a small house with sticks and plastic “. But the plastic is still missing. Due to a lack of means to buy the materials, many families sleep under the stars. Others sleep in classrooms.
Bahati is one of the volunteers who clean the toilets in the camp. Even if water is distributed by NGOs, in particular Doctors Without Borders, the hygiene conditions remain deplorable: “ We have difficulties with the showers, as with the toilets. » The displaced are very numerousunlike sanitary facilities.
According to estimates by local civil society, in the middle of the week, 14,386 households, or at least 60,000 people, were spread over the 69 sites for displaced people in Kanyarucina, a town on the outskirts of Goma.
► To read also: DRC: fighting between the army and the M23 is approaching the Goma-Rutshuru axis