In Pictures: ‘No safe place’ as violence grips DR Congo’s Ituri

Violence has resurfaced in vast country’s northeastern province, forcing hundreds of thousands of people on the run.

"They killed women, men and children. They burned more than 250 houses," Anne says. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

By Tom Peyre-Costa-8 Feb 2021

Ituri province, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Severely burned to the face and body, Anne is looking on what is left of the charred houses in her village.

“We were hiding inside when they locked the door and set the house on fire. I fell in the fire and burned my face and my arms. I am the only one who survived,” she says.

The United Nations says at least 647 civilians have been killed in such attacks on villages in Ituri province, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), since May 2020.

Long-lasting intercommunal grievances over land ownership between Lendu and Hema, the largest ethnic groups in Ituri, are again pushing the two communities into a deadly spiral of violence amid a rapidly deteriorating situation that has seen armed groups carry out increasingly indiscriminate attacks.

The destruction of homes, fields, loss of livestock and numerous human rights violations have displaced more than 843,000 people in the last year.

The Lendu are largely farmers and hunters, while the Hema have historically been pastoralists.

For several decades, tensions have prevailed between the two communities over control of land and resources. During the era of Belgian colonisation, authorities pursued a discriminatory education policy in favour of the Hema, who gained power and influence beyond their demographic weight. After independence in 1960, Hema elites were able to take over a great deal of land.

The violence in Ituri as often been characterised solely by its communal nature, but land disputes are part of the fundamental causes in this rural province. While peace negotiations are at a standstill, villages are burned, women, men and children are raped and maimed.

A man from one of the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO) sub-groups patrols in the bush to monitor the surroundings of his base camp. At first under an association called CODECO, Lendu armed groups have since split into several entities, scattered across Ituri. Their demands revolve around two major issues: The reclaiming of land allegedly taken by the Hema, and their integration in the national armed forces. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Displaced people walk on the main road in Tsuya camp, located on the lands of the parish in Drodro. The parish hosts 20,000 displaced people from surrounding villages, sometimes just a few kilometres away. Repeated attacks have forced the villagers to leave their houses and harvests behind. In the last year, violence in Ituri has triggered almost 50 percent of the national total of more than 1.4 million newly displaced people. At least 160 schools were damaged and looted, pushing 80,000 children out of school. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Dira sits in her makeshift hut while her children, Bisimwa and Christ, stand outside with their father. The family has been sharing a two-square-metre makeshift hut for the last six months in Tsuya camp. Displaced families in Ituri critically lack adequate shelter, with many living in tiny makeshift tents made of straws and sticks, unable to withstand gusts of wind or even brief periods of rain. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

The newly displaced wait for assistance in the open at Drodro’s church. Due to a lack of aid organisations providing shelter, the newly displaced Hema settle in religious concessions, public buildings, or in the open air. Unaccompanied women and children face a greater risk of harassment, assault or exploitation if they live in the open or in shelters without adequate walls or a secure door. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

A boy walking towards a crowd of newly arrived displaced people around Drodro's church. While COVID-19 already exacerbates all aspects of the humanitarian crisis, the lack of adequate shelter increases the risk of disease transmission among displaced families. The overcrowding of available tents and houses, limited access to hygiene and sanitation facilities, combined with a lack of clean water, create favourable conditions for the spread of infections. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

In Djugu territory, several successive cropping seasons have been lost as a result of farmers fleeing the violence, exacerbating an already dire food security situation. Bonheur, Fortune, Augustin and their mother, Matou (inside the tent), found shelter in Tsuya camp, 20km (12 miles) from their village. Having not received any food assistance since they fled six months ago, they eat what their father finds in the bush. Sometimes they go to sleep on empty stomachs. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Dina and her husband, Michel, have been living in Rho camp, 20km (12 miles) northeast from Drodro, for one year. More than 25,000 people, mostly Hema, have sought shelter around a UN peacekeeping compound. Despite the presence of armed forces to ensure the protection of the displaced, the camp has already been attacked twice. "There is no safe place for us, we live in fear of attacks in the camp, but we can't return to our village in Maze for the same reason. Many of those who tried to return were killed by armed men and 20 families from our village were kidnapped. Our village is empty, we locked our doors and left everything behind,” Dina says. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Cecile, 6 years old, walks in an alley of Rho camp. "My daughter doesn't know what a school is," said Cecile's mother. Children continue to suffer grievously because of violence and chaos unleashed in the province. Attacks against hundreds of schools have kept thousands of children out of the classroom, and at risk of being displaced, raped and maimed. Many more face malnutrition and diseases such as cholera and measles. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

A man from a CODECO sub-group walks through the bush during a reconnaissance patrol. In August, President Felix Tshisekedi sent a delegation of former rebel leaders to Ituri to negotiate peace with CODECO. These discussions have resulted in the signing of a unilateral commitment from armed groups to cease hostilities and engage in a negotiation process with the government. The conflict risks escalating further in the near future if a long-term solution to the Ituri crisis is not found to break the cycle of violence and allow hundreds of thousands of displaced people to return home. Dialogue between communities to resolve disputes over land will be key in the resolution of the conflict and the appeasement of the region. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

A farmer digs furrows in a parcel of land. In Ituri, land provides farmers with crops and herders with areas for grazing. The incursion of farm animals on cultivated land, the destruction and occupation of crops by herders, and the disrespect of grazing land and watering corridors by farmers, fuel conflicts and violence. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Cultivated parcels of land on the hills of Djugu region. There is no formal registry of customary parcels and fields in Ituri. The precariousness of natural boundaries or borders, the lack of knowledge and violations of boundaries are among the main sources of many intercommunal conflicts. This problem is worsened by population movements, when large numbers of displaced people must be accommodated in a given territory, and in the event of return. Encroachments -whether by chance, mistake, or intention - on previous boundaries regularly cause disputes. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Pilo Mulindro is a Hema traditional chief under close protection. Owing to the pluralism of norms and structures that can be applied to rule a dispute, judicial systems and customary mechanisms are often challenged by communities and therefore are of limited use to solve disputes over land issues. As a result, disagreements persist and increase. "Tensions over land will never justify the shedding of blood. Justice is the only way to solve our dispute. Our lands are full of resources, they are fertile, but the lands should never be put above human lives,” says Pilo. “Today my life is under threat. I don’t like to live like this, under protection, but I have no other choice," he adds. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

Lendu traditional chief Joel Mande talks with men of the surrounding Lendu villages. "It is extremely shocking to see people and children getting killed, women being raped. It only creates additional problems,” he says. “Hema and Lendu have been living together for ages, land issues should not divide us. We need to talk, face to face, and frankly to each other. We need to see what’s in the other’s eyes. We have to put all our problems on the table and find a way to live peacefully together again." [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]

An armed man from the URDPC group watches the surroundings of the base camp. The provincial government has continued awareness-raising activities aimed at ceasing hostilities and peaceful cohabitation between Lendu and Hema communities. This process has led to the handing over of many combatants. However, a lack of measures to effectively deal with these combatants through disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration programmes has led to their dispersal and the resumption of hostilities. [Tom Peyre-Costa/NRC]