DRC – not just the Kivus!

Post-Conflict

Just what does Post-Conflict mean? For me, it sometimes looks and feels much more like international development as there isn’t the same sense of urgency you might find in conflict zones. The ‘just do it’ of an emergency is replaced by budget constraints and planning and proper paperwork. The problems and contextual issues are no longer so obvious and I have to go looking to find them.

Sometimes it also feels a bit more like a job and I feel a bit less like a humanitarian in action. I can spend entire days sorting out overtime hours or writing monthly reports or counting pills and this certainly doesn’t feel like savings lives or alleviating suffering, as in the MSF mandate. It is even possible to go days without leaving the compound or actually seeing any patients or feeling a sense of urgency in what we do.

However, it is all so relevant. Without MSF, the health care in the area would be very limited. No surgery. No patient transfers. No blood transfusions. No free medicine. No testing.  No treatment.  And the population really has nothing. They survive in grass huts on subsistence agriculture. The mosquito net distributed by MSF is one of very few possessions. So many more people would die if MSF was not working here.  Post-conflict medical support is critical to ease the continued vulnerability of the population, to enhance their productivity and facilitate the rebuilding process.

Post-conflict work seems to find its way into the gray zone between international development and humanitarian relief work. It may not catch as many headlines but it is a big part of MSF and plays a vital and often forget role in international assistance. It is also what I am experiencing for the first time here in Shamwana.

Waiting for the dry season

Looking Deeper

On the surface, the villages look peaceful and I’m greeted by big Jambo’s wherever I go. Children are always waving and yelling “Mazungu! Mazungu!” as we drive by with big smiles on their faces. Poverty is widespread and people are living well below the dollar-a-day poverty line…but fields have been planted and markets are starting up again. New water pumps are in use and schools have been rebuilt. Things are getting better and it all seems so normal.

However, as I start to look a bit deeper, I’m getting a better picture. Here are a few incidents that have shed light on this issue.

…our mental health program is still finding new cases of people who, even after 2 years of peace, are still suffering from the effects of war. These are people who have witnessed or experienced brutality or rape, people who have had family members killed, people who fled because of fighting and people who have watched as their house and all of their possessions go up in flame.

…I met the family of my water and sanitation assistant. They used to have a big brick house and you can still see the old foundation in their yard. They now live in grass huts. They fled the first time in 1999 in the face of advancing rebel groups as part of the bigger international war that eventually overthrew the government. They returned in 2002 only to flee again in 2004 during the regional instability of the Congolese Army vs. Mai-Mai battles. They returned again in 2006 and are starting to rebuild. Bricks were made during the past dry season for a new house and they will start building once the current rainy season is over. For now, they are tending their fields and surviving in their straw huts.

New and Old

…my construction assistant pointed out a few spots in one of the Ministry of Health clinics where he had patched bullet holes.

…I can still see the charred marks on some brick buildings where the thatch roofs were torched. The people have moved back in but the doors and windows are largely boarded over and the cracks have been filled.

Burnt House

I am currently working in the classic MSF post-conflict project. The history of conflict and war in the DRC is long, complex, and brutal and, as you can tell from the events still making the news, not yet over. The period between 1996 and 2003 in the DRC marks the bloodiest conflict in history since World War II with almost 4 million dead. Although I’m not going to get into details or pretend to understand the complexities of this conflict, I do want to share my thoughts on just what “Post-Conflict” means to me and to my current context.

Conflict in Katanga

While Katanga was less affected than the Kivu’s by this conflict, advancing rebel groups supported by the Rwanda army displaced thousands in the area. In response, the Congolese government armed village militias and these so-called Mai-Mai groups emerged as small groups dedicated to the protection of the population. The Mai-Mai was not a consolidated rebel group and mainly consisted of small pockets of resistance within a network of warlords and chiefs. As such, the Mai-Mai groups were not included in the Peace Agreements of 2003 and large areas of Katanga were left under their control. In principle, they were there for the protection of civilians. In reality, they were known undisciplined, abusive and ferocious fighters and the simple mention of Mai-Mai could empty villages.

In 2005, military action by the Congolese Army took place to remove the Mai-Mai from these areas and this led to heavy population displacement in much of the Katanga province (up to 400,000 people fled by the end of 2006!). After some time, one of the main Mai-Mai chiefs surrendered and, as the domination of the Mai-Mai in the area decreased, these Internally Displaced People (IDPs) started to return to their destroyed villages.

MSF opened the Shamwana Project in May of 2006 at the centre of one of these Mai-Mai controlled areas. At the time, there was really nothing here. Food was scarce and had to be shared with military. Villages were completed destroyed and people were living in grass huts and crowded camps. Water was taken from dirty streams and sanitation was poor. There was no health care and the existing ministry health centres were in bad shape.

Since then, things have started to get better and villages are starting to rebuild. While life has started again, the needs are absolutely huge, especially in the area of healthcare but also education, roads and food security.