Post by Admin on Dec 23, 2023 21:40:53 GMT
Democratic Republic of Congo: Violence forces thousands into Rwanda
Thousands of refugees have fled the Democratic Republic of Congo into neighbouring Rwanda after ethnic and political violence broke out in eastern DRC.
The mass movement of individuals has forced officials to reopen an old transit camp.
Sky's Africa correspondent Yousra Elbagir visited the area to hear the stories of those who fled the violence.
A historic transit camp for Congolese refugees was forced to reopen earlier this year to accommodate the influx of civilians fleeing heightened violence in eastern DRC.
The Nkamira Transit Camp is currently brimming with Tutsi men, women, and children who escaped targeted ethnic assaults by militants belonging to the dozens of different rebel groups ravaging their homeland.
Sixty-year-old Mutwarutwa arrived here at the end of November. She fled her home with nothing but the clothes on her back as Mayi Mayi rebels attacked her village.
"One day I was at home and we were told that there was going to be an attack. We decided to run and then suddenly bombs were falling and guns attacking us. We had to leave with absolutely nothing," she says.
"We did not have money to get on a motorbike so we decided to run and hide in the forest. Eventually we made our way here."
Mutwarutwa is not alone. 450,000 people were displaced by violence in eastern DRC's North Kivu province in just the six weeks of October to late November.
Only 20km from the Goma-Gisenyi crossing straddling North Kivu, Nkamira is the first stop for many of them fleeing to Rwanda. In November, the camp was receiving around 200 new arrivals a day.