This article is about that in DR Congo with the continued violence and looming land territory being claimed many refugees are refusing to go back to their villages. This all started when thousands fled from DR Congo to Uganda due to violent clashes that started on March 28th 2022. Together with the government of Uganda and humanitarian partners, they have assisted over 10,000 refugees. In addition, nearly 36,000 people have been displaced within DR Congo. A lot of these families that fled are in poorer poverty areas that didn’t really have much to leave behind in their homes just looking for safety and survival
This is important and not good for the DR of Congo because the M23 rebels are gaining more control and power as they erupted earlier this week in eastern DRC, thousands of civilians fled to neighboring Uganda. Even the many civilians that didn’t leave the country but evaluated to other areas like Rutshuru, where they found precarious shelter in schools or churches don’t want to go back. A quote from a displaced victim from Rutshuru said “The rebels are still in our villages, it’s too complicated to go back because we can’t live together, there may be other clashes and we will be victims.”
This topic relates to our class through geopolitics because of the DR Congo location and the M23 rebel group continuing to gain control they are afraid to go back home. Additionally this acts of violence could be considered war crimes as the M23 is made up primarily of Tutsis and opposes the Hutu Power militia which is the democratic forces for the liberation of Rwanda. This whole conflict is just a long drawn out tension between the Tutsis and the Hutu.