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Congo-Brazzaville:
Chronicle of a Forgotten War

A Special Doctors Without Borders Report
October 1999






The Population, Taken Hostage by Fighting

Last December, hundreds of thousands of people fled the fighting and violence by armed groups in the Congo Republic’s capital. The total population of the country is 2.8 million people. More than 10% of the population has been forced to leave their homes and the capital. While 70,000 people found refuge in the relatively safe northern part of the city, most of the displaced went to the Pool, a tropical forest zone south of Brazzaville. For several months, these refugees have lived without any resources, prisoners of the militias, with aid organizations unable to provide them assistance.

The displaced people who made it back to Brazzaville say that they were not able to leave the Pool region because of violence, and the control the Ninjas have of the zone. Repeatedly forced to flee, they first lived in villages, where locals helped them. With the continuing fighting, they dispersed to seek refuge in the forest. They all tell of extremely difficult survival conditions (absence of food, hygiene, medical assistance) and speak of "epidemics of swollen feet" (a symptom of kwashiorkor, a very serious form of malnutrition), and of numerous deaths among children and elderly people.

According to testimonies collected by Doctors Without Borders, villages were deliberately targeted by one or the other party to the conflict, and sometimes even bombarded by helicopter. Some displaced confirm that they were strictly controlled by the Ninjas, who increased their pressure as the government troops got closer. Some say they were used as human shields.

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> Massive Volations of Human Rights

About 200,000 people have returned from the Pool to Brazzaville since last May. During the last several weeks, 1,000 to 2,000 people have been arriving in the capital every day.

The flow of the displaced returning to Brazzaville started at the beginning of May, after the government army conquered cities south of Brazzaville and officially reopened the southern parts of the city. The size of the movements back to the capital have been proportional to the violence in the Pool region, and to the progress of government troops in the south toward the main strongholds of the opposition.

New arrivals in Brazzaville tell of abuses and acts of violence perpetrated by both the Forces Armées Congolaises (FAC) or the Cobra militias, and the rebel Ninja militias. Government troops and militias supervise the convoys of internally displaced people (IDPs), and control the military roadblocks on the road going from Kinkala to Brazzaville. The IDPs call this road the Corridor of Death: young men—suspected of being Ninjas—are arbitrarily executed, and acts of violence and robberies are regularly reported. This violence continues today.

Scores of rapes of women and very young girls have been reported. Since April 30, more than 500 cases have been reported at the Makelekele hospital and at the Sports Center (now transformed into a transit center) where the Doctors Without Borders teams receive the displaced. This figure is thought to be very low compared to the true incidence of rape. It only includes the women who acknowledge having been raped on the road to Brazzaville by Cobra militiamen and government troops. It does not include the cases of sexual violence during their stay in the Pool region, or the cases not declared.

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> An Exceptional Medical and Nutritional Emergency

Humanitarian organizations are facing an exceptional medical and nutritional emergency in Brazzaville: since May 1999, out of 200,000 people who returned from the Pool, 14,700 suffering from serious malnutrition have been taken into nutritional centers set up by humanitarian organizations. Among those treated were more than 3,300 children under age 5. A further 31,000 are suffering from moderate malnutrition.

Among the children under 5 coming back from the Pool, more than 20% are suffering from severe malnutrition, and 40% from moderate malnutrition. Many adults are also suffering from malnutrition. Various types of serious anemia have been registered, as well as respiratory infections, malaria, and septic dermatosis.

One-hundred percent of the malnourished children being treated in Doctors Without Borders feeding centers are internally displaced persons (IDPs) coming back from the Pool. With each new wave of IDPs returning, the feeding centers run by Doctors Without Borders teams are seeing an increase in the number of malnourished children.

In order to properly to take care of the returning displaced persons, Doctors Without Borders has progressively implemented four feeding centers of which the latest was opened in October. That so many adults and teenagers are also malnourished is a sign of the seriousness of the situation.

Because of their poor health and the acts of violence against them, many people are still dying during their trip back to Brazzaville, or soon after they arrive. In the southern part of the country, where fighting continues, as well as in the regions of Niara, Lekoumou, and Bouenza, civilians are still dying without humanitarian organizations being able to assist them.

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> A Forgotten Conflict

The testimonies collected by Doctors Without Borders volunteers during their medical and nutritional work tell of massive human rights violations and acts of violence by the various armed forces, in the Pool region or on the way back to Brazzaville.

However, the crisis in Brazzaville still has not received media coverage or attention from the international community. Furthermore, there is little hope today of a rapid and negotiated solution to the conflict, and both sides reject responsibility for acts of violence committed.

Since last July, the capital and its periphery have been relatively calm. However, despite this apparent appeasement, and an effort from the government to regain control and limit the violence committed by the militias, the Pool region is still not accessible to humanitarian organizations without military protection.

Several hundred thousand civilians are still caught up in the fighting. Based on the stories told by the displaced who managed to reach Brazzaville, the worst is feared: they are without food or health care and are victims of violence.

As for the resident population (estimated at 240,000), little information is available as to their fate, but they might very well be going through the same situation. Over the past few weeks, Doctors Without Borders teams have witnessed a new phenomenon: of the refugees who have come to Brazzaville, 30% were originally residents of the Pool region itself. This means that residents are also suffering from the conflict, and are forced to seek help in the capital.

As the security situation outside Brazzaville and in most parts of the country is extremely hazardous, Doctors Without Borders does not have access to the Pool region.

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