Congolese citizens who had fled to Rwanda return home after M23 restored order in Bukavu.
Do not bother unpacking; it will not be long before it is safe to return. That seems to be the thinking among the people seeking refuge in Rwanda from the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The prevailing narrative is that the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), between the government and the AFC/M23 rebels, intensifies an already dire humanitarian crisis, causing the displacement of the population. This narrative, however, runs contrary to the reality on the ground in the DRC.
In every area which, in their words, the rebels liberate from government forces, they are enthusiastically welcomed by people who had laid low through the fighting, emerging into the open as the rebels enter their locality, with those who fled, generally to Rwanda, quickly returning.
The story has been the same everywhere, including recently in Goma, and now in Bukavu.
In a matter of days, after government forces are defeated by the rebels, normality is restored, and people return to their day-to-day lives.
The situation in Bukavu remains uncertain, after the rebels took the nearby Kavumu airport.
The proximity of the rebels seems to have thrown members of the national army, FARDC (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo), into a panic, sending them fleeing the city of Bukavu, looting as they left.
With no administration of any kind left, rioters claimed the city and armed gangs, many of them little more than adolescents, roamed the streets.
Bukavu natives trek back home.
The AFC/M23, which in an earlier statement had declared that it had no intention of taking Bukavu, seemed to have been surprised by the FARDC’s panicked reaction to their taking of Kavumu airport.
“Following their defeat, the FARDC and its allies retreated in disarray, abandoning the city of Bukavu after engaging in looting and other abuses.
We urge the people of Bukavu to organise local vigilance committees to maintain security and to appoint honest and responsible individuals to lead them.
We call on the population to remain in control of their city and not give in to panic…” the rebels announced in a statement.
But the assurance suggested that they clearly suspected people would panic and some would join in the looting.
“The AFC/M23 reaffirms its commitment to defending the people of Bukavu against undisciplined FARDC forces and their allies, should they attempt to return and commit further atrocities.”
Whether it was the reassuring statement or the evidence of what they had seen and experienced, the people who had panicked and fled Bukavu to Rwanda returned almost immediately after hearing that the city was under the rebels’ control.
Upwards of four hundred people, many of them families with young children, decided they wanted to return home.
Local authorities in Rwanda’s Bugarama organised coaches to take them to the border, from where they crossed into Bukavu.
Others preferred to head to Goma and were transported to that border post. Only twenty-five opted to stay in Rwanda and are being looked after in Nyarushishi Transit Centre.
If experience is anything to go by, they too will soon be heading back home.
