Women deliver as they flee ADF attack

By Raymond Baguma and John Thawite              

Christine Tabo, 33, carries a baby in her hands. She is among more than five women who delivered as they fled Kamango following fighting. The little boy, hardly a week old, is her 10th child.

He was born as her mum fled her home in Kamango, DR Congo, following an attack of suspected ADF-NALU rebels. She fled with her husband Bungu Martey, 40. Both are peasants and owned gardens; but have no food to eat in their temporary camp at Bubandi Primary School. The baby boy is yet to be christened, but his mum thinks that she will call him Enock Malemo because he was born in flight. Malemo from the Lubwisi language translates to mean 'hardship.'

They are some of the women presently camped in Bundibugyo district after they were displaced by fighting in their country, and fled to Uganda. They do not want to apply for asylum, but would like to return to their home country. "I am not sure that we will be safe back in Congo. But I am worried about my property which I left. There are thieves there now," said Tabo.

DR Congo has been severally declared the world's worst place for mothers and children in a number of international reports. In DRC, one woman out of 30 dies from pregnancy-related causes, while one child out of seven dies before their fifth birthday.

The temporary camp at Bubandi Primary School is a microcosm of what is happening in Congo where over 60,000 people have been displaced by fighting in the last one week.

John Apollo Kibulya, a Ugandan health inspector of Bubandi Sub County said, "The situation in the camp is worsening. At the school for example, there are only two VIP latrines in a school with a total enrolment of 674 children, yet the people at the camp are very many.

With water, they fetch water from a nearby stream. There is a plan to shift them to Bubukwanga but there is no food and water in the area, to which they are opposed. "Within a week, we shall have an outbreak of cholera if the situation does not change," said Kibulya.

Following the influx into Bundibugyo, the Office of the Prime Minister, UNHCR, Uganda Red Cross Society - URC have already rushed to Bundibugyo to register and offer relief assistance to Congolese refugees. The civilians are scattered in various parts of Bundibugyo district including Nyahuka, Kalera, Buthogho, Bubandi, Bundingoma and Nyahuka. There is a plan to establish a temporary camp for all of them at Bubukwanga sub-county headquarters where it will be easier to handle them.

However, they object to the transfer, preferring to remain close to the border, to monitor the situation before they return to their homes. They need shelter, clothing, and medical care. Abuneli fears that with no medical relief, people might die of disease.

The Congolese fled into Bundibugyo mainly via the Uganda Nyahuka border post due to armed clashes in Kamango, some 15kilometers from the DRC-Uganda border. During the clashes, the gunmen overran a Congolese government army unit.

However, by Friday evening, the Congolese army (FARDC) had regained control of the military base, according to the UPDF Mbarara-based spokesperson Lt Ninsiima Rwemijuma, quoting Congolese officials.

"Our Congolese counterparts have told us that Kamango is now under their control," Ninsiima said.

The Commissioner for Refugees in the Office of the Prime Minister, Apollo David Kazungu, said they had so far registered 23,000 refugees. Kazungu said the World Food Programme had dispatched food items to Bundibugyo while URC was supplying non-food items like tents.

Speaking to the media Saturday, the UNHCR Country Representative, Mohammed Adar, said the agency was in Bundibugyo to offer aid. The UNHCR has also sent a medical team to Bundibugyo to establish the health of the refugees.