The Beni crisis: A story of solidarity in displacement
Up to 90,000 people have been uprooted from their homes following new military clashes in North Kivu between the Congolese army and the Ugandan rebel group ADF-NALU.
![A young boy displaced by fighting in Beni. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/1child.jpg "A young boy displaced by fighting in Beni. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Everything shifted drastically this July in the territory of Beni in North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, when the a rebel group was dragged out of dormancy and sparked into battle with government forces.
The fighting began on the militia’s home turf at the foot of the Rwenzori mountains, the legendary Mountains of the Moon that mark the border with Uganda. This boy is one of the 90,000 people displaced by the fighting.
Photo: Pierre Peron
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On film
Watch a video of 'ghost villages' filmed along a road in Beni, North Kivu.
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![An abandoned home in Kakola. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/2abandoned_home.jpg "An abandoned home in Kakola. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
People knew that bad times were ahead when they saw militia flyers warning government soldiers that “if you decide to fight us God will annihilate you. Your children will become orphans, your wives will become widows”.
Tens of thousands fled their homes and headed for the relatively safe town of Oicha. Ghost villages appeared with homes left abandoned but securely locked. Many were looted simply for food by the combatants who are given little or no rations.
On film: Ghost villages in DR Congo
Photo: Pierre Peron
![A family sheltering in a classroom. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/3family.jpg "A family sheltering in a classroom. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Most of those displaced were taken in by host families, but public sites such as schools and churches were opened to take in the most vulnerable people who had no relatives to help them. This family is pictured in the corner of a classroom shared with three other families.
Photo: Pierre Peron
![Families waiting to register for aid. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/4waiting.jpg "Families waiting to register for aid. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Within a week, the population of the town of Oicha almost doubled, with every neighbourhood taking in thousands of displaced people. These families were waiting to be registered on the displacement lists used to distribute aid.
Photo: Pierre Peron
![Digging a latrine as part of Oxfam's emergency response. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/5diglatrine.jpg "Digging a latrine as part of Oxfam's emergency response. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
In this emergency response, Oxfam is focusing on the public sites first, digging and building latrines at schools now overloaded with people.
Oicha is in the so-called “Cholera Crescent” marked by the string of Africa’s Great Lakes. The annual peak for cholera here is September, so we need to focus on water, sanitation, and hygiene to prevent outbreaks before they happen.
Photo: Pierre Peron
![People collecting water in Oicha. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/6water.jpg "People collecting water in Oicha. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
The water availability in Oicha was already poor before the influx of displaced people.
Here people collect water from one of the water sources rapidly rehabilitated by Oxfam. Latrines, showers, hand-washing facilities, and rubbish pits have also been built as a matter of urgency.
Photo: Pierre Peron
![Portrait of Placide. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/9placide.jpg "Portrait of Placide. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Like many people in Oicha, Placide is a jack-of-all-trades, part time mechanic and part time preacher. When the displacement wave arrived to his home town, he took in 30 people he had never met:
“I had a couple spare rooms, so I couldn’t leave them to spend the night outside.”
Photo: Pierre Peron
![Marie standing by her clinic. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/11marie.jpg "Marie standing by her clinic. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Along stretches of abandoned villages, local clinics remain open against all odds. One was looted but at another Marie stood guard with the doctors she works for and a ward of sick women and children. She had also fled to Oicha with her family, but then she made the brave decision to leave her children with relatives and walk back to the clinic:
“I came back because people needed help in the clinic here. At the moment we are seeing many families come out of hiding in the bush and they are bringing us sick children.”
Photo: Pierre Peron
![Clovis Mwambutsa. [Photo: Pierre Peron]](images/drc_beni_photostory/12clovis.jpg "Clovis Mwambutsa. [Photo: Pierre Peron]")
Clovis Mwambutsa has been in charge of Oxfam’s work in Beni since 2009, when the area had been relatively calm. There had been enough stability at least so agencies such as Oxfam are able to make the transition from humanitarian response to longer-term development projects. With this new crisis, it is back to the emergency activities for the time being until the fighting stops.
More on Oxfam's response to the crisis in DR Congo
Photo: Pierre Peron
