Attacks by the CODECO militia, one of 120 rebel groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
A month after the rebels invaded the village of Drodro in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the hospital’s once-crowded wards are empty and Dr James Semire strolls through the dark corridors, wondering when the patients will dare to return .
The community is one of many in the Djugu territory of Ituri province that has seen a spate of attacks by a coalition of militias called the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo (CODECO). According to UN data, some 550,000 people were forced to flee their homes between January and March.
Semire said members of the Hema herding community began deserting Drodro in mid-March before a rumor spread that CODECO was advancing. The group – which claims to defend the interests of Lendu farmers, who have long been in conflict with Hema herders – is one of 120 known militias that have destabilized eastern DRC since the 1990s.
Most of the Hema residents had left on March 22, the day CODECO fighters took up positions in broad daylight on a hill near Drodro, the doctor recalled.
“Suddenly someone came and told me that there were gunshots outside,” said Semire, who also fled his home but still works at the hospital in case people come and need treatment.
“There are repeated attacks,” he said. “This delays the return of people here because it raises doubts.”
The CODECO raids have exacerbated a long-standing humanitarian crisis in Ituri province, where 3 million people are in urgent need of assistance, according to the UN humanitarian agency.
Driven from their sources of livelihood, Ituri’s displaced people have gathered in areas perceived as safe, such as Rhoe, a camp of rickety huts near a UN peacekeeping base north of Drodro. According to camp representative Samuel Kpadjanga, the population has nearly doubled to 65,000 since early 2023.
The needs of the camp residents are acute. Some homes are nothing more than frayed pieces of tarpaulin stretched over poles. Many residents are also traumatized after losing their homes and belongings and experiencing physical or sexual violence, says Grace Mugisalonga, a mental health expert in Rhoe for the Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) medical charity.
The road between Rhoe and the provincial capital of Bunia, about 70 km to the south-west, is lined with CODECO checkpoints, straining the camp’s supplies. The presence of fighters in the forests and fields around the camp means that attacks on those who venture out are a regular occurrence, Kpadjanga said.
A resident, who declined to be named, said a day earlier that she had been held at gunpoint by three men in a nearby field.
“They had a fight. One said kill me, another said no. My life is safe, but they took everything from me, my scythe, my money,” she said in a cabin in Rhoe camp when a toddler peered at her from the doorway.
In 2021, the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo declared “martial law” for both Ituri and the neighboring province of North Kivu due to escalating violence.
The country has the largest internally displaced population on the African continent and the UN estimates that at least 5.6 million people have fled their homes.
According to the UN, the attacks have spread from villages to shelters for internally displaced persons. Plaine Savo camp has been repeatedly attacked by armed groups, including CODECO, killing families and burning shelters to the ground.