Congo refugees have little to draw them back

updated 3:50 p.m. ET Feb. 8, 2009

KIBATI, Congo - Sylvie Manyamangu gave birth last week out in the open on a chilly night.

Still, she decided that was better than returning to the home in eastern Congo that she fled from three months ago, carrying whatever she could in a hefty pile on her head.

"There's nothing left there. They looted everything, even the roof off my house," she said. "If I go back, there will be nothing."

Still, she acknowledged that the sprawling Kibati refugee camp where she and her eight children have landed was not the best solution either.

"Here, I also have nothing," she said, one sickly child wrapped on her back and others scurrying around her skirt.

Manyamangu applauded along with scores of other refugee women when the top U.N. diplomat for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, arrived at their camp to hear their concerns this weekend.

Holmes' four-day trip to Congo comes amid an outcry from aid workers and human rights groups, who accuse U.N. peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians from deadly attacks.

Manyamangu's hometown of Kibumba, just to the north, was among many in eastern Congo overrun by rebels loyal to renegade general Laurent Nkunda. The rebel leader claimed to be fighting to protect Congo's Tutsi minority from the Hutu militias linked to neighboring Rwanda's 1994 genocide, when some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered.

Nkunda was captured by authorities in Rwanda last month, who took advantage of a split in his rebel movement. It was a stunning about-turn, for Rwanda's now-Tutsi government had supported Nkunda for years.

"I was so happy when he was caught," Manyamangu said. "It was he who forced us away, so with him there could be no peace."

250,000 fled fighting
Nkunda's troops seized great swaths of eastern Congo in a matter of weeks last year, forcing at least 250,000 people to flee the fighting.

Since his capture, thousands of refugees have already gone home — some 24,000 of the estimated 50,000 who flooded into Kibati, just outside the regional capital of Goma, which is on the border with Rwanda.

Holmes toured the sprawling camp on Saturday, viewing huts covered in white tarpaulins and wooden structures with bright blue doors, asking residents questions.

The biggest fear among camp dwellers is whether fighting could erupt again. Numerous militias and rebels have fought and plundered in eastern Congo since the central African nation suffered a decade of wars that ended in 2003.

Etienne Mupenda read a list of the refugees' needs and concerns to Holmes. In addition to plastic sheeting, seeds for planting and food until their vegetables grow, the refugees hoped to be protected by civilian authorities and establish a local civilian administration.

Security ‘the biggest issue’
"I can't promise a miracle," Holmes responded. "But we'll do our best in talking to the governor ... I understand that security is the biggest issue."

Later, he told reporters he would look into providing packages of necessities to encourage people to go home.

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