DRC / DISPLACED CIVILIANS

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said some 3.9 million Congolese have fled their homes in Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to escape widespread militia activity and violence. Recently, some of the displaced have started to return home in the Kasai region, where they face an uncertain future. UNHCR

• Categories: News & Features / News Stories / Unifeed
• Video Length: 00:02:33
• Production Date: 25 October 2017
• Asset Language: English; French
• Corporate Name: UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES - UNHCR
• Subject Topical: DISPLACED PERSONS
• Geographic Subject: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
• MAMS Id: 2014168
• Parent Id: 2014168
• Alternate Title: unifeed171025b

Description

STORY: DRC / DISPLACED CIVILIANS
TRT: 02:33
SOURCE: UNHCR
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / FRENCH / TSHILUBA

DATELINE: 20 OCTOBER 2017, KASAI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

Shotlist

20 OCTOBER 2017, KASAI PROVINCE, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

1. Various shots, displaced families walking on bridge over Lualaba river with belongings
2. Med shot, Nandu Serge speaking to people on roadside
3. SOUNDBITE (French / Tshiluba) Nandu Serge, displaced Congolese:
“My family and I are not doing good. We suffered a lot, many of us are sick. We suffered very much on the road. We didn’t have any food. I don’t even know what, where I’m going to stay in Kananga. I have relatives there but I don’t know where they live. I’m a driver – so I’ll try to find a job there.”
4. Wide shots, Serge’s family standing on the side of the road
5. Med shot, Nandu Serge is being interviewed
6. Various shots, Nandu Serge and his family
7. Med shot, mother breastfeeding baby on roadside
8. Med shot, displaced children
9. Wide shot, restaurant destroyed by fighting
10. Med shot, restaurant destroyed by fighting
11. Various shots, Mary Kapinga in her former restaurant and shops
12. SOUNDBITE (French / Tshiluba) Mary Kapinga, property owner:
“This was my kitchen, where I cooked for clients of the restaurant. It’s been destroyed. And this here was my hotel, where wary travellers could stay for the night. There used to be beds and everything, but everything got stolen.”
13. Wide shot, displaced people outside of church in Kananga
14. Various shots, Steven Corliss talking to displaced people inside church
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Corliss, Special Advisor, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“What we see here on the ground here in Kasai is a window of opportunity for people to return to their villages. But when they arrive, they find that their houses have been burned, the schools have been destroyed, the clinics are no longer functioning, and their means of livelihood are also not there. So, the needs are truly massive.”
16. Various shots, displaced people standing on roadside
17. Various shots, displaced girl resting on ground

Storyline

Entire families fled. They grabbed what they could before escaping the fighting and rising ethnic tensions in the DRC’s Kasai province. Some said they hid in the bush for months.

Serge walked for two weeks, after two of his children were killed.

SOUNDBITE (French / Tshiluba) Nandu Serge, displaced Congolese:
“My family and I are not doing good. We suffered a lot, many of us are sick. We suffered very much on the road. We didn’t have any food. I don’t even know what, where I’m going to stay in Kananga. I have relatives there but I don’t know where they live. I’m a driver – so I’ll try to find a job there.”

Serge is one of the 762,000 Congolese who have fled cities and villages in the country’s central Kasai region. He is heading towards one of the major cities of the region, Kananga.

Only a few months ago, the area around Kananga too was a witness of intense fighting, forcing many of its residents to seek safety elsewhere.

Now, people like Mary Kapinga, who fled Matamba because of heavy fighting between the Kamwina Nsapu militia and the army, are starting to return home. But they are finding that home is no longer what it used to be.

SOUNDBITE (French / Tshiluba) Mary Kapinga, property owner:
“This was my kitchen, where I cooked for clients of the restaurant. It’s been destroyed. And this here was my hotel, where wary travellers could stay for the night. There used to be beds and everything, but everything got stolen.”

In Kananga’s Nganza neighbourhood, a UNHCR team was dispatched to meet with the internally displaced in an attempt to better understand their needs.

SOUNDBITE (English) Steven Corliss, Special Advisor, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR):
“What we see here on the ground here in Kasai is a window of opportunity for people to return to their villages. But when they arrive, they find that their houses have been burned, the schools have been destroyed, the clinics are no longer functioning, and their means of livelihood are also not there. So, the needs are truly massive.”

Some of the internally displaced people in Kananga plan to settle there permanently. Others said they want to go home to their villages when it’s safe. Those returning seek a chance to rebuild. But the displaced men, women and children in the Kasai region, are yearning for an end to the violence and a return to a normal life.