Urgent Call for Support
If you type “Lake Kivu” into the internet search engine, you will see picturesque images. But the pictures belie the disastrous situation in which the people in this region find themselves.
Insecurity in North Kivu (DR Congo) is on the rise
The city of Goma is being threatened more and more every day by brutal military gangs. They are conquering ever more land, displacing and killing the population. The displaced people often do not even have enough clothes, so there has already been an appeal in North Kivu, and women in reasonably better condition donated clothes, which were then distributed to the locations of the refugees.
Access to food is becoming increasingly difficult and the Masisi area can no longer produce food for the city of Goma.
The transportation routes are not clear, the road to the town of Minova ( the road between Goma and Bukavu) will soon be closed, so it will be very difficult for the population in Goma.
Anuarite Siirewabo Muyuwa, Coordinator of the SOFEDEC organization in the South-East hopes that God will help.
Until the heavenly help arrives, we ask you for YOUR help:
Please donate to SOFEDEC, our Associate, which is doing superhuman work to alleviate the suffering in the region.
For your donation, please use the following bank transfer:
Bank: Equity Banque Commerciale du Congo, Kinshasa, DR Congo
IBAN: 0001 1150 6552 0004 2934 294
Swift: BCDCCDKI
Receiver: SOFEDEC organization,
Coordinator Ms. Anuarite Siirewabo Muyuwa Goma City, DR Congo
For more details on SOFEDEC’s engagement in DR Congo, please download the information paper by clicking on the image:
3 Responses
Background information
Anuarite Siirewabo Muyuwa is a lawyer who defends the rights of traumatized victims of gender-based violence in the war zone of eastern DRC. She has also worked closely with Dr Denis Mukwege, gynecologist and winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize, in the town of Bukavu in southern Kivu province.
For the past two years, Anuarite Siirewabo has lived with her family in the town of Goma, in the province of North Kivu. This entire region is close to the border with Rwanda, from where, since the 1990s, criminal military gangs have been attacking, robbing and killing the defenseless civilian population.
However, MONUSCO, the UN peacekeeping contingent, which was unfortunately not very effective, recently withdrew from DR Kongo. Since then, a real war has been raging in North Kivu, where the various military gangs have meanwhile conquered entire regions. Thousands of people have had to flee and now they are living in refugee camps in extremely precarious conditions.
Anuarite Siirewabo, in collaboration with SOFEDEC and other local NGOs, is doing all one can do to help the displaced women and children threatened by famine by furnishing them with basic foodstuffs. Attempts have been made to provide psychological support to mothers and women in general who have been seriously traumatized, and to give them at least a minimum of prospects for the future.
This has worked out quite well. The children have been able to go to school on an improvised basis,
One has tried to provide psychological help to the mothers and women in general, who are severely traumatized, and to give them at least minimal prospects for the future.
see the SOFEDEC website.
But since the beginning of 2024, the gangs have been engaged in open warfare. As a result, the entire defenseless population of the Goma region is under direct threat of death.
AIF is in constant contact with Anuarite Siirewabo via WhatsApp.
Anuarite Siirewabo has sent this urgent appeal for emergency aid:
Friday 2 February 2024 :
Here the situation is getting worse. Just a few metres away, that’s right. 1 km from my home, a bomb exploded yesterday during the day and 3 people were injured.
Food is hard to come by. The Masisi territory can no longer produce food for the city of Goma.
The road to the town of Minova will soon be cut off. So I think it’s already going to be very hard for us.
We hope that God will help us.
The report by E. Batumike, director and journalist at radio BOBANDANO:
Saturday 3 February 2024
16 :07h ezechielbatumike88:
I am currently in MONOVA. There is no way of getting to GOMA. According to recent information, the M23 has just barricaded the Minova – Goma road, where they have just killed 2 motorcyclists who refused to live with Tutsis. The movement of the inhabitants of KIROTSHE, KIHINDO, SHASHA, BWEREMANA, KILUKU, KARUBA, BITONGA… has been observed since this morning in Minova. Matata sana.
We don’t know how to behave on their behalf. Especially in the current financial crisis.
16:14h ezechielbatumike88:
That was their big concern in order to force the government into dialogue/negotiation when it learns that Goma is cut off from the routes that supply its markets with food. To reach Goma, you now have to travel across Lake Kivu to KITUKU. And BUKAVU by road. Minova traders will no longer be able to sell their goods to Goma and Rwanda, and vice versa.
16:17h ezechielbatumike88:
Even us from the radio, we have to be very careful in choosing what to say and what not to say, because the enemy is 7 km away from us. The FARDC associated with WAZALENDO and BURUNDAIS forces have just installed heavy weapons in BWEREMANA, 3 km from us, preparing to attack. So far, bombs are exploding.
Sent by the director of radio BOBANDANO
EZECHIEL BATUMIKE
04.02.2024
Information collected by Ursula Nakamura, Switzerland;
Coordinator of the IAW Water and Pads Project
We watch with horror as women in many parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo continue to deal with male violence.
As the attention of the world has been directed elsewhere, first to Ukraine, then to Israel and following that Gaza, the West Bank, the Red Sea, the women of the DRC continue to suffer the same aggression with much less attention from the world at large.
We are terrified by the continuing gender-based violence in Congo. How unfortunate that the UN unit wasn’t effective in this country either and even withdrew leaving thousands under vicious attack without a defense. We stand with our sisters in support and compassion!