Catholic parish takes in thousands of displaced people

As fights between Congolese forces and M23 militants backed by the Rwandan army reached Goma, many locals had to flee their homes. Thousands of them found shelter in the premises of a Catholic parish on the outskirts of the city.
The humanitarian crisis worsens in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu Province. The capital city of North Kivu Province, Goma, has fallen to the hands of M23 rebels backed by the Rwandan military. The rebels occupied the city, defeating the Congolese forces deployed to defend the city and the Wazalendo militiamen allied to the Congolese military.
As a consequence of the fights, thousands of civilians had to leave their homes, and even more were left without access to electricity and water. A church observer told Agenzia Fides that Wazalendo militiamen pose the greatest threat to civilians. As most of the regular soldiers surrendered after the fall of the city, the militiamen are still continuing to fight.
“The Wazalendo are breaking into the homes of ordinary people in search of food, which is a problem for everyone given the shortage of supplies. If they do not find anything to loot, they threaten to take their children away. And it is easy to imagine what they can do to women and girls.”
In the city, there is no electricity, and without it, the water pipes and filters are unable to function leaving the city without water and electricity. The worsening of the humanitarian situation has hit the displaced people the hardest. Some estimates say the number of displaced people reaches one million in the city. Among them, around 2000 people sought and found shelter in the premises of the parish of Saint Francis Xavier in Ndosho, an outskirt district of Goma. Another 1600 people are housed in the nearby school, the church source says.
The conditions in the city are getting worse and worse. The bodies of many soldiers who fell in the fights are still on the streets despite the efforts of transporting them back to Rwanda or burying them in mass graves. The sanitary situation and the warming weather increase the threat of a disease breakout that would escalate the humanitarian disaster further.
M23 rebels are trying to consolidate their power over the city, and at the same time, they are closing in on the capital of South Kivu Province, Bukavu.
Source: Agenzia Fides