By René Wadlow

The Imburi are spirits that are said to inhabit the forests of Gabon, in Equatorial Africa, and who cry out for those who can hear them at times of impending violence and danger. The Imburi are now crying out loudly on the increasing dangers and forced migration in Goma, capital of the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo – democratic in name only.

The July 31, 2024 ceasefire agreement – never fully effective – has now been broken. Troops of the Tutsi-led militia known as M23 along with regular military of Rwanda are advancing toward Goma, the capital of North Kivu. The Association of World Citizens has members in Goma who keep us informed of the critical situation there – getting worse each day.

People in the neighboring province of South Kivu are frightened and have started to flee. There are a large number of displaced persons in both North and South Kivu, and some have fled across the frontier into Burundi. Many people are living in displaced persons camps in difficult situations despite the efforts of the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross, and humanitarian aid organizations.

This eastern area of the Congo has been the scene of fighting at least since 1998 – in part as a result of the genocide in neighboring Rwanda in 1994. In mid-1994, more than one million Rwandan Hutu refugees poured into the Kivus, fleeing the advance of the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front, which now comprises the government of Rwanda. Many of these Hutu were still armed, among them the “génocidaires” who, a couple of months before, had participated in the killing of some 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu in Rwanda.

Today, there is still large-scale occurrence of serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law by all parties with massive displacement of populations, plundering of villages, systematic rape of women, summary executions and the use of child soldiers. There is a report from the UN Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic of Congo of December 27, 2024 which outlines clearly the disintegrating situation.

Thus, there is a need to create an enabling political environment which would help develop the rule of law and a vital civil society – a vast task that the Imburi are not sure will be carried quickly enough.

Prof. René Wadlow is President of the Association of World Citizens.