DRC (Mulongwe) : Congolese ban Burundian refugees to harvest their cropfields

Burundian refugees in the Mulongwe camp, in the Fizi territory, in the province of South Kivu, say they do not understand the behavior of the Congolese in this area for some time. The latter have prevented Burundian refugees from cultivating, let alone harvesting for this season.

INFO SOS Médias Burundi

Burundian refugees who rented land to cultivate in Mulongwe, Bumba, Kaseke, Katalukulu and Adra were not allowed to harvest their cassava, rice, tomatoes and beans.

“Instead, it is Congolese who harvested the fields they did not cultivate,” laments a Burundian refugee.

This is the case of Akimana, a 45-year-old woman, mother of six children, who had bean and potato fields that she could not harvest.

In this camp, there are more than 16,000 refugees who depend mainly on
agriculture.
They are getting by because of the slowness of the World Food Programme (WFP) which gives them money to buy food.

The chief of the locality of Mulongwe who is accused of being part of those who took these decisions to prevent refugees from cultivating did not want to react on this point.

At the end of July, the king of the Basimukuma South groupment and the chief of the Mutambala sector demanded that refugees close markets in the camp and go and set up their stalls at the external market of the camp. Similarly, they asked the host population to let refugees work in agriculture and fishing without hindrance.

Congolese living in Mulongwe say the reason they are asking for the market to be outside the camp is because in the agreement they made with the UNHCR, it was stipulated that activities of schools, hospitals and all markets, had to take place outside the camp.

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Burundian refugees get ready to prepare food at the Mulongwe camp in eastern DRC (SOS Médias Burundi)