In the DRC, the inhabitants of Vitshumbi trapped between Lake Edward and the M23 rebels

On the eastern borders of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Vitshumbi is a terminus. The only track ends there. In front: Lake Edward, its fishermen, its hippos and its Mai-Mai militiamen. Behind is the March 23 Movement (M23), checkpoints, a deserted road and columns of rebels wearing Rwandan army helmets. According to local authorities, some 24,000 people live in Vitshumbi, North Kivu. Since November and the massive outbreak of the rebellion, this fishing town has been cut off from the provincial capital, Goma, on which its survival depends.

Administration officials receive their rare visitors in a building that is on the verge of collapse. As with all state services, here, the vestiges of the Belgian colonial era serve as offices. In a room with blackened walls, one of them explains, on condition of anonymity, that the blockade of the road is due to the Congolese army and not to the rebels. “It is the DRC authorities who refuse traffic on the RN2. There is no problem with the M23”he told AFP.

He then explains how the fresh fish, unloaded at Vitshumbi, is re-embarked immediately smoked on canoes, 30 km due east, to circumvent the army roadblocks. Arrived in another fishery at the end of the world, Nyakakoma, the baskets of fish are strapped on motorbikes and enter the M23 zone… towards Goma!

Young fish disappear

To circulate without hindrance, you have to pay “10 dollars per motorcycle” to the M23, specifies a representative of the fishermen. The additional transport costs linked to the detour and the various “taxes” of the armed men reduce the meager margins of the fishmongers of Vitshumbi to a trickle. “I don’t earn anything today”sighs Espérance Matomahini. Sitting in a decrepit hangar of the services of the Ministry of Fisheries, she despairs: “My children were expelled from school, I could no longer pay for their schooling. »

The sky turns stormy. A boat docks. It is empty. “We fished all night but found nothing”explains, annoyed, the captain of a canoe. “Some fish in the spawning grounds [lieux de reproduction des poissons] and as they pay the naval forces [de l’armée congolaise] or the mayi-mayi [milices communautaires], they are protected”, denounces a representative of a group of fishermen. Young fish disappear. From year to year, Vitshumbi sees the hope of good fishing dwindling. “We went from 15,000 tonnes to less than 400 tonnes of fish per year in a short time”says Delphin Mutahinga, local representative of the governor.

A legacy of the colonial period, the boundaries of Virunga National Park, drawn almost a century ago, stretch over 300 km from north to south and include Vitshumbi. The park being classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco, the rules are strict and its guards keep watch. “We are not allowed to do anything other than fishing here, no farming, nothing. We have to buy everything”explains Joseph Muhindo, president of the local civil society.

Before the war, most basic products (flour, oil, soap, etc.) arrived by truck directly from Goma, via the national road. Today, they take complicated paths from the Ugandan border, between shifting front lines. Or they arrive from the north of the province, after 250 km of mountainous road infested with armed groups.

“We were born in war”

“We only know one guy who has dared to take the road from Goma to Vitshumbi since the M23s have been there. It must be crazy. Or he had smoked hemp”laugh the mayi-mayi, who present themselves as “displaced by war” and accuse the army of having them “abandoned”. “They promised us ammunition, but they didn’t even deliver 20% of what they said”thunders Serge, who presents himself as the “self-defense commander”. He maintains that with more support from the army, they could have won the war against the M23 – despite being supported and supplied by the Rwandan army, according to UN experts. As the crow flies, barely a hundred kilometers separate Vitshumbi from Rwanda.

Evening falls on the town, where the boats are moored. We pray that the fishing will be good, but especially for the reopening of the road… and the departure of the rebels. A small tornado throws sand on a row of outdated buildings, a group of mayi-mayi strolls through the city. One of them sighs: “We were born in war. We grew up in war. We will die in war…”

The M23 and the Rwandan army have taken over large swaths of North Kivu in less than a year. In addition to the Congolese army and the United Nations mission in the DRC, Monusco, military contractors from Eastern Europe have been deployed since December and a regional force of several thousand soldiers has been created. Despite the presence of all these armed men, the rebels are still there. The economy is at a standstill. And the fishmongers of Vitshumbi continue to pay taxes to the M23.