Pepa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, stands as an example of how livelihoods can be transformed by MAG’s work.
The village of Pepa, located on high plateau grasslands in the far southeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo, was until the 1990s home to the Societé Elgima Pepa, a huge cattle farm that employed 1,200 local people.
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Almost all the cattle disappeared, however, during the conflict that devastated the area up to 2003, the farm buildings becoming military bases, used at various periods by Congolese Government forces and various non-state armed groups.
The whole region was a battle zone and much of the population fled to Zambia. Those who remained were forced to submit to whatever group controlled the village at the time.
Pepa |
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MAG arrived in Pepa in 2005 after the armies left, to find the fields, lanes, houses, churches and farm buildings full of unexploded and abandoned ordnance. Ordinary life was impossible.
“In my own garden there were some bombs. The military even left their shells in the churches,” resident Jeanne Mowa told a MAG Community Liaison Officer. “When MAG arrived they cleared away a lot of bombs.”
As about 4,000 of the population gradually returned, MAG teams worked steadily to clear the area, using as a base a dilapidated house that had first been abandoned by the farm workers, then by the various militaries. Its yard and garden had been littered with explosive shells and munitions stockpiles.
Villagers in Pepa and surrounding areas were given repeated sessions of Mine Risk Education (MRE) to prevent accidents, and village chief Daniel Zongwe Kiputa happily reports that they have had no accidents despite the initially high level of contamination.
“There were engins [unexploded and abandoned weapons] from the war everywhere,” the 48-year-old said. “But the population didn’t know what they were, or the danger. There would be many dead here without the work of MAG.
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Villagers in Pepa are given Mine Risk Education to help prevent accidents. |
“We have had no accident victims, because the people have been educated to stay clear of these items. I can say that MAG has really done a very important job here. Now the population lives in security, and their main activity is cultivation in areas that MAG has cleared.”
Since 2005, Pepa has come back to life, full of children, houses and people going about their daily lives and work. “I can now access my fields without problems or fear,” says Jeanne Mowa.
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Villagers have come to know MAG well, and regularly report items of unexploded ordnance (UXO) they have spotted around the area.
“Some people think the work of MAG is already done here,” adds the village chief. “But I tell them no, it’s important for MAG to keep coming because we don’t know how many engins are still out there.”
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MAG staff mark the site of an unexploded shell for clearance. |
Pepa stands as an example of how lives and livelihoods can be transformed by the clearance of dangerous items combined with educating people about the risk through MRE. MAG teams still use the same house as a base – though most of the work has moved to other heavily affected villages.
Seventy kilometres north of Pepa, around Kasenga and Kibanda villages, MAG teams found more than 100 items of UXO and antipersonnel landmines in just two months. Much of these were in people’s fields and along roadsides.
There is still a lot of work to be done. Meanwhile, in Pepa, a herd of cattle has gradually grown to 270, and some villagers hope to see a day soon when the big cattle farm will once again operate.
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Cattle graze close to the rejuvenated village. [Photos: Kevin Malseed / MAG] |
8 April 2010
MAG would like to express its thanks to the following past and current donors to its DRC operations: Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs; UK Ministry of Defence Conflict Prevention Pool; DFID (UK Department for International Development) / UKaid; Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; UK Ministry of Defence; Guernsey Overseas Aid Commission (GOAC); Office of Weapons Removal and Abatement, U.S. Department of State; Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency); UNICEF. Click on Tags below for related articles.
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