06/30/2006

The displaced themselves in the Democratic Republic of Congo express enormous hope for the elections. “We want to vote,” insisted a displaced woman in the central Katanga village of Mitwaba. “We want to have a president so that we won’t be hungry any more,” added a recently disarmed rebel, unsure when he would be able to return to his fields despite the rapid approach of the planting season. In North Kivu, a group forced to flee fighting between the national army and the FDLR (a Rwandan Hutu rebel militia) was sure that the vote would take place as scheduled on July 30, and that the result would be peace. “If we have goats or sheep, we will be able to raise them well,” they explained, “without fear of them being stolen or anything.”