The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
The road from Tshikapa to another major town, Kananga, is similarly under the control of the Kamwina Nsapu, according to specialists in the region.
The main road to Kinshasa, meanwhile, is in the grip of Pende militia, from another local tribe.
The enforced isolation has sent prices soaring. In the marketplace, the price of corn, cassava and palm oil has risen by 50, 100 and 150 percent respectively.
– Homeless and burned –
Tshikapa has taken in more than 70,000 people displaced by fighting between security forces and the Kamwina Nsapu, as well as bloody rivalry among communities such as the Luba, Tchokwe and Pende.
One of the displaced, Agnes Mupetu, 37, lost all her six children to the flames when her home was razed. She has visible burn injuries.
“I don’t know how I got out of our house when it was burned down. I woke up in the forest with no medicine. I didn’t even have access to traditional medicines. People picked me up with my wounds in the forest,” said Mupetu. Her husband went missing in the fire.
Food, clothing and health care have been provided for only 30,000 people by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and local NGOs. “We have limited resources,” said local FAO official Moise Muhindo.
The UN body also provides seeds, hoes, rakes and watering cans to farming families in a bid to help them get agricultural activity going again.
The authorities are keen to emphasise signs of a return to normal life since Kabila visited the troubled Kasai region in mid-June.
Their latest announcement, jointly with Angolan provincial authorities, was that the 31,000 Congolese refugees in Angola can return.
But in the past few weeks, only about 1,400 are estimated to have come home voluntarily.
– Kasai the key –
On the political front, Kasai’s problems weigh heavily on the prospect of stability.
The head of the Independent National Electoral Commission (CENI), Corneille Nangaa, has said it would be impossible to organise a presidential poll by year’s end, notably because of the region’s insecurity.
Speaking to AFP in Tshikapa recently after a new tour of the region, he saw signs of an improvement.
“We think that our action will help bring peace and calm,” Nangaa said.
Launching an electoral census in Kasai — a vital first step — could begin, he said. But he mentioned no date.
