The Mango Tree Rebellion
Thursday night around 5 pm, as we lounged on our little stoop at the Mission, Mama Koko mused about the mangoes. Little did we know what was happening across town. “We won’t have mangoes this year. Normally they are already the size of my thumb, but the flowers just bloomed and dried up. No fruit.” Mangoes are a big deal around here. The ancient trees line the wide lanes running through town, giving the strange impression of a southern plantation, and grace nearly every compound. The trees are prolific around Dungu, making the fruit a staple. “What will we eat? It’s going to be a hard year.”
Food is on everyone’s mind. Following the LRA attacks and sightings earlier this week on the outskirts of town, locals have had plenty of time to absorb the implications: it’s time to start preparing the fields for planting. But it’s also categorically unsafe. That means hunger for most of the year.
Locals have been stewing over the attacks. Yesterday, we when we visited the site of the attacks we were informed five LRA were seen there again only Tuesday, two days before our visit! On the way out of the maze of mud and thatch huts of Bamokandi, I stopped and asked neighbors their thoughts, if they had anything to say to Americans. Did they ever! The men unleashed a firestorm, perhaps because, as they informed me, I was the first to ask them. Kabila doesn’t care. The FARDC (Congolese Army) doesn’t do enough. MONUC (UN) is sponsoring the LRA… (What?) “We know because the LRA eats the same food, wears MONUC uniforms, and a neighbor’s son saw MONUC officers release an LRA captive…”
The conjecture based on rumor made me uncomfortable, but I was happy to provide them a chance to vent. They’re scared and need someone to listen. Late for an appointment, we wished them well and continued on our way.
When Koko’s brother picked me up for my morning internet outing today, he tried to explain something in broken English about MONUC, bad news, and cutting trees. Though Koko should have left for Mama Koko’s a couple of hours ago, she was waiting for me at the Mission when I returned. “It’s bad. Last night, there was an incident.”
Uh oh.
The story went like this: A small group of Congolese army officers noticed a MONUC vehicle carrying six civilians who were armed. Apparently the FARDC guys had never seen civilians in a MONUC vehicle before, never mind packing guns. So an off-duty officer and his wife followed the car until they saw it stop and the “civilians” got out next to an entrance to the forest. The officer yelled, “LRA!” The men climbed back into the vehicle and sped off, but not before igniting hysteria among the locals.
My big question: Did this really happen, or is it an FARDC fabrication?
The locals big question: Who where those men? Why was the UN dropping them off?
In an atmosphere loaded with mistrust and fury at the UN’s failure to protect civilians, it was just the spark necessary to convince the locals the UN is sponsoring the LRA. They took to the streets. They chopped down whole mango trees and laid them across the road to block all UN access to the airport and the attack area, Bamokandi, stretching several kilometers up the road to past Mama Koko’s house and up to the bridge into town. Then they got weapons. Machetes. Spears. Guns. The message is, “We’ve had it. If you won’t protect us, we’ll protect ourselves.”
According to several reports from locals, the FARDC has pounced and done their best to stoke the fury. For instance, Koko’s brother saw them handing out coffee and cigarettes to locals last night, encouraging them to stay up all night in the streets.
In reaction, at some point last night, MONUC fired shots in the air at their compound in the center of town, later claiming it was because they spotted the LRA in the town center. A risky strategy for an already terrified population. The FARDC fired in response.
Koko’s family insisted we stay at the Mission today in lock down. By midday, the center of town was flooded with Congolese Army. I sent Koko’s brother to take pictures, so I’ve seen images of the downed mango trees and gathering crowds.
If this all sounds like some form of war-zone adventure, I assure you, it’s not. Most of the day was spent hanging around a hot cement hallway in the Mission, analyzing the rash on my hand, sipping warm bottled water, trying to avoid the harsh sun and my cave of a room. (With no running water or electricity, it feels an awful lot like camping.) Koko and I kept our eyes on the parking lot, waiting for visitors’ periodic updates. The reports were the same all day: “The situation is tense.”
“Can we go out? Even to the center of town?”
“No!!!” was the most common response. But sometimes we got the variation, “Yes, no problem! Their problem is only with MONUC.”
“So we can go now?”
“Right now, it’s tense. When it’s calm, you can go!”
We did slip away to the nearby hospital for a short visit with Antoinette’s baby boy. Doctors say he has rallied since a blood transfusion yesterday, but they will keep him through the weekend to be safe. He was limp and sad, but I’m not sure one could expect much else. His dad was at his side, not pretending to be anything but devastated over his wife’s murder.
By evening, community leaders periodically passed through the Mission, admitting defeat with a day of negotiations. MONUC has dismissed concerns, stating the population is being manipulated with stories and no such incident took place. The leaders admit that is possible. The story does deflect tensions away from the FARDC. Note: people are no longer talking about the FARDC blocking the route to safety during the attack. But in dismissing the community’s fears, MONUC is ignoring the more serious complaint, one for which they surely have no good answer: Why have they failed to protect civilians from the LRA? Is it a surprise people are ripe for manipulation? They are terrified, facing a year of hunger, and with the LRA sightings earlier this week, they are convinced the LRA will be back at any moment. The one thing they do know is that no one – not MONUC, not the FARDC, or their government – will be there to protect them. They are furious, panicked…and now armed.
“It’s big.” The Mayor told me. “MONUC fired shots. The FARDC fired back.”
Don’t even get me started on the FARDC. It’s like one community leader put it, ”They know exactly the right button to push.”
As for MONUC, I humbly propose they re-write the page in their crowd control manual that suggests firing weapons is a solid strategy for calming the masses hysterical with fear. (And the one about covering your tracks by saying a deadly militia is in town may not exactly, um, soothe!) Perhaps MONUC would do better to listen a little more, learn to say ”hi” in the local language, and focus on their job, to protect these people while saving their gunshots for the bad guys – the LRA.
More as it develops…
When the UN won’t listen…send in the white girl with a camera!
Saturday Morning- quick update. Community leaders have asked me to go out into the streets with my camera to talk with the people. Give them a chance to vent and feel someone hears them. (When the UN won’t listen…send in the white girl with a camera!) A respected priest went ahead to speak with them. They wanted to talk until the FARDC showed up and tried forcibly to get them to clear the road. It didn’t work, and now they are more angry, and no longer want to talk. Koko and I heading over to Mama Koko’s in a few minutes. We will try to talk with them later, and I will post their comments live on twitter (thousandsisters) and facebook.
Yep, trying to talk down a crowd of angry, machete and gun wielding Congolese men will be a first.
But a girl has to do what she can
Thank you for the updates. I would love to hear more, when you have the time, about what you have observed and think about MONUC and what they are and are not doing for the people. It is so infuriating that the rumors can only make things worse. Our prayers are with everyone there.
Rumors and gossip – yes, old pastimes I remember from my Dungu days. They can be horrible tools of manipulation with fearful people.
I’m happy to see you questioning the rumors.
Listen to your heart and trust it.