Rebel offensive in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo clouds future for Israeli NGO
Africa 3030’s Israeli American founder Ariel Kedem fears third Congolese civil war, warns the severely malnourished children his group is feeding could die in days if not cared for
Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter
The Israeli head of an NGO that helps severely malnourished children in the Democratic Republic of Congo says he fears for the future of his project and for the eastern region where it operates after Rwanda-backed rebels swept through earlier this month.
Africa 3030, set up a decade ago, runs a rural center 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) southwest of Kavumu in the country’s eastern South Kivu province, where it feeds some 200 severely malnourished children between ages 1 and 10.
Last Friday, following the takeover of Kavumu by the rebel March 23 Movement, which goes by the name M23, the NGO sent its staff and families home and hid its vehicles for fear they would be stolen.
“There’s a foreign-armed group that is officially the new boss in town, and nobody knows what will happen next,” said Ariel Kedem, founder and chairman of Africa 3030.
He added that the children being cared for by the project are all “severely malnourished and fragile” and that “two or three days without our support could be lethal.”
Africa 3030 provides these children with daily meals and spirulina cookies made of home-grown dried spirulina algae, a protein, mineral and vitamin-rich superfood.
It funds scholarships that enable 80 children to attend schools and has given micro-loans to over 150 women to help them start small businesses.
The region, which borders Rwanda, has been in turmoil since 1996 following the 1994 Rwanda genocide in which some 800,000 mainly Tutsi citizens were murdered by their Hutu neighbors and the rise to power in Rwanda of Tutsi military leader Paul Kagame, who became President in 2000.
Kagame sponsored two wars in the DRC, during which over six million people died, ostensibly to protect Tutsi populations there. Now, there are fears of a third civil war following M23’s rapid takeover of the eastern Kivu provinces, from the northern capital, Goma, to the southern one, Bukavu.
Critics say the real reason for the instability is the region’s mineral wealth, mined under the supervision of countless militia groups, often using child labor, and smuggled into Rwanda, a darling of the West.
Eastern DRC is rich in copper, cobalt, tin, tantalum, and lithium, all of which are used, for example, in manufacturing cell phones.
Africa 3030 was now “trickling the children back,” Kedem told The Times of Israel Wednesday from his home in central Kfar Saba.
But he went on, “Renegade soldiers could come and take our generators or solar panels. We have a couple of vehicles in the city that we’re hiding, as M23 has been looting vehicles from Goma to Bukavu and taking them into Rwanda. Our land cruiser is a lifeline, used to help staff move around, bring in supplies, everything.”
“Our center has equipment that draws curiosity,” he continued. “Stray soldiers can run by and do whatever they want. Ten days ago, Congolese soldiers who had fled battle formed a gang and walked along the main drag of our village at night, harassing people for money and killing more than nine of them.”
With the banks closed, Kedem said, “There’s no money, no local or regional government, no social services; food prices are rocketing, food is becoming more scarce, and it’s a question of days, maybe weeks before people will have nothing to eat or drink, children will be sick, and they’ll get angry. I don’t see anything that M23 can do other than start shooting people. These are plain soldiers supposed to take over government. They don’t know how.”
He added, “I’m pretty sure we will find whatever it takes for our community. But if it becomes more dangerous, and there are curfews and the kids aren’t allowed to come to the center and movement becomes restricted, these kids can die.”
The battles for Eastern Congo have seen reports of widespread violence, looting, and rape by M23 and Congolese government fighters.
On Tuesday, the UN human rights office confirmed cases of summary execution of children by M23 in Bukavu and recruitment of child soldiers. It condemned attacks on hospitals and humanitarian warehouses and threats against the judiciary.
“Everyone has an interest in Eastern Congo,” said Kedem. “The biggest fear is of a third Congo war.”
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