From mid-1997, MSF teams try to work together again. The organisation publishes retrospective studies that trace the odyssey of the Rwandan refugees through the Zairean jungle and contributes testimony to international investigations on human rights violations in the region.

Episode 8: Learning from retrospective reports

In May 1997, MSF published a new study describing the movements of refugees in the Great Lakes region of Africa and the fate of refugees. 

MSF planned to distribute the report to a small group of journalists, asking them not to cite MSF as the source of the information. However, a lack of communication between MSF offices and with the teams in the field, exacerbates tensions.

Episode 7: The ‘Forced Flight’ report

MSF's exploratory mission teams complete their reports on their Masisi and Shabunda visits. Details of mass graves, massacres, and the fact that the ADFL used humanitarian teams as bait to lure refugees out of the forests, sent shock waves through MSF offices. 

A debate about the use of the information collected ensued: should it be made public or not?

Episode 6: Silent vs public advocacy

The ADFL takes control of all of the Kivu province and refugees continue to flee their rapid advance eastwards through the forest.  

MSF struggles to maintain access to the refugees amidst the violence, restrictions, and threats to team safety, while receiving continued reports about refugee massacres.

Episode 5: Forest exodus

Finally allowed into South Kivu, a province in eastern Zaire, the MSF teams discover that refugees are being massacred by the ADFL and its allies, particularly in the Massisi and the Shabunda regions. 

MSF realises that MSF teams are used as bait by the ADFL to lure the refugees out of the forests and kill them.

Episode 4: Humanitarians used as bait

In November 1996, the offensive led by the ADFL and Rwandan forces empties the camps in eastern Zaire of their population. 

Some refugees were repatriated to Rwanda and others fled into the neighboring forest. 

MSF denounces the repatriation conditions and is reproached by the press for "catastrophic" forecasts made a few weeks earlier.

Episode 3: Under fire in the press

As the instability of the region increases, MSF and other humanitarian organisations are eventually forced out of eastern Zaire entirely.  

MSF suspects that thousands of refugees are suffering and at risk of dying. 

The organisation decides to launch an appeal for an armed international intervention and communicates about the plight of the population, predicting a health catastrophe, if access for aid agencies is not provided.

Episode 2: Information war over refugee numbers

In 1996, MSF attempts to alert the international community about the resurgence of conflict in eastern Zaire, as witnessed by teams on the ground. 

The perpetrators of the Rwandan Tutsi genocide, living in refugee camps, threaten and attack the Zairean civilian population. The same perpetrators are holding Rwandan refugees that fled the 1994 genocide, hostage within the camps. 

The new Rwandan regime and its Zairian ally, the Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL), launches counter attacks on the refugee camps.

Episode 1: Resumption of war in eastern Zaire

Support the MSF UK Malnutrition Appeal: 
https://msf.org.uk/msf-malnutrition-appeal

Charity's malnutrition story: A radio appeal for MSF UK

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts speaks to BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the dangers of working in Yemen. What surprised Natalie most about working in the country is the lack of journalists on the ground, exemplifying the fact that the horrific conflict is being overlooked by the world's media. 

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts in war-torn Yemen

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts describes her time in Yemen. In part one she talks about Ramadan and the Ramadan ceasefire.
https://www.msf.org.uk/country-region/yemen

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts' audio diary from Yemen - Part one

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts talks about the difficulty people have reaching the MSF hospital.

https://www.msf.org.uk/country-region/yemen

MSF doctor Natalie Roberts' audio diary from Yemen - Part two

Ed talks us through a night shift at MSF's hospital.

MSF doctor Ed Sixsmith's audio diary from Central African Republic part one

“The smugglers told us we owed them US$5,500 and that we would have to pay before we could proceed towards the coast and Europe. I contacted my family members and friends for help. It took me two weeks to raise the money but I stayed in Libya for three months. I was lucky. Other people I met are still there and had been there for more than a year when I arrived. Some women were raped, got pregnant and gave birth there. The place where I was held is horrible. It is secret, no one knows about it. Getting beaten is something normal”

23-year-old Eritrean man, on board Aquarius search and rescue vessel, 5 October 2016

To find out more, visit msf.org.uk/eritrea

* This is a recording of an actor, not the person who provided the testimony.

Dying to reach Europe: Eritrean man, on board MSF search and rescue ship

“When I left Sudan, I knew the journey through Libya and across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe would be very dangerous and difficult, especially for my little daughter. But what is the alternative? We could not survive in Eritrea or Sudan. There is no other way to go to Europe. Europe represents hope for a better life. Now, having survived this journey of death, I would advise anyone against it. I would not wish the journey on my worst enemy. It makes you feel worthless, totally put down and degraded.”

20-year-old Eritrean woman, on board Aquarius search and rescue
vessel, September 2016

To find out more, visit msf.org.uk/eritrea

* This is a recording of an actor, not the person who provided the testimony.

Dying to reach Europe: Eritrean woman, on board MSF search and rescue ship

Medecins Sans Frontieres is an independent international humanitarian aid organisation providing medical care where it is most needed while raising awareness of the plight of the people we help.

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