For security reasons, we refer to him as L. He is one of the 19 displaced persons who were seriously injured in the deadly attack on Tuesday, February 1, 2022 by assailants at Plaine Savo camp, in Djugu territory. He received humanitarian assistance from MONUSCO, which first transported the injured by road from Bule to Bayoo, roughly 90 km from Bunia; then by helicopter from Bayoo to Bunia where they arrived late Wednesday afternoon.

Taken care of in a local medical structure, L., in his late thirties, underscores without the assistance from MONUSCO, he and the other injured would not have had the right to appropriate care and would have probably died as a result of the serious injuries sustained during this attack from which he is still hardly recovering.

“MONUSCO transported us from Bule to Bayoo, then from Bayoo on board its helicopter to Bunia. In Bule, we were in hospital at AFE because of the injuries we had as a result of the Codeco attack on the site last night {Tuesday night}. We are very grateful to MONUSCO for this assistance which allowed us to have access to appropriate care; if we had stayed there, we would not have received the good care and the worst could have happened to us. Sincerely, I thank MONUSCO for making it easier for us to be brought here for proper care,” says L.

From his hospital bed where he recounts the horrors, he experienced that night: “People were sleeping peacefully that night when they were surprised by these rebels who arrived without firing a shot. They went from one shelter to another. People started to flee for our life from 9:30 p.m. when the shots were heard. The attackers started shooting the displaced at point-blank range with weapons, others attacked with machetes. We started to flee in all directions, it was a total rout, I saw people falling, dead and cut with machetes. Forty-eight hours after this massacre, I still do not know the fate of my wife and our five children. Myself, while I was fleeing, I got wounded by a bullet in the right leg. But I still walked to Bule where we arrived around 3 am! During our escape, I saw peacekeepers arriving and they started shooting, which scared the attackers away.”

The official report of the attack which occurred last Tuesday, February 1 at the Plaine Savo camp for displaced persons, in the territory of Djugu, is yet unknown. However, several corroborating sources have reported at least 53 people killed, including women, disabled persons, and children. The local NGO "Young Patriots for Peace", headquartered in Bule, applauded the presence of MONUSCO peacekeepers who were the first to arrive at the scene of the tragedy, which, its secretary Charles Panza highlighted, "made it possible to repel the attackers and limit the damages".