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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Tam Patachako

‘You take what you can and run’: families describe harrowing journey to escape fighting in DRC

Congolese people displaced by fighting between the M23 rebel group and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo walk back to their homes carrying belongings on bicycles and carts.
Congolese people displaced by fighting between the M23 rebel group and the armed forces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo walk back to their homes in Luvungi from Sange, South Kivu province, DRC. Photograph: Reuters

It must have been an eerie sight when 35-year-old Dieudoné Muka looked over his shoulder and saw a trail of people stretching as far as the eye could see. The line ebbed and flowed deep into the surrounding forest, a river of multicoloured clothing cutting through the green.

He saw countless women balancing trays of goods on their heads, babies on their backs, tightly wrapped in kikwembe cloth. Men and children carried whatever they could: chairs, rugs, blankets and sacks of food; anything that might still be useful.

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