Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo – It was Sunday, June 30, two days after M23 rebels took Kanyabayonga, a strategic town in Lubero territory in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
After sunset, gruesome images began circulating on social media, showing the wreckage of unknown vehicles and the bodies of two people who had been lynched, their faces bloodied, making identification difficult.
Hours earlier, five vehicles carrying a dozen aid workers had left Lubero territory bound for Beni, some 100 kilometres away, local sources told Al Jazeera. On the way, their convoy was attacked.
Two Congolese aid workers from the foreign NGO Tearfund were killed, the organisation said. Five cars and seven motorbikes were also set on fire, civil society sources told Al Jazeera.
John Nzabanita Amahoro, 37, who had worked for the UK-based charity for 10 years as a water, sanitation and hygiene technician, was among the dead.
His younger brother, Jean Claude Nzabanita, said his death left a huge void in his heart.
“My brother was on a work mission and had nothing to do with the war. I will never see him again. [again]“he told Al Jazeera.
The entire family had pinned their hopes on Amahoro, who was the family's main breadwinner and the glue that held the siblings together, he added.
“He cooperated with everyone, but those who killed him did not know that thousands of hopes had been dashed,” she said through tears.
170 security incidents
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there have been more than 170 security incidents directly targeting humanitarian workers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since the beginning of the year, resulting in at least four deaths and 20 injuries.
More than a dozen aid workers have also been abducted in the first half of 2024, OCHA said.
Violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been escalating since M23 rebels launched attacks against the Congolese army in late 2021.
Despite calls for a ceasefire, fighting continues and the M23 has taken control of large swathes of Congolese territory, raising tensions between the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, which UN experts say supports the armed group, a claim denied by Kigali.
As fighting continues, hundreds of thousands of civilians have been forced to flee their homes. Many of them are now living in abject conditions in displacement camps around the towns of Goma, Rutshuru and Lubero, where humanitarian organisations are trying to provide them with assistance.
At the time of his death, Amahoro was supporting a Tearfund-led emergency response in the Kibirizi and Kayna area, where thousands of displaced people have found shelter away from the combat zone.
While it remains unclear who was responsible for the June 30 attack, experts say more than 120 armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have regularly targeted civilians.
At the same time, there is a history of mistrust towards foreign organizations.
Distrust towards humanitarian workers
Dady Saleh, a Goma-based social and security expert, told Al Jazeera that the Congolese population no longer trusts NGOs. People feel cornered by decades of war, which have kept them impoverished, and are angry that they have not benefited from the aid provided by these organisations, Saleh said.
“Many people believe that NGOs do not help the development of the Democratic Republic of Congo and do not want the population to become self-sufficient, keeping them in a vicious circle of poverty,” he explained.
Over the past four years, a climate of distrust has developed in the minds of many citizens, which views the work of humanitarian NGOs as a form of conspiracy theories. This goes back to before the current conflict. During previous Ebola epidemics, several attacks on medical response teams were also recorded. In the east of the country, rhetoric against humanitarian workers has also been increasing for decades, blaming NGOs for the country's misfortunes.
In North Kivu alone, there are more than 2.5 million internally displaced people in need of emergency humanitarian assistance, according to the UN.
UN agencies and humanitarian groups in the province are trying to help provide important basics such as food, water, shelter and sanitation, something that people in the local community acknowledge, despite skepticism among some.
“The WFP [World Food Programme] “They give us money, we buy clothes for our children and our wives,” said Olivier Shamavu, a displaced person living in Bulengo camp, southwest of Goma, adding that other organisations such as Concern build toilets for them and provide them with facilities, including water.
Misconceptions and lack of communication may be among the factors leading to mistrust towards aid workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to accounts shared with Al Jazeera by some displaced people.
'Challenging' context
Ronely Ntibonera, 33, is a humanitarian communications specialist based in Goma and works for MIDEFEHOPS, a local NGO that defends the rights of vulnerable children and women.
Recounting an incident that occurred in late 2022, he recounted how he narrowly escaped being kidnapped by gunmen in Rutshuru territory.
According to him, although humanitarian workers work tirelessly to alleviate suffering, they are targeted by armed groups and even civilians incited by dark forces.
“The situation in North Kivu is very difficult for us. We face security problems every day. I was brutally detained by an armed group who claimed I was a spy for a rival faction. Fortunately, the local authorities supported me and freed me. I was afraid of being kidnapped, but God helped me to get through it,” he said.
Another aid worker, who asked to remain anonymous when recounting his experiences, told Al Jazeera how he escaped a mob while working with World Vision in Goma in April.
“One day I was distributing jerry cans to people displaced by the war. Suddenly, somehow, people started throwing stones at me, saying that the aid was not enough, while the displaced people were expecting more,” he says.
Only thanks to a passing motorcyclist did he manage to escape to safety, he said, adding that working as an aid worker in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo is like doing maths homework in an oven.
Hubert Masomeko is a security and peacebuilding expert in the Great Lakes region, closely following the humanitarian situation in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
He acknowledged the level of suffering of the local population, but said humanity and greater cooperation with humanitarian workers were needed.
For Masomeko, the DRC government alone cannot provide the necessary services and assistance to the masses of displaced people, and authorized NGOs operating in the country have the right to partner with the authorities to help those in need.
“It is sad to attack humanitarian workers in times of war. Internally displaced people need humanitarian aid to survive. It is not wise to attack NGOs as it may have a negative impact on humanitarian aid to displaced Congolese,” he warned, adding that the government should do more to ensure that attacks on humanitarian workers end, bringing peace and helping people return home.
'We are still here'
While the needs of displaced people in eastern DRC are immense and funding targets have not yet been met, conditions remain difficult for humanitarian workers.
On 30 May, the International Committee of the Red Cross announced the suspension of the distribution of food aid that had begun five days earlier for displaced people in Kanyabayonga. The operation was initially scheduled to last ten days, but due to clashes between the M23 and the Congolese army, it was suspended, raising concerns among members of civil society.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Al Jazeera, Poppy Anguandia, Tearfund's country director in the Democratic Republic of Congo, spoke out against the attack that targeted her organisation's workers on 30 June.
Eastern DRC is a complicated place, with many crises happening at the same time, he acknowledged, saying the lack of peace in the region is at the root of violent incidents against humanitarian workers.
However, he stressed that Tearfund will continue its mission to help where the needs are greatest.
“At least for now, we say that we are still here, we still have most of our activities to be able to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable people fleeing conflict,” he said at a funeral ceremony held last week to pay tribute to those who died.
Bruno Lemarquis, the UN humanitarian coordinator for the Democratic Republic of Congo, has called for an end to attacks on aid workers, saying they constitute a serious violation of international humanitarian law and have a “devastating impact” on humanitarian access and the ability of aid organisations to provide life-saving assistance to those in need.
“At a time of immense humanitarian need, it is unacceptable that those working to help affected people are being attacked and killed,” he said last week.
The dire humanitarian and security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has allowed some to take advantage of the crisis to attack aid workers, activists say.
Moise Hangi, a human rights activist with the civil participation movement Lucha, criticised what he called the “lethargy” of the Congolese government, which believes it has full power to restore state authority and limit such incidents.
“If Kinshasa takes this war seriously, we can end it as soon as possible and allow our people to return home. That way, we will not have to see so many humanitarian workers arriving in the Democratic Republic of Congo,” he said.
