Nyine Richard, 37, fled Tche village with his two daughters, 2-year-old Rochelle and 11-year-old Mave Grace, after his village was attacked by a Lendu militia. His pregnant wife and three other children were killed by the attackers. "They chased me and the children in the bush,” Richard told VICE News, sitting among a dozen other machete attack survivors inside a camp for the internally displaced in Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo. “Their aim is just to finish us. We are so scared for our lives.” Adam Desiderio for VICE News.
— Nick Turse
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Claudine Perusi
I arrived here [at the camp for internally displaced persons, or IDPs] three weeks and four days ago. I’ve never received anything. I’ve registered five times… They always say, ‘Don’t worry. You’ll get food.’ But we don’t. We get food from the other IDPs, people who feel sorry for my children. I need a plastic sheet [to fashion into a shelter] and food. We can’t live this way.”
Nyine Richard
Tche village
“I knew them. They were my neighbors — Richa, Lekda, Tcheddya, Manoli. They lived in the neighboring village separated from ours by a small stream. They told me, ‘Give us money!’ I said I didn’t have any. Then they attacked. After I was cut, I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I found the dead body of my son next to me.”
Mave Grace and Rochelle N'gabusi
Tche village
“After they cut off my hand, I passed out. When I got up, I walked over and found my mother. She was dead. But my little sister [Rochelle N'gabusi] was alive, so I took the fabric from my mother’s body and I strapped her to my back. I found another boy from my village, his leg had been badly wounded by a machete. I took his hand and helped him. We saw another boy. They cut off his legs but he was still alive. I couldn’t do anything for him. I found my dad [Nyine Richard]. He told me he was very thirsty and to get help. There were men from the village who came back to look for survivors. I brought them to my dad.”
Alphonsine Njededa
Rule village
“I said, ‘Why are you cutting me? Forgive me! Have mercy!’ But they cut my arm. It’s broken. They cut off my finger. And they cut me here, twice [gesturing to her head with her bandaged left hand].”
Charlotte Borive
Maze village
“We tried to run. We ran to the north. But there were attackers. We ran to the south, to the east, to the west. They were everywhere. We were surrounded. I was running when something slammed into the side of my head. I was knocked unconscious. I woke up in the hospital in DroDro.”
Lobini Floribert
Nyamamba village
“We were under attack before I even knew what was happening. I was shot with an arrow in the left wrist. I pulled it out. A few of us ran to one of the wooden fishing boats. We were pushing it into the water, when one of the Lendus came up behind me and cut my back with a machete. The men with me were killed on the shore. I was badly injured – bleeding – but I dove into the lake and started swimming.”
Chapter 1: No peace
Chapter 2: No rescue
Chapter 3: No refuge
Chapter 4: No certain future More from this project
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Read the survivors in their own wordsSlaughter in Silence
Credits
Author: Nick Turse Photographs by Adam Desiderio and Nick Turse
Design by Leslie Xia
Editorial Partner: The Investigative Fund at The Nation Institute
Fact check by Elena Mejia Lutz and Richard Salame