Children gather in Bunia's central camp. By early April, more than 8,600 people displaced from the Djugu countryside were registered residents of this camp, in Bunia, the capital of Ituri province. Adam Desiderio for VICE News.
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Read the survivors in their own wordsBuma Perusi was one of the first victims I spoke to when I arrived in Ituri province and she was bone-tired on the morning we met. Two weeks earlier, the 52-year-old grandmother’s village, Dyevi, part of a collection of Hema community known as Sombuso, had been attacked by machete-wielding Lendu militiamen. Perusi showed me the panga wounds on the back of her head. Her 4-year-old grandson Jonas had a bandaged chin. I asked how he was feeling. “They cut me with a machete,” he whispered.
A road out of the village of Maze in Ituri province. At the time the photo was taken, a Hema village about half a mile away was under attack by a Lendu militia. Adam Desiderio for VICE News.
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A soldier from the Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (FARDC) looks out on the countryside in Djugu territory, Ituri province. Nick Turse for VICE News.
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A displaced family builds a makeshift home inside General Hospital IDP Camp in Bunia, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Adam Desiderio for VICE News.
Chapter 1: No peace
Chapter 2: No rescue
Chapter 3: No refuge
Chapter 4: No certain future More from this project
Learn about how we reported this story
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