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Photo Story: Refugees in their own land

14 January 2010

Armed conflict has left an estimated 2 million people displaced in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. Among the worst affected are Bambuti Pygmies who, since being forced to leave their homes, have suffered repeated displacement.

A joint mission by the Congolese Network of Pygmy Organizations and Minority Rights Group International in September 2009 found how, despite the presence of UN peacekeepers, they remain at grave risk.

War in the DRC reignited again in 2008 when the Congolese army clashed with rebels of the National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP). The displaced persons’ camp at Kiwandja, North Kivu, grew up spontaneously when the population fled for protection to the local base of the UN mission.

All photographs © Mark Lattimer/MRG.