ituri: “covered in blood” - Human Rights Watch

“You cannot escape from the horror”
This story of fifteen-year-old Elise is one of many in Ituri. She fled one attack after another and
witnessed appalling atrocities. Walking for more than 300 miles in her search for safety, Elise survived to
tell her tale; many others have not.
I am fifteen years old and my father is Hema while my mother is Nande. I was in Komanda in August
2002 when Ngiti fighters attacked the town. They were killing people especially the Hema. I hid with my
family in the forest but they found us. There were six of them in civilian clothes with axes and machetes.
I saw people being killed, men, women and children. Then it was our turn. They asked us what ethnic
group we were. We said Nande. They did not believe us and said they would kill us. They took us one by
one. They killed my mother, father and older brother. Then they took me and cut my wrist, my neck and
both shoulders. They thought I was dead, so they left me. I think more than 200 people were killed that
day, mostly Hema and Gegere.
I managed to get up and find a hospital in Komanda. It took me about five hours. I had to walk six miles
to get there. I was all alone. At the hospital they treated my hand and neck. I spent some time in the
hospital before the Hema militia decided to take me to the bigger hospital in Nyakunde. I spent one month
there or so, and then on September 5 the Ngiti attacked that town as well. They killed many people. This
time it was the Ngiti, Lendu, and the APC soldiers. I hid in the operating room with other Hema people.
They were killing everybody leaving only Nande and those who were not Hema. I did not know what to
do. I told them I was Nande and I managed to escape. Along with about 50 others we were able to run
away.
I wanted to go far away from the killing and so I walked to Mambasa [about 200 miles away]. I went to
the white priest, who arranged for me to get treatment in Mambasa hospital. Another women also helped
to look after me. But then in October, Mambasa was also attacked by the Effaceurs [MLC and RCD-N
troops]. They were shooting from morning till evening. We fled into the forest. They looted our things.
They raped many girls. I spent about one month in the forest. They killed four people in Mambasa. They
were killed under a tree near the house of the commissaire. They were buried in a mass grave. I found
the bodies decomposing. I fled again to Mayuano, some 20 miles away, but the Effaceurs reached there
too. So I went to Teturi where they also attacked and then to Byakato. I continued on to Mangina where
I stayed.
Will this killing ever stop?
(Human Rights Watch interview, Mangina, February 2003)