The sun is blazing, the air thick with moisture. The savannah and forests are lush. We have just left Kindamba for the town of Kimba, the administrative centre of the district of the same name, 85 kilometres to the north in the Pool region. Only powerful four-wheel-drive vehicles can handle these roads, which are transformed with every passing season. On the way we cross the Mambio bridge, which not so long ago was on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, people living nearby propped up the structure with vines and trees cut down with machetes.

In March 2004 the ICRC decided to reopen its office in Kindamba, in the north of the strategic Pool region surrounding the capital Brazzaville. The office, which covers the Kindamba, Vinza and Kimba districts, now has 26 staff. In accordance with its mandate, the ICRC endeavours to protect and assist people still suffering the consequences of the latest conflict to ravage the area. Most agencies providing emergency humanitarian aid have already left Pool, but services run by the State or by development agencies have been slow to take over.

Support to local health structures

After a journey of four hours, we stop at the Kimba sub-prefecture to introduce ourselves to the authorities and explain the reasons for our visit. We are politely received and the formalities are taken care of very quickly.
We proceed to the Kimba health-care centre, which was built in the 1960s. Its cornerstone was laid by Abbot Fulbert Youlou, the first president of independent Congo. The centre, which was looted and then destroyed in fighting in 2003, was recently rebuilt by the ICRC. In addition to a latrine and shower block, it now has a rainwater catchment and treatment system and also a waste pit.

The ICRC is training staff and providing medicines and supplies for eight health-care centres in the district. The four people working in the Kimba centre provide basic care for more than 5,000 people. Gaspard Babana, a nurse and the centre’s head, conducts from 15 to 20 consultations per day; malaria and pulmonary conditions are the commonest complaints. Elisabeth, the centre’s midwife, handles one or two deliveries every day.

Daniel Milandou, the ICRC’s medical assistant, is visiting the centre today to check on and replenish the drug supply, as he does every two months. He supervises the way the centre is run, the use of medications and also the continuing education of health-care workers.

Audy Koubaka is in charge of ICRC “economic security” programmes, which aim to help people who returned home after fighting ended to resume normal lives. In the Pool region these programmes are focusing on the fight against the mosaic virus, which impedes the production of manioc, a staple food, and on the remediation of fish ponds plundered during the conflict.

In the vicinity of Kimba, 14 farm groups were given manioc cuttings and five fishing groups tilapia spawners and alevin. Audy has come to monitor their progress. He is also evaluating an ICRC project to test resistance to mosaic virus among 12 varieties of manioc. As soon as possible, he will organize sessions for the general public on how to fight the disease.

Explaining basic rules of conduct...

Paul Mavoungou and Jean-Baptiste Mananga are holding a meeting with the small contingent of Congolese armed forces troops stationed in Kimba. For nearly two hours they are going to present to these young military personnel in the lingala language the basic principles of the law of armed conflict and the rules of conduct that every combatant must obey. Whenever circumstances permit, similar awareness-raising sessions are arranged in the Pool region for former members of the Ninja militia.

At 6 p.m. it is time to set up a makeshift camp. To wash ourselves off there is nothing like a dip in the Ndouo river, which has a rust hue like the sand it carries along. Around a kerosene lamp we eat a modest supper. The menu consists of freshwater fish cooked in leaves, smoked catfish with aubergine and peanut paste, and foufou, the traditional manioc paste, served with fresh tsamba, or palm wine. Then it is time to go to sleep, buffeted by one of those powerful Congo storms.

At 6.45 a.m. I wake up to realize that the whole team is already preparing to go. There are going to be a few more of us on the return trip. Two patients seen by Daniel the day before are going to come with us. Both have hernias and will need an operation that cannot be performed at the health-care centre. We are going to take them to the hospital in Kindamba run by Médecins Sans Frontières Holland, which, like the ICRC, is one of the few organizations still working in the Pool region.

We stop in the village of Mountséné to hand over to the local population a well that was recently built by the ICRC, but a technical glitch at the last minute results in a change of plans. Serge Djambou, a water and habitat engineer, meets with the chairman of the village water board and finds a temporary expedient allowing the 350 inhabitants to have access to clean drinking water.

Serge explains to me that a well has already been sunk in the village of Dzokotro, which is also in the Kimba district. In addition, two wells are already operating in Kindamba, and the ICRC is carrying out work on five additional wells in the villages of Mihété, Impouo, Mpangala, Kingoma and Louo Mingali.

As one vehicle heads towards Kindamba with the patients, the other two make a last stop in Vinza. An awareness-raising session on the basic rules governing armed conflict is planned for members of the armed forces stationed in this village. The discussion is lively and the participants show a great deal of interest. When it is over an excited lieutenant wants to give us a sack of rice as a token of thanks, even though the troops are still waiting for overdue supplies. We decline his generous gift.

... and driving round rivers in spate

Audy takes advantage of this stop to visit nearby groups of farmers and fishermen. Around Vinza there are 11 of the former and eight of the latter.

Now to return to Kindamba. We leave Vinza towards 2.20 p.m. expecting the journey to take around two hours. This is optimistic – probably too much so. The last river before arriving in Kindamba has to be forded, but now it is impassable owing to yesterday’s heavy rainfall. A detour has to be taken. The only solution is to cross a one-kilometre stretch of “mudflats.” We get stuck three times in the mire. We have to dig, dig, and go on digging, using shovels of course, but also planks and a log jack. Mud, mud, and more mud ... mud is everywhere. After nearly an hour of very hard work, we are free. We owe our rescue to our two drivers, Placide and Jean-Serge, who directed the operation expertly.

Just before arriving in Kindamba, we come across a sick person at the roadside whom we decide to take to hospital. One last effort. Finally we arrive back at the office, dirty, exhausted, but satisfied. We are ready for a good shower and another night filled with the unsettling melody of a distant storm.

These 24 hours are nothing unusual for an ICRC team. This is just about how it is every day for teams working out of the ICRC’s Kindama, Kinkala and Mindouli offices in the Pool region. They and the entire ICRC delegation in the Republic of the Congo are doing what they can to improve the situation of civilians suffering the effects of the latest conflict there.