Zairian Soldiers (1997)

Excerpt from the draft of “Apostle to the Pygmies – The Doctor Jerry Galloway Story”

We received a report of 30 armed Zairian soldiers in a village 17 kilometers north of our mission in Pendjua. The soldiers pillaged the people's homes. The group arrived at noon. However, there were only seven soldiers and seven women and children. Three came to the mission. They were polite and asked for transportation to Kiri. The mission truck took them. The villagers lived in terror, and they could not wait until Kabila's soldiers arrived. The mission in Beronge radioed that 500 Hutu soldiers, women, and children were 240 kilometers from Kiri, and headed toward Kiri. We radioed the new government in Kinshasa and asked them to send soldiers there.

The following week continued to be filled with insecurity, as Hutu Rwandese armed military roamed the forest. The villages located 20 to 80 kilometers north of Pendjua suffered greatly, as the soldiers stole their chickens, ducks, goats, pigs, and manioc. The soldiers also stripped the corn and manioc fields and pillaged the health center in Betsimbola.

Seven soldiers arrived on a Tuesday night, and they did not bother anyone. The mission truck took them and their wives and children to Kiri the following day. All week, the mission received reports about 60 soldiers who were only 30 kilometers to the north of us. They were armed, mean, and they stole household goods. On Saturday, fourteen soldiers arrived along with their wives and children. Two were very ill, so I treated them at the hospital.