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CONGO UPDATE: Guns down

We've just managed to speak to Henri who runs our Champions Project in the Congo. It's been some time since we last made contact and we're very relieved to get hold of him. He's been deep in the jungle negotiating with a gang of militia and this is his story.

I’m currently based in a place called Aveba. Although it’s only 380 kilometres from Beni it took me almost a week to get here, travelling over mountains and through deep water. For eight days I have been negotiating safe passage for a 250-strong gang of armed milita. They wanted to come out of the jungle and rejoin the community but were worried government soldiers would arrest them the moment they laid down their weapons. They’d heard of work I’d done recently with a neighbouring village and telephoned me to ask if I would act as a mediator. The negotiations were very difficult; the government was adamant the gang couldn’t be trusted. After many days of talks I managed to get both sides to start trusting and communicating with each other. I arranged for the gang to lay down their weapons in a safe area and today the 250 men came out of the forest and received safe passage as promised. I’m staying here for one more week to help them get used to life in the community and have arranged for blankets and food rations from humanitarian NGOs based in the area.

Henri Bura Ladyi

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Henri and his kids