Biwat ablaze

On Saturday afternoon, we saw huge clouds of black smoke coming up from Biwat. That could only mean one thing: houses were burning. The conflict was escalating.

                                                                                                 

The meeting between the community leaders and the police that was supposed to happen on Wednesday never went through, because one of the groups didn’t show up. In the end, the police gave up, telling the community: “If you’re going to be like that, you sort it out.” The police also said that if things really got out of hand, they would come in and burn down the whole settlement – and that would include the houses of our church people in the middle (the area that’s called Maramba).

That’s what we were afraid had happened when we saw smoke yesterday.

I went to get more information and see if we could help in any way. It turned out that one group (Gex) had come across to the other side (Biwat proper) in full force, and set house after house on fire. What they didn’t burn, they stole.

There were probably several hundred people gathered on the road on our side of the settlement – watching and waiting from a safe distance. Many had duffel bags and mattresses with them; they had been ready all week to go at a moment’s notice in case it came to this. Hundreds more had fled across the river on the other side of the settlement. Reports are that the people on the receiving end of this raid had run out of bullets and have had to give up. The police did move in for a while, and that seems to have helped prevent new fires starting. About 15-20 houses have been burned down, which is a significant part of the Biwat side of the settlement.

Late afternoon going into early evening, my co-worker Ian and I brought carload after carload of people over to our church building (a few kilometres away) where they could at least spend the night in safety. Some stayed back to guard their homes overnight.

This morning it sounded like things had settled down a bit for the night. People who had stayed back actually managed to sleep, for which we are very thankful. But the conflict is, humanly speaking, far from over. The violence is all built on a desire for revenge; every act of vengeance also needs to be avenged, and obviously that doesn’t lead to peace. The Biwat side has now suffered a huge loss. Once they regroup, they’ll probably want to get back.

The only thing that can help now (or ever) is the gospel. Only if people will truly humble themselves before God and one another can any progress be made. Never before has “love your enemies” seemed so relevant to us. Continue to pray for peace – for the moment and for eternity – for all the people in the settlement.