Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON Vol. 3, No. 4, July 1999 - Articles

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The Story of a Congolese Refugee: "Courage, you said?"
By Cathy Senay

M.T., co-founder and former Executive Director of the United Nations Association in Congo, came to Canada clandestinely on December 7, 1999. But the 41 year-old father of four children aged 4 to 14 did not come here just to spend a white Christmas in Canada!

June 5, 1997 marked the beginning of the civil conflict in Congo-Brazzaville: "conflict" on the face of it, but a "coup" in reality. This period of intense political and economic instability, the second in only five years, destroyed the capital and took between 4 000 and 10 000 lives. In October of the same year, the conflict ended with the military victory of former President Denis Sassou Nguesso (1979-1992), made possible with the support of the Angolan Armed Forces, and with the defeat of outgoing President Pascal Lissouba, after the last national elections.

As a public officer at the Department of Democratic Culture and Human Rights under the former president, M.T. was not spared the witch-hunt launched by Nguesso to do away with all human rights advocates. Everyone, including M.T., was imprisoned. Described as partisans of the former regime by the national media, few of these scapegoats are still alive today.

Fearing for M.T.'s safety, a very close friend of his, then-State dignitary in the military, helped organize his escape. M.T. fled his native country, leaving behind his wife and children. When he reached Paris, he decided to come to Canada. The Edmonton Human Rights Conference seemed like the perfect alibi.

In Canada, M.T. received assistance from UNA-Canada and from a former Association project officer with whom he had worked in the early 1990s. He was given warm clothing, a place to live, and the necessary steps were undertaken within the proper Canadian institutions to grant him refugee status. M.T. not only had to struggle every day for his own survival, but live day and night haunted by the thought that his family continues to live in unsafe conditions somewhere in the south of his native country: "I felt as though I was going crazy because I had very little news about my wife during the first few months. I wanted to go home. It's just as painful now that I know they are still alive, thinking that the people I love the most in this world are unable to get in touch with me". M.T.'s patience is being put to the test because it takes six weeks for a letter to reach its destination. What's more, the information that circulates in Congo-Brazzaville is strictly monitored. Indeed, in this country, anything that is either written or uttered is systematically verified. For this reason, M.T. does not know exactly where his family has been living since his departure.

M.T. was granted refugee status last April 26. His request was handled as an urgent case. Since then, M.T. has been working in a fruit and vegetable store to save enough money to send for his wife and children. Once again, he will have to be patient because family reunification will not be possible for one year: "This is living hell. Every day I hope and pray that they are still alive. It's very difficult and I feel powerless". In fact, most family reunification cases take at least eight months. But in this instance, the insecurity and the ongoing war in Congo-Brazzaville prevent agents at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) from doing their work. M.T. might have to wait longer, maybe a lot longer.

Losing one's nationality, job, worldly possessions, home, and especially family members, is only one of the obstacles that refugees and displaced persons have to face around the world. The goal is to start a new life, surrounded by loved-ones, if you're lucky.

***Please note that M.T.'s name is kept private for his own safety.