Doruma

Doruma
—  Town  —
Doruma Location in Democratic Republic of the Congo
Coordinates: 4°44′N 27°42′E / 4.733°N 27.7°E / 4.733; 27.7
Country	Democratic Republic of the Congo
Admin. division	Haut-Uele Province
Population (2005)
- Total	18,000 (inhabitants & IDPs)

Doruma is a city in the northeastern regions of the Haut-Uele Province (former district of Orientale) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

It is near the border with South Sudan.

History

The people of Dungu and Doruma in recent times^[when?] have fallen victims to Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) killing of civilians, house burning and rape.

For many years, in the Haut Uélé province of DR Congo, the LRA rebel group plunders villages. Since December 2008, the Ugandan Army came to support the Congolese Army to eradicate such rebel group. Following a strong military action from the armies, the rebels dispersed in the region and kept on plundering villages in little groups. Such situation caused the population to panic and to seek refuge in the bush, in towns like Dungu and Doruma, or even farther south.

Since the end of December 2008, the LRA came closer to Doruma, and its strategy shifted from the plunder of villages to kidnap 11 to 17 year old children to enlist as child-soldiers, to the mere massacre of the local populations. 189 dead and 111 disappeared were reported on 24 December 2008, along with tortures of children and fires in the bush and in the fields, to prevent the population from running away.^{[citation needed]}

In such a context, the town of Doruma, protected by the Congolese and Ugandan armies, and normally hosting around 6,000 inhabitants, came to host in one month more than 17,000 IDPs^{[clarification needed]} from neighbouring locations, arriving deprived from any personal belonging.

Coordinates: 4°44′N 27°42′E / 4.733°N 27.7°E / 4.733; 27.7