Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: Jeff Gettleman A 53 year old rape victim

Denis Mukwege is a gynecologist in Congo who says that everyday, ten more women and girls who have been raped come to his door. According to the New York Times, many of them have been so traumatized and hurt by bayonets and chunks of wood that their bodies are beyond repair.

"We don't know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear," said Dr. Mukwege, who works in South Kivu Province, the epicenter of Congo's rape epidemic. "They are done to destroy women."

Eastern Congo is going through another phase of destructive violence and this time it seems to be geared towards women. According to the United Nations, 27,000 sexual assaults were reported in 2006 in South Kivu Province and that might only be a fraction of what really occurred.

"The sexual violence in Congo is the worst in the world" said John Holmes, the United Nations secretary general for Humanitarian affairs (www.nytimes.com). The chaotic days of Congo were supposed to be over. Last year, the 66 million people of Congo held an election that cost $500 million and was supposed to end the wars and corrupt government that existed.

Unfortunately, the elections have not unified the country or strengthened the Congolese government. Renegade forces are still coming through and the justice system and military barely function. Also, the United Nations says that the Congolese troops themselves are among the worst when it comes to rape.

Large areas of the country are authority- free zones, which means that the people who live there are at the mercy of heavily armed groups who have made warfare and abducting women a thrilling game.

According to victims, one of the newest groups are the Rastas, a group of fugitives who live in the forest and wear Los Angeles Lakers jerseys and are known for burning babies, kidnapping women, and chopping up anyone who gets in their way.

United Nations officials say that the people who formed this group are people who fled from Rwanda after the genocide they committed in 1994.

Honorata Barinjibanwa is an 18 year old victim who says that she was kidnapped in April and kept as a sex-slave until August. They tied her to a tree most of the time and then would untie her for a few hours to rape her. She doesn't know how to restart her life after this she says. Also, she just found out she is pregnant.

Alexandra Bilak has studied these areas and has stated that "It's gone beyond the conflict… these acts have become almost normal." (www.nytimes.com).

At Panzi Hospital, Dr. Mukwege performs surgeries everyday on women who have been sexually abused. They all end up lying in their beds staring at the ceiling with colostomy bags because of their internal damage. One patient said she was raped by five men in February and her husband had to watch because the men said they would shoot him if he didn't. At the end, they shot him anyway.

The attacks continue despite peacekeeping forces, 17,000 troops who are trying to protect these women. Also, everyone at every age is being victimized. "Dr. Mukewege said his oldest patient was 75 and his youngest was 3," as reported to the New York Times. Andre Bourque said that the violence in Congo is worse than it ever was in Rwanda in 1994.

The United Nations peacekeepers are trying their best to protect women. At night, truckloads of them go into the forest and keep their headlights on so that civilians and rapists know that peacekeepers are there. Sometimes in the mornings, there are 3,000 villagers curled up next to the truck.

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