Congo rape victims scarred

BUKAVU – Speaking softly, tears welling in her eyes, the 16-year-old Congolese girl tells how she was abducted from her home by militiamen, taken to the forest and gang raped for a week.

“My father was away, he is a businessman, and a group of seven men came to the house. They took me and my mother into the forest and raped us,” said the slender girl, seated in a ward of the Panzi Hospital for rape victims in Bukavu, eastern Congo.Democratic Republic of Congo’s only specialised rape clinic has dealt with more than 10 000 cases in the last 7 years.But its doctors say that without a greater acceptance of rape victims by their communities, their psychological scars will never heal.The girl, who asked not to be identified, is just one of tens of thousands of raped women in Congo, where armed militias and an undisciplined and unpaid army continue to terrorise civilians despite the end of a 1998-2003 war.Landmark elections held at the end of July were aimed at bringing lasting peace to the giant central African state.But the Panzi hospital still receives 10 victims per week, aged between two and 60 years old, often malnourished and suffering infections.Many of them are so brutally gang raped they required reconstructive surgery on their vaginas.Tears in the vaginal wall between the bladder or the rectum, known as fistula, leave the women unable to control their bodily functions.They are often ostracised by their community, unable to have sexual relations and suffer lifelong health problems.The clinic has performed surgery on more than 1 000 women, some of them requiring three or four painful operations to heal the damage.Once they are assaulted, the social stigma of rape marks them within their communities.”Most women who come to this hospital do not want to leave after the surgery because when they go back to their villages, they are exposed to the same thing for the second time,” said Doctor Denis Mukwege Mukengere.CULTURE OF IMPUNITY UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who visited the Panzi Hospital recently during a three-nation African tour, condemned the culture of impunity which allows Congo’s armed men to continue to rape, pillage and kill.The 1998-2003 war killed some 4 million people through conflict, hunger and disease.Although the war is nominally over, an estimated 1,7 million Congolese are still homeless, fleeing attacks by militia groups and the predatory army.”We have to stop these cowardly criminals and fight for justice in Congo,” said Egeland, to cheers from the 200 women seated in the hospital’s patio.”I appeal to the men and the husbands of the victims to welcome these women back to their families and their villages.The stigmatisation of the victims has to stop.”Young soldiers roaming lawless eastern Congo have turned rape into a weapon of war.Different militia groups have developed their own torture techniques, said Doctor Mukwege Mukengere.One, for example, shoot the victim in the genitals after they rape them.The 16-year old girl said she was kept tied up in the armed men’s camp and was beaten when she asked for food or to urinate.”Finally, I escaped when they took me to relieve myself.The man who followed me didn’t come all the way so I ran off,” said the girl, dressed in a green and brown patterned dress.”I walked for four days to reach my village.”ReutersThey took me and my mother into the forest and raped us,” said the slender girl, seated in a ward of the Panzi Hospital for rape victims in Bukavu, eastern Congo.Democratic Republic of Congo’s only specialised rape clinic has dealt with more than 10 000 cases in the last 7 years.But its doctors say that without a greater acceptance of rape victims by their communities, their psychological scars will never heal.The girl, who asked not to be identified, is just one of tens of thousands of raped women in Congo, where armed militias and an undisciplined and unpaid army continue to terrorise civilians despite the end of a 1998-2003 war.Landmark elections held at the end of July were aimed at bringing lasting peace to the giant central African state.But the Panzi hospital still receives 10 victims per week, aged between two and 60 years old, often malnourished and suffering infections.Many of them are so brutally gang raped they required reconstructive surgery on their vaginas.Tears in the vaginal wall between the bladder or the rectum, known as fistula, leave the women unable to control their bodily functions.They are often ostracised by their community, unable to have sexual relations and suffer lifelong health problems.The clinic has performed surgery on more than 1 000 women, some of them requiring three or four painful operations to heal the damage.Once they are assaulted, the social stigma of rape marks them within their communities.”Most women who come to this hospital do not want to leave after the surgery because when they go back to their villages, they are exposed to the same thing for the second time,” said Doctor Denis Mukwege Mukengere.CULTURE OF IMPUNITY UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, who visited the Panzi Hospital recently during a three-nation African tour, condemned the culture of impunity which allows Congo’s armed men to continue to rape, pillage and kill.The 1998-2003 war killed some 4 million people through conflict, hunger and disease.Although the war is nominally over, an estimated 1,7 million Congolese are still homeless, fleeing attacks by militia groups and the predatory army.”We have to stop these cowardly criminals and fight for justice in Congo,” said Egeland, to cheers from the 200 women seated in the hospital’s patio.”I appeal to the men and the husbands of the victims to welcome these women back to their families and their villages.The stigmatisation of the victims has to stop.”Young soldiers roaming lawless eastern Congo have turned rape into a weapon of war.Different militia groups have developed their own torture techniques, said Doctor Mukwege Mukengere.One, for example, shoot the victim in the genitals after they rape them.The 16-year old girl said she was kept tied up in the armed men’s camp and was beaten when she asked for food or to urinate.”Finally, I escaped when they took me to relieve myself.The man who followed me didn’t come all the way so I ran off,” said the girl, dressed in a green and brown patterned dress.”I walked for four days to reach my village.”Reuters