Rape Unpunished In Congo
In the Congo, despite the end of the war, there are still many rape crimes going on. Hundreds of reports are made by those being raped every week, ranging from women to girls, and sometimes boys and men. Despite the end of the war, the crimed from one people to another are still reigning, and rape has been one of those tools.
In one town, Bunia, there are, on average, ten rapes a day as of October of 2004. What makes this even worse than what it is, is that the town houses thousands of UN Peacemakers there. On top of that, a lot of the peacemakers have taken part in raping these women.
https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7116468/
I have had to take a long time to think about what to post to this. This may be the most horrible thing I have ever heard. Something besides the Congo troops raping their own really bothers me. The UN peacekeepers appear to be involved in doing this too!
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Warring ethnic Hema and Lendu militia continue to terrorize Bunia - kicking down doors in the night and snatching girls in the fields - despite the presence of thousands of U.N. peacekeepers based there. Peacekeepers in Bunia have also been accused of raping young girls living in the town's sprawling camp for those displaced by fighting, or trading sweets and pocket change for sex. |
It breaks my heart everytime I read what is going on in Congo. What is really being done to stop this crazyness? And we think we suffer and have things to complain about? Nonsense!
QUOTE |
"Some of them have knives and other sharp objects inserted in them after they've been raped, while others have pistols shoved into their vaginas and the triggers pulled back," said Dr. Denis Mukwege Mukengere, the lone physician at the hospital. "It's a kind of barbarity that only savages are capable of." He added that "these perpetrators cannot be human beings." The alleged perpetrators are men in uniform, part of the Congolese army. These troops are a compilation of various militia groups that had been fighting each other for years until a truce was reached two years ago.... Also in the room is 28-year-old Henriette Nyota. Her spirit is all but broken. Three years ago, she said, she was gang raped as her husband and four children were forced to watch. The men in uniform then disemboweled her husband and continued raping her and her two oldest daughters, 10 and 8. The assault went on for three days. "I wish they'd killed me right there with my husband," she said, "What use am I now? Why did those animals leave me to suffer like this?" Nineteen-year-old Nzigire bears the result of repeated sexual violations -- her year-old daughter, Ester. The teenager acknowledges she often contemplates putting an end to what she calls a death sentence. "I sometimes feel like killing myself and my daughter," she said. "I look at her and all I see is them. I look at myself and all I see is misery."... And it's not just women who are being raped; so are some men with equally devastating consequences. Fifteen-year-old Olivier was sitting down to dinner with his family when the front door of their house was smashed in. Olivier's father was the first to be killed followed by his mother, right in front of the children. They then raped Olivier's three sisters, and when he tried to fight them they turned on him. One at a time, more than a dozen in all, he said. "I will never forget what happened to me," he said. "How does one forget something like this? Only revenge can make me forget what happened to me." |
International Level: International Guru / Political Participation: 1089 100%
Kambale Musavuli on the "Forgotten War" in the Congo
The latest round of fighting in the Congo has seen a dramatic rise in the number of rapes, and some 200,000 people have been displaced since August, according to the World Food Program. That's in addition to the nearly 1.5 million people already displaced since 2007. Bringing attention to the dire situation in the Congo and the role of Western corporations in fueling the conflict was the focus of Congo Week, an awareness-raising week of events on campuses across the country that concluded Friday.
Ref. Source 8
UN Slow to Respond to Gang r-pe of Almost 200 Women in the Congo
Aid groups reported last week that Rwandan and Congolese rebels took over villages in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo and gang-raped almost 200 women and five young boys. The rapes occurred between July 30 and August 3, within miles of a United Nations peacekeeping base. A joint UN human rights team has now confirmed the rapes of 154 women. Ref. Source 7
UN envoy urges DR Congo authorities to probe recent allegations of mass rapes
Justice & Criminal Activity Related News
The United Nations envoy dealing with sexual violence in conflict today called on the authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to immediately investigate reports of a large number of rapes that occurred recently in the eastern province of South Kivu.
Source: UN News Centre - Law, Crime Prevention