Rape is a weapon of war, and the five-year conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is not only proof of that, but is also a testimony as to how horrifying it can be.
According to Tiare Rath, of Womensenews, as many as 3,000 women in an area called Shabunda, were raped between 1999 and 2001, by tribal Mayi-Mayi fighters.
Some of the women who had been raped managed to escape to other towns and cities, and reported being sexually violated along the way by rival militias.
Juliane Kippenberg, is co-author of a Human Rights Watch report titled “The War Within the War: Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Eastern Congo,” which was released last year. She said the following, “All different rebel groups fighting in the area have made terror against civilians their way of fighting the war and sexual violence is part of that.”
Historical background of this war consists of the fact that Rwanda and Uganda invaded eastern Congo in 1998, to protect their borders from militias – some of these militias were involved in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, before they fled to the DRC. Rwanda, Uganda, and other African nations allied with the DRC, pulled out most of their troops with a peace agreement, but the area is still terribly dangerous.
Rath reports that the war between neighboring countries, militias, and rebel groups in half of the DRC has “devastated the civilian population.” Fighting over the mineral wealth is cited as a major reason for this conflict.
International relief agencies found sexual violence so widespread in the area that they set up crisis and follow up medical care for victims. Normally these agencies provide food and medical supplies. Doctors Without Borders has one of the largest organizations there.
Claudine Mwa Mulegwa, head of a non-governmental organization that supports mothers and children in an area called Bukavu, said, “Women and children have suffered the most in this conflict. They’re not protected.”
It is a well known fact that widespread rape is going on, according to Karin Wachter of the International Rescue Committee’s sexual and gender based violence project. Tragically, many families reject their raped daughters, and the husbands reject their sexually assaulted wives in even greater numbers.
Human Rights Watch says that 60 percent of the militiamen and troops involved in the DRC conflict are infected with HIV/AIDS. You can only wonder how many of the women raped by these soldiers have contracted this disease.