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SPECIAL ABOUT DR DENIS MUKWEGE (Democatic Republic Congo)
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11 April 2013
29 January 2014 |
Speech of Dr. Denis Mukwege about
sexual violence in Congo | European Parlaiment |
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The Mukwege Foundation
The French publication of his book, 'The Power of
Women: A Doctors Journey of Hope and Healing' |
31 Oct 2021 |
European Parliament |
RELATED
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali
CLICK HERE ON HOW TO READ THE BELOW (updated 12 MAR 2022)
Guardian Africa
11 April 2013
By Pete Jones in Minova
<<Congo: We did whatever we wanted, says soldier who raped 53 women.
As the G8 discusses sexual violence in the DRC, perpetrators and victims
speak out about mass rape in Minova. In a small house on a hill
overlooking Lake Kivu, a young Congolese soldier recounts the crimes he
and his comrades committed in Minova a few months ago. <Twenty-five of
us gathered together and said we should rape 10 women each, and we did
it,> he said. <I've raped 53 women. And children of five or six years
old. I didn't rape because I am angry, but because it gave us a lot of
pleasure," says 22-year-old Mateso (not his real name). "When we arrived
here we met a lot of women. We could do whatever we wanted.> As William
Hague unveiled a sexual violence prevention strategy at a meeting of G8
foreign ministers in London this week, what happened in Minova is a
stark reminder of the huge challenges facing those seeking to solve the
problem of rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo . On 22 November
last year thousands of exhausted, battered and bruised Congolese army
troops descended on the town having just lost a battle with the rebel
M23 fighters in Goma, the main city in eastern Congo some 30 miles away.
Their retreat was haphazard and chaotic. The soldiers were embar-rassed,
angry, upset and out of control; their commanders had dis-appeared and
the battalion and regiment structures had disintegrated.
When they arrived in Minova they were drunk, hungry and violent. The
locals suffered two nightmarish days of looting, rape and murder before
the army restored some discipline among its troops.
Hundreds of women were raped. It is impossible to accurately state the
number of cases as victims often fail to come forward, fearing that
their communities and even their husbands will reject them, but hospital
director Dr Ghislain Kassongo said he dealt with well over 100 women
with rape-related injuries after the army rampage. At a rape victim
refuge centre a couple of miles from Minova, Nzigire Chibalonza, 60,
tells what happened when the soldiers came to her shop. <They beat us
and beat us, and then they started to rape. Three men raped me, two
from the front and one from behind,> she says, tears welling in her eyes
as she nervously grabs and twists fistfuls of her dress.
<My head is still not right. I thought I had Aids, and now my husband
mocks me. He calls me the wife of a soldier, he has rejected me,> she
says. The refuge centre, set up and run by a woman who was herself a
multiple rape victim, is the only place she has to go. It is home to a
traumatised but resilient community of women who work and care for each
other. One of the victims who spoke to the Guardian there was just 14.
The scale of criminality in Minova has forced the army to take action.
Military prosecutors in North and South Kivu provinces, Minova is right
on the border between them, have made powerful statements, even
threatening to arrest the officers who failed to control their troops.
<There have been a lot of troubles here. The soldiers are traumatised by
war and so commit serious acts and crimes,> said Mokuta Amdondo, the
North Kivu military prosecutor. <This is where military justice is of
the utmost importance. We have not hesitated to put in place the
processes to arrest the soldiers who have raped and pillaged the
civilian population in Minova. If [the victims] are unable to identify
the soldiers who committed the crimes, then we'll apply the hierarchy
principle: the commanders of the units must be pursued for these
incredibly serious crimes committed by soldiers under their control.> >>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/11/congo-rapes-g8-soldier
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