Rome (Fides Service) - Tens of thousands of women and girls in Democratic Congo are victims of rape, according to a report on the situation in eastern Congo issued by the London based Amnesty International as part of a wider campaign “Stop Violence Against Women”. In fact women and girls and even little girls are the first victims of war in Africa and everywhere. However the authors of the report say the number of cases of rape in eastern Congo is the highest ever recorded anywhere.
The report says these women and girls are in desperate need of special medical care and calls on the government of Congo and the international community to act immediately to help them and to stop the violence. Amnesty International says the women are being raped by all the different groups, rebels and regular army soldier fighting in that area: armies of D. Congo, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi and various Congolese, Rwandan and Burundian guerrilla movements. African troops, members of the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo MONUC, are also accused of raping women and girls.
The age of the victims ranges from 6 to 70 and some women are raped by as many as 20 men at one time. Many have been made slaves and are considered “property” of the soldier-owner. Slavery can last for years.
Rape has been used as a deliberate strategy to destabilise civilian populations to guarantee control through psychological annihilation and submission. Mothers are raped in front of their children or forced to have intercourse with other family members.
The healthcare situation is disastrous. HIV virus and other sexually transmitted disease spread like wildfire not to mention the serious physical and psychological trauma suffered by women. So far only people a few NGOs and a handful of Congolese doctors and nurses have been providing assistance. The tragedy is all the more serious because of a practically non-existent health system in eastern Congo. Hospitals and dispensaries have been destroyed, medicines even the most common are hard to find and there is as scarcity of sterile means and even clean water.
Drama within the drama, victims who become pregnant and gave birth find themselves and their babies rejected and excluded by society. (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 27/10/2004 righe 31 parole 402)