25 November, international day for the elimination of violence against women, a memorable day for all the women around the world who have suffered all form of abusage and mishandling. A gloomy day to remember all these women who have suffered incredible sexual abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a country where the largest number of rape cases in the history of humanity has been recorded.
The aftermath of colonization has barely been marked with tranquility in most part of the black continent. Mutinies, internal conflicts, civil wars and rebellions have always been dominant topics in the African news.
Also known as Africa’s World War, the Congolese war is not only the deadliest human conflict after the Second World War, but it has even hugely exposed Congolese women to sadistic sexual abuses as never seen before in any country in the world. Started in 1998 and officially ended in 2003, still today some intermittently hostilities persist in some areas. While international laws oblige the protection of women in war zones, we have seen instead women being awfully abused in conflicts and wars. In Colombia, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur, in Croatia and more particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These sordid acts of rape inflicted to hundreds of thousands of poor Congolese women have entirely tampered on any human dignity and integrity and have gone so far beyond human’s comprehension.
The first implicated in these atrocities are Rwandan soldiers infiltrated in the Congo. But some factions of the Congolese, Burundian and Ugandan groups are also involved in these diabolic acts. It was rape at all age with no distinction. Even pregnant women and little girls aged only three years were raped. Abominably even men have been raped or sodomized. Some victims need appropriate medical care in order to repair severe vaginal damages they have suffered from. The consequences of such violence are simply a psychological trauma, given these women have been deeply affected in their dignities. Woman image has crumbled down and with it the socio-cultural image of a whole nation. Congo, the world’s capital of rape.
Rape in Congo became a major weapon of war. It took place very frequently, but instead people talked about it only sporadically. The force of the oppressor is the silence and indifference of the oppressed. These poor women were even penetrated with sticks and other sharp objects. Some were mutilated with knives, scissors or razor blades.
Women have been collectively raped. Sometimes in the presence of their children and husbands. Daughters were raped in the presence of their parents and siblings. Tragically it has also happened that once raped, the assailants introduced their gun into the woman’s vagina and pulled the trigger. Furthermore, the risk of contracting Sexually Transmitted Diseases like HIV has been enormous. Today, these women live with daily remorse imagining how their lives could or may have probably been hypothecated. Statistics account approximately 200 000 women who have been victims of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the worst record ever in the history of humanity.
Woman is the equal of man. She deserves the same respect as her male counterpart. French feminist existentialist, Simone de Beauvoir, once claimed ”One Is not born a woman, but becomes one”. It’s through some social construction that the concept of feminine identity is shaped and ensures that man in society take a dominating position and women a subordinate position. De Beauvoir meant that masculinity and femininity are not natural substances inherent to the individual, but are psychological attributes of a social process in which an individual acquires the characteristics of male and female. Unfortunately, that subordinate position conferred to women, in some cases, makes them extremely vulnerable. Especially when facing predators who can do the unthinkable like those ones committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
av Serge Mukiele
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