A hooded man burst into the 42yearold woman's tent while her children were out searching for food, then raped her in the displacement camp where she had fled war in eastern Congo.'I wanted to scream (but) he took my mouth and he threatened me with death,' said the mother of...
BULENGO, Congo — A hooded man burst into the 42-year-old woman's tent while her children were out searching for food, then raped her in the displacement camp where she had fled war in eastern Congo.
Conflict has simmered in eastern Congo for nearly three decades. The United Nations estimates that more than 130 armed groups are active in the country's northeast, vying for land or resources while some have formed to protect their communities. Sexual violence has long been used as a weapon of war by armed fighters in the region.
Survivors and aid workers say displacement rips people from their livelihoods and leaves women and girls vulnerable to assault. “We were forced to flee, leaving behind all our belongings,” she said. Limping, she walked an entire day to bring her family to one of more than 100 sites where displaced people have gathered around Goma.
But their role is limited. Deliveries of food and other basic needs to the camp are infrequent, said Rebecca Kihiu, MSF’s regional sexual violence activity manager. Already scarred by fleeing their homes, survivors of sexual assault in camps like Bulengo live with the experience long afterward. “It’s a trauma that will stay for a lifetime,” said Esmeralda Alabre, coordinator for UNFPA gender-based violence programming in northeast Congo.
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