Four men, armed with bladed weapons, pursued a group of women who were desperately racing through the dense forest surrounding the city of Goma in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, trying to reach a displacement camp from which they had left to collect firewood. One of the women stumbled over a stone and fell. She had no time to react before one of the men caught up with her. After the ordeal, she managed to escape and reached the "Bulingo" camp, where she said two weeks later, "He raped me. He told me that if I screamed, he would kill me." The 35-year-old victim, who requested to remain anonymous, is one of hundreds of displaced women who have been sexually assaulted when they leave the camps to gather firewood or food.
Doctors Without Borders treated more than 670 women, or about 50 women daily, at three sites between April 17 and 30, who had experienced sexual violence. The organization noted last week that "half of them were assaulted by armed men." Rape is widely documented as a weapon of war used by armed groups active in eastern Congo since the end of two civil wars that erupted between 1996 and 2003. The turmoil escalated after the M23 group launched a massive attack in North Kivu province last year, which forced hundreds of thousands to flee in response to the army's retaliatory actions. Many sought refuge in overcrowded camps like Bulingo, where humanitarian aid workers struggle to cope with the influx.
Delice Sizagi Tulinabu, a worker with Doctors Without Borders, stated, "Women are forced to leave the camps in search of food because of hunger and firewood to sell, making them vulnerable to sexual crimes." Last week, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) highlighted that "reports of gender-based violence in North Kivu have risen by more than a third in the first three months of 2023 compared to 2022, with over 38,000 cases recorded during these months." Most survivors reported that "armed men and displaced people assaulted them in and around the camps." Defense Minister Jean-Pierre Bemba confirmed that investigations into these allegations are underway.
