Mapping Report > Section II. Specific Acts of Violence > CHAPTER I. Acts of violence committed against women and sexual violence > E. January 2001-June 2003: Towards the transition

1. Government-controlled zone

As in the previous period, members of the army, FAC recruits, the police and prison staff continued to perpetrate acts of sexual violence, more often than not expressions of an abuse of power and lack of discipline, committed in complete impunity. During the suppression of student demonstrations in Kinshasa, for example, FAC members allegedly raped some female students.¹¹¹⁷

In the areas under government control, the behaviour of the FAC stationed in the towns, during movements or on operations was characterised by indiscipline, sexual violence and brutality. In Kasai Oriental and Kasai Occidental,¹¹¹⁸ Maniema¹¹¹⁹ and in Katanga,¹¹²⁰ for example, the FAC reportedly committed rapes in the areas in which they were stationed and during reprisals against armed opposition groups, almost always targeting the civilian population.

2. Rebel-controlled zone

Although numerous cease-fire agreements were signed over this period between the different warring factions, the people of Maniema, Katanga, Orientale Province and, above all, North and South Kivu continued to suffer the consequences of the conflicts. Violence intensified in Ituri in particular, in the context of the conflict between the Hema and the Lendu, and in South Kivu. Armed groups proliferated and alliances between them were constantly made and unmade, amplifying the chaos and confusion and creating an environment conducive to increasingly brutal acts of sexual violence.

Orientale Province

In Orientale Province, women were the victims of widespread sexual violence following the occupation of the south of the province by the RCD-G, in the context of the conflict in Ituri and during military operations undertaken by the ALC (the MLC’s armed wing) and its allies against the RCD-ML and its army, the Armée du peuple congolais (APC).¹¹²¹

Elements of the ANC/APR allegedly engaged in numerous rapes, particularly in the context of attacks on the civilian population of several villages near to Masimango, Ubundu territory, aimed at punishing them for their supposed support of Mayi-Mayi groups,¹¹²² or during isolated incidents, particularly in Opala territory.¹¹²³ During the brutal suppression of the Kisangani mutiny on 14 May 2002, APR elements defending the RCD-G reportedly committed numerous rapes in Mangobo commune and in the area around the airport, abducted women and raped them at the airport and subjected men to sexual mutilation.¹¹²⁴

The inter-community violence that erupted in Ituri in 1999 affected women in particular, and there was renewed violence caused by the over-armament of the politico-military groups that arose out of the Hema and Lendu militias and self-defence groups in 2001 and 2002. During this destructive conflict, sexual violence was a significant component of the attacks waged by these ethnic and political rivals.¹¹²⁵

Numerous rapes were thus reportedly committed by the Lendu militia, which subsequently became the FNI and the FRPI, and by the Hema of the UPC, over the course of successive battles to capture Bunia. Women and girls were abducted and taken to military quarters or private houses to be raped by elements of the UPC. At Songolo and at Nyakunde, women and girls were systematically raped and hundreds more forced into slavery by the assailants during violent attacks conducted by the UPC and the Ngiti and Lendu militias respectively in these areas. In May 2003, Lendu militia, supported by the APC (the RCD-ML’s army) apparently engaged in mutilation and sexual torture during their offensive against the UPC for control of Bunia. Cases of female mutilation are said to have been common during attacks carried out by both camps. At Fataki in March 2000, for example, Hema corpses were found in the streets with their arms tied, a stick inserted into their anus and certain parts of their bodies, such as their ears, cut off. After the attack on the Mambisa community in Nizi by the FNI and the FAPC in June 2003, 22 bodies, mainly women and children, were found in Nizi. The bodies had been mutilated, disembowelled and their organs, including genitalia, removed.¹¹²⁶

During the many offensives conducted against civilian populations by elements of the FNI and UPC, numerous woman and young girls, sometimes no more than ten years of age, were forced into sexual slavery. In fact, rapes were encouraged, if not directly ordered, by the UPC’s commanding officers.¹¹²⁷ In March 2003, in the mining region of Kilo and Mongbawbu, members of the FNI allegedly raped and forced Hema women into slavery. They apparently cut off the breasts and genitalia of Hema and Nyali women who were too exhausted to carry their loads any further.¹¹²⁸ Between May and December 2003, the Médecins sans frontières health post in Bunia treated 822 rape victims aged between 13 and 25.¹¹²⁹

In the context of the “Erasing the Board” operation that took place from Orientale Province through to North Kivu, ALC/MLC troops allegedly committed systematic and widespread rapes and sexual violence, particularly during violent clashes with the APC/RCD-ML. Rapes and sexual mutilation were thus committed by the ALC/MLC in the area around Madesi and Masebu (Rungu territory) in the context of clashes between the MLC and RCD-N armies and those of the RCD-ML in July-August 2004.¹¹³⁰ Pygmy women in the region paid a heavy price during the advance of the MLC, RCD-N and UPC towards Beni and Butembo, and again during their retreat. Some 70 rapes were committed during the capture and occupation of Mambasa town and surrounding villages. Superstition and abject ritual beliefs led to Pygmy women being raped, murdered, disembowelled, and sometimes even eaten.¹¹³¹ Other rapes were committed allegedly by soldiers from the ALC/MLC and the APC/RCD-ML during the course of 2002, for example in Watsa territory, in the area around the lines separating the zones controlled by the RCD-N and MLC from those of the APC/RCD-ML and the FAPC,¹¹³² by soldiers from these camps.¹¹³³

North Kivu Province

6068 In North Kivu, the RCD-Goma was still fighting the Mayi-Mayi and the FDLR and, from 2003 on, also the RCD-ML in Lubero in an attempt to establish its control over the northern part of North Kivu. During these offensives, numerous rapes were allegedly perpetrated by all parties to the conflict and women were forced into sexual slavery. In the RCD-Goma’s military camp at Mushaki, ¹¹³⁴ west of Goma, girl soldiers reportedly “served as the wives” of adult soldiers. They were also reportedly raped several times a night by a number of men and it was reported that a senior officer abducted a school girl in order to imprison and rape her.¹¹³⁵

As in the previous period, the Mayi-Mayi militias and the FDLR also continued to rape and abduct women. At Kitchanga in Masisi, women were reportedly abducted, used to carry looted goods to market, then repeatedly raped by elements of the FDLR.¹¹³⁶ In some cases, the rapes were apparently aimed at causing forced pregnancies in order to increase the proportion of Kinyarwandan speakers in the region.¹¹³⁷

During the Mambasa events of 31 December 2002 to 20 January 2003, women from the Nande and Pygmy communities were particularly targeted and at least 95 rapes were committed in the towns of Beni, Butembo, Mangina, Oicha and Erengeti.¹¹³⁸

South Kivu Province

Over the 2001-2003 period, although South Kivu was officially under the control of the RCD-Goma, various groups were clashing, the warring factions were many and their alliances were in a constant state of flux. All had one thing in common, however: the use of sexual violence.¹¹³⁹ This violence took place under cover of a climate of widespread impunity and insecurity, and the perpetrators were often difficult to identify. The cases are too numerous to mention and the level of violence unspeakable. What follows gives just a few representative examples of the crimes and their perpetrators and is not intended to be exhaustive. Nor is it able to describe in detail the severity of the phenomenon of sexual violence suffered by the women of South Kivu.

Wherever they went, the soldiers and officers of the RCD-Goma, whether stationed or on patrol, used the backdrop of war to abuse their power and rape women and young girls. This violence was accompanied by the breaking and entering of victims’ houses, theft and looting. The situation was particularly appalling for women in detention.

Baraka, in Fizi territory, was the site of a disturbing number of rapes of women, girls and men. Between July and August 2002, in the context of so-called operation “Soap” or “Palm oil”, elements of the CNDD-FDD allegdly raped at least 22 men in a number of villages on the Ubwari peninsula. The victims were accused of supporting the RCD-Goma.¹¹⁴⁰

In 2003, during the offensives against the Mudundu-40 and civilians suspected of supporting this Mayi-Mayi group, ANC/RDF¹¹⁴¹ troops allegedly raped a significant number of women. In a number of villages in Walungu territory, elements of the ANC/RDF gathered the women together in the huts and raped them for a whole night. During the month of April 2003 alone, 300 women were reportedly raped in the context of these campaigns.¹¹⁴²

The ALiR/FDLR apparently also committed rapes, particularly in the Irhambi-Katana area north of Bukavu¹¹⁴³ and abductions during looting, particularly in Kalehe territory. Numerous women were thus abducted and forced to live months, even years, in their camps where they were forced into sexual slavery.¹¹⁴⁴

From May to October 2000, elements of the ALiR/FDLR allegedly carried out repeated attacks on the civilian population of villages in the Bushwira (Igobegobe, Cishozi and Citungano) and Kagabi (Mukongola and Kabare itself) areas of Kabare territory. In most cases, the ALiR/FDLR attacked the villages in order to loot them and rape the women. In this context, reports indicate that in 2003, at Bunyakiri, in Kalehe territory, six girls were abducted from the village by the ALiR/FDLR. They were repeatedly raped by several soldiers for four months. According to one of the victims, the soldiers would tie a rope around her hips so that she could not escape. They would place their machetes and knives on the ground, near the bed, and threaten the victims with death if they refused to have sex. In some cases, women who resisted were scalded with boiling water, mutilated or beaten with branches. Some had their throats slit in front of the other women.¹¹⁴⁵

From 2001 to 2002, the Mayi-Mayi, particularly the Mudundu-40, allegedly raped and tortured women and young girls, who were then forced into domestic labour.¹¹⁴⁶ In 2001, at Nundu south of Uvira, some Mayi-Mayi killed a woman accused of being the partner of an RCD-G soldier and cut off her genitalia.¹¹⁴⁷ The town of Shabunda is unusual in that a large number of women and girls have publicly admitted being raped by Mayi-Mayi militia. Despite the fact that these latter claimed to fight against “les inciviques” (a euphemism for those who prey on vulnerable communities), they abducted a large number of women, holding them for long periods, sometimes more than a year.

The women and girls were sometimes raped with objects such as sticks or hot peppers. Some of them required medical attention for prolapsed uteruses, severe vaginal tears or fistulas.¹¹⁴⁸ Accused of spying for the Rwandans, one woman and her husband were whipped and their genitals burned with a lighted torch at Shabunda. ¹¹⁴⁹

Between 1998 and 2003, elements of the ANC/APR/RDF, Mayi-Mayi groups, ex-FAR/Interahamwe/ALiR/FDLR and FNL allegedly raped an unknown number of women in Uvira territory, particularly on the Ruzizi Plain. Most of the women were attacked while working in their fields or on their way to market. Some of the victims were gang raped for several hours at a stretch.¹¹⁵⁰

In 2003, people living in Fizi territory suffered several waves of violence accompanied by the rape of women and men. Amongst the hundreds of victims, some had their anuses ripped with a knife. Some of the perpetrators of the rapes were identified as elements of the FDD.¹¹⁵¹

Pygmy women from the region of Bunyakiri and from Masisi (on the borders of South and North Kivu) were regularly targeted because of myths regarding the beneficial effects of having sexual relations with a Pygmy woman. Such sex, often brutal, and abusive, is supposed to cure back pain and other illnesses.¹¹⁵²

Although reliable statistics on sexual violence are difficult to obtain, the cases documented by local NGOs in the different parts of South Kivu give an indication of the severity and scale of the phenomenon. Between 1998 and 2003, more than 1,660 cases of rape, all armed groups combined, were recorded in the three sectors of Fizi territory. Of these 1,660 rapes, 89 were committed against men, mostly by the FDD. These figures clearly under-estimate the phenomenon. Between 2000 and 2003, 2,500 cases of sexual violence were documented by local NGOs in the Bakasi area of Shabunda territory. The main perpetrators of these acts were allegedly the Mayi-Mayi, the ALiR/FDLR and, to a lesser extent, the ANC/APR/RDF.¹¹⁵³ According to one NGO, 3,500 cases of rape were recorded in 2003 throughout the province as a whole.¹¹⁵⁴

Maniema Province

The Maniema forests provided shelter to a multitude of Mayi-Mayi groups who were waging a guerrilla war against the ANC/APR/RDF. Whilst it is true that some elements of the ANC/APR/RDF did commit acts of sexual violence, particularly in Kasongo territory and in and around Kindu,¹¹⁵⁵ the scale of the rapes and abductions perpetrated by the different Mayi-Mayi groups is striking.¹¹⁵⁶ In 2002 and 2003, 238 cases of rape were recorded in the small village of Lubelenge alone.¹¹⁵⁷

Sexual violence apparently became a modus operandi of the Mayi-Mayi. Women and girls going about their daily tasks ran a constant risk of being raped or abducted. At Kindu, victims were most often attacked when they left town to seek food supplies during the blockade. The presence of their husband or a neighbour did not dissuade the aggressors; quite the opposite, they would not hesitate to rape a woman in front of them. The Mayi-Mayi often also used to force members of the same family to have sex in public. Gang rapes are said to have been regularly committed in public, during looting and reprisals. Men were also subjected to acts of sexual violence. This was generally accompanied by other violence, such as murder or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, including whipping.

Between 2002 and the first quarter of 2003, the Mayi-Mayi allegedly kidnapped, raped and used hundreds of women in and around Kalima as sex slaves. Taken to the camps, some women remained there for days, other for months, being raped daily by several men. They were subjected to all kinds of humiliating and degrading treatment. Rapes of pregnant women often resulted in the loss of the baby or serious complications during labour.¹¹⁵⁸

A local NGO gave a figure of 2,500 women raped by the Mayi-Mayi and ANC/APR/RDF soldiers in the communities of Maringa, Mulu and Bakwange in Kasongo territory between 1999 and 2003.¹¹⁵⁹ Even if the accuracy of this figure cannot be ascertained, it is nonetheless indicative of the tragic scale of the sexual violence committed against women in Maniema.

Katanga Province

At Malemba Nkulu, in North Katanga, elements of the Mayi-Mayi and the FDLR, fighting alongside each other in Nyunzu, Tanganyika, allegedly committed numerous rapes. Women were often ambushed while travelling from one town to another, while walking to their fields or to the market. Between 2001 and 2003, in Malemba Nkulu territory, different Mayi-Mayi groups are reported to have abducted dozens of young girls between 8 and 12 years of age. These girls were forced to help the Mayi-Mayi carry their looted goods, cook and carry out domestic chores. At night they served as sex slaves and were forced to have sex with several Mayi-Mayi.¹¹⁶⁰ Some Mayi-Mayi groups also committed sexual mutilation. Witnesses have thus reported that Mayi-Mayi combatants, particularly in Sola village, Kongolo territory, would carry hands, breasts, genitalia or ears as protective amulets.¹¹⁶¹

As previously noted, the FAC apparently also committed rapes at their encampments or during reprisals against the Mayi-Mayi. These campaigns targeted nearly the whole civilian population, as was the case, for example, at the village of Ngwena Mai in Kabalo territory in March 2002.¹¹⁶²

A 2002 report sponsored by UNIFEM illustrates the daily life of women: “From Pweto down near the Zambian border right up to Aru on the Sudan/Uganda border, it’s a black hole where no one is safe and where no outsider goes. Women take a risk when they go out to the fields or on a road to a market. Any day they can be stripped naked, humiliated and raped in public. Many, many people no longer sleep at home, though sleeping in the bush is equally unsafe. Every night there is another village attacked, burned and emptied. It could be any group, no one knows, but always they take women and girls away.”¹¹⁶³

Over the course of this ten-year period and to this day, many women were raped several times, by different groups, ironically in retaliation for having supported an “enemy” at the hands of who they had in fact suffered. If they survive these rapes, instead of being supported by their communities, the women are generally rejected by their husbands and families. With neither moral nor financial support, they have to face the consequences of rape – sometimes including the birth of a child – in the wake of being mutilated, impoverished, traumatised and ostracised. Women are therefore victims several times over: once when the crime is committed, again when they are rejected by their family and community, and yet again because of the near-total impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators of these crimes.