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They Asked Me if I Preferred to Die or be Raped. I told them, ‘Rape Me Then’

Women at the Mugunga III camp for the forcibly displaced in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

MUGUNGA III CAMP, Democratic Republic of the Congo, March 16 (UNHCR) – Marie* was first raped three years ago during a raid on her village that left her husband and 10 children dead – she was about 70 years old at the time.

In January, the Congolese grandmother was raped again by armed men when she left the shelter of Mugunga III – a hilltop camp for some 2,000 of the most vulnerable displaced people in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo – to search for a teenage girl who had gone missing while foraging for firewood in the forest.

“I told them I was a poor old woman and that I was not interested in politics. They then asked me if I preferred to die or be raped. I told them, ‘Rape me then,'” Marie, struggling with her emotions, recalled of the second incident.

“There were six of them. When one finished, another took his place. They hit me and broke my knee. Other women were also there in the forest and, after being raped, the men pushed pieces of wood inside them and the women died,” she told UNHCR. “I was lucky, they did not kill me.”

Many other women in the DRC’s volatile North Kivu province have suffered similar abuse and family loss and they feel that the outside world is doing too little to help them or to tackle the widespread problem of sexual and gender-based violence in this neglected corner of Africa. Last year, some 15,000 cases of sexual violence were reported in the DRC, mainly in eastern provinces.

“There are many visitors, many delegations, who come to listen to survivors of sexual violence, but we never see results from these visits,” said Jeanne, another forcibly displaced woman at Mugunga III.

She was among a group of 20 women at the camp, many of whom have lost everything, who asked UNHCR visitors in late February to tell the world their stories and to solicit help. “We are touched to see that people think about us,” said another victim, Thérèse, “but we also need help to get over our problems and sustain our families despite all our internal suffering since being raped.”

Women and girls in the Mugunga camps are particularly vulnerable if they have to go out and collect firewood, mostly in the Virunga National Park. They risk sexual assault, but things would be far worse for their menfolk.

“We are scared to go to the forest, but we have no choice,” said Sabine. “We have tried sending our husbands, but if they go they get killed, so we prefer going by ourselves. In the best case, we only get beaten, but often we are raped.”

Marie was not looking for firewood when she was attacked, but she was searching for a 15-year-old girl who had been sent to bring back the precious resource, which is used for cooking or to sell for a small sum.

The 74-year-old was a rich woman before she was forced to flee her home in North Kivu’s Nyabondo district in 2008. “I had more than 100 cows and 40 pigs and goats. I had a house on a hill, a guest house with six bedrooms and a sewing machine,” she recounted. “Everything was stolen.”

Her husband was forced to watch as she was raped, before he was killed. Marie was also shot in the legs and still has to use a crutch to get around. In Mugunga III, she lives in a small hut with six of her grandchildren and the three children of a neighbour who died, including the girl who went missing in Virunga.

“I had heard that girls were kept as sex slaves in Virunga Park,” Marie said, explaining why she went to look in vain for the girl. She said she has felt sick ever since the rape ordeal. “It hurts when I move. It hurts when I walk. It hurts when I breathe . . . I have to go to hospital, but I cannot afford it.”

Aside from such health problems, victims of sexual and gender-based violence also face ostracism from their community, lack of sympathy, mental trauma and problems earning a living and supporting their family.

The women in Mugunga III who approached UNHCR for help, also want support for socio-economic and income-generation projects to help female victims of sexual violence. They want their husbands and sons to be sensitized to the problem. “I talk to my son when rapists are sent to jail. I tell him that if this happens to him one day, I would never visit him in prison,” said Thérèse.

Meanwhile, UNHCR has swiftly responded to one of the requests from Mugunga III by launching a project to provide about 500 women with fuel efficient stoves so that they no longer have to forage in the forest for firewood. They will also be taught to make fuel briquettes from sawdust and paper. The project will benefit all households in the camp.

* Name changed for protection reasons

By Celine Schmitt in Mugunga III Camp, Democratic Republic of the Congo

UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency

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Fresh Influx of Tunisian Boat people Reaches Italy in Past 24 Hours, UN reports

15 March 2011 – Twenty-two boats carrying more than 1,600 persons, nearly all young Tunisian males, have landed on the small Italian island of Lampedusa in the past 24 hours, bringing the number of Tunisians reaching Italy since mid-January to just over 10,000, the United Nations refugee agency reported today.

“The outflow from Tunisia is unrelated to the ongoing crisis in Libya,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva, referring to the fighting under way between forces loyal to Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Al-Qadhafi and opponents seeking his ouster.

“From our interactions with Tunisians arriving in Italy over past weeks, we believe that most are seeking employment and better economic opportunities, rather than international protection.”

Departures are taking place from various locations along the Tunisian coastline and UNHCR staff on Lampedusa and are trying to help the Italian authorities deal with the situation.

UN staff and partners in Tunisia, the scene of a popular uprising that drove out long-time president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January, report that some villages appear largely empty of their young male population, with only women, children and elderly people remaining.

“This type of outflow is not atypical of countries in transition, and we are well aware of the many demands on the Tunisian authorities at present,” Ms. Fleming said.

“Solutions to this type of flow need to be found in dialogue between the concerned governments, including arrangements for the orderly and dignified return of persons who are found not to be in need of international protection, and the establishment of opportunities for labour migration which can meet the needs of countries on both sides of the Mediterranean.”

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Côte d’Ivoire: Gbagbo Loyalists Open fire towards UN security patrol

 

18 January 2011 –Forces loyal to former president of Côte d’Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo, who refuses to step down despite his defeat in November’s elections, opened fire last night towards United Nations peacekeepers in charge of security for a top African Union (AU) emissary, according to the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.

Deploring the repeated acts of aggression against its patrols, the UN Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) reported today that its security forces stationed at the Pullman Hotel were waiting for the arrival of the AU Emissary, Kenya’s Prime Minister Raila Odinga, who was escorted by a UNOCI patrol, when a group of young people from the Gbagbo camp encircled them.

“The armed elements, which were supporting them, opened fire in the direction of the UNOCI vehicles forcing the peacekeepers to respond by shooting in the air,” the mission said in a press statement.

It stressed that the version of events given by Ivorian state television, under Mr. Gbagbo’s control, was not based on fact.

“It was in fact part of an ongoing campaign whose objective is to incite hatred among President Gbagbo’s supporters against UNOCI,” it said in the statement, adding, “UNOCI reiterates its appeal for calm and serenity to ensure a favourable environment to find a solution to the current post-electoral crisis.”

The nearly 9,000-strong peacekeeping operation has been supporting efforts over the past seven years to reunify a country split by a civil war in 2002 into a government-controlled south and a rebel-held north.

November’s run-off election was meant to be a culminating point in this process; and the UN, the AU, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and many countries recognized opposition leader Alassane Ouattara as the clear victor. But Mr. Gbagbo rejected the outcome of the poll, refused to step down and demanded UNOCI’s withdrawal – which the UN has rejected.

The resulting turmoil has displaced tens of thousands of people, mainly in the west of the country where the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is strengthening its presence to cope with the crisis.

UNHCR teams have been deployed in the towns of Man and Danané to register internally displaced people (IDPs) and monitor their protection needs. More than 18,000 people are believed to be in this area.

The UN refugee agency “is particularly concerned about conditions at the Catholic mission in the town of Duékoué, where some 13,000 people have sought shelter,” the agency said in a statement today. “The church compound there does not have the sanitation facilities to cope with the numbers, garbage is accumulating, and the risks of disease are growing.”

Meanwhile in eastern Liberia, where some 30,000 refugees have fled from Côte d’Ivoire, work is under way on the construction of a new camp in the town of Bahn but the difficult jungle conditions have made this slower going than anticipated, UNHCR reported. Two bulldozers have been brought in from Sierra Leone to speed up the clearing of land, which until now has been done by hand. UNHCR estimates that some 600 Ivorians are crossing the border into Liberia each day.

In Geneva, humanitarian agencies with a presence in West Africa today launched a $32.7 million regional emergency plan in order to be prepared for humanitarian needs that could arise due to Côte d’Ivoire’s political crisis. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that two millions Ivorians – including 100,000 refugees and 450,000 IDPs – could be affected if a major humanitarian crisis develops.

The six-month appeal aims to allow UN agencies and non-governmental organizations to secure funds that would be used to provide a timely and effective humanitarian aid in Côte d’Ivoire and in the neighbouring countries of Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana in vital sectors. The aid will include support for protection, health, water and sanitation, education, food and nutrition. The funds will also help assist those already affected by the ongoing crisis.

In a statement today, OCHA said that the current crisis is already affecting lives and livelihoods of both the displaced and host communities. Displaced children are unable to attend school and families have lost their sources of income. Humanitarian aid workers also estimate that as many as 420,000 nationals of neighboring countries currently living in Côte d’Ivoire could return to their countries of origin and require assistance, notably in transit camps, should the situation further deteriorate.

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