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Congo: the women body as a battlefield

By Diana HiDalgo DelgaDo

A ten years old girl is whipped to death against a wall. She had been, previously, brutally raped by a FDLR soldier, a Rwandan Hutu guerilla called Forces dmocratiques de libration du Rwanda. The Hutu are one of the three tribes the biggest- that inhabit Rwanda, a very small country located at central Africa that borders by west with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also located at central Africa. This happened in January 27th of 2009 and it is a clear example of what has been happening in Congo some decades ago until now. Women between five moths and seventy years are systematically raped, an average of forty eight rapes per hour.

ven though the RAE (The Royal Spanish Academy), still ignores the term femicide, it is used by millions of people all around the world to denounce and repudiate the abuse and mass murder against women in different places around the world. One of the main places is Congo, the second largest country in Africa, a place where being born as a woman seems to be divine punishment, sin or the worst of the lucks. The term was first used in 1976 by Diana Russell, a South African feminist, at the International Court of Brussels. Russell defined femicide as: A sum of socially accepted violence that ignores silences and underestimates the aggressions against women. In Congo the statistics are horrifying. Forty eight women and girls are raped every hour, a total of 1152 rapes a day. And, just in a twelve moths period 2006 to 2007-, 400,000 women and girls, between 15 and 49 years old, were raped. The victims: women between 5 months and seventy years old. This data belong to a study entitled: Sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Population-based estimates and determinants, published in May of 2011 in American Journal of Public Health, a scientific magazine. This investigation was done by: Amber Peterman, from the International Food Policy Research Institute; Tia Palermo,

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from the Sony Brook University; and Caryn Bredenkamp, from the World Bank. A report published in January 22nd of 2012 by the Human Rights Watch, one of the main independent international organizations dedicated to the defense and protection of the human rights, said that the situation presented in Sexual violence against women in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: Population-based estimates and determinants hasnt changed, and that raping still happen, made by the army and other insurgent groups that operate in Congo. But the worst part, notes this last report, is the impunity for this kind of crimes. Except by its geographical name, Africa does not exist, said Ryszard Kapucinski to capture the complex reality of that continent. In the case of Congo, it is a more complex reality. Being one of the world poorest countries, having over four million inhabitants and with a limited military power, -it is surrounded by smaller states with more powerfull armies-, its reality dangerously contrasts with the wealth of its natural resources. One of the most controversial resources is the Coltan, a mineral leads the country to bloodshed in order to provide the world with the best phones and the latest technological equipment. Many are the events that have led them to live decades in a climate of instability and violence. At Congo they continue to live under a civil war that started almost at the same time as the Cold War, when the USA overthrew their acting president Patrice Lulumba-, and placed Laurent-Dsir Kabila. Kabila was murdered and after his death the war started. In 2005, Joseph Kabila (the previous presidents son) assumed the presidency alleging to pacify Congo. However, what he actually did was sharing the power with some of the facing factions of the civil war. Nowadays, in between seven or nine armed factions fight for territorial control, power and the natural resources of Congo. The strongest factions are: The FDLR (Forces dmocratiques de libration du Rwanda), the main responsible of the barbarities committed in Congo; the LRA (Lord resistance army); the AFD/NALU (Alliance for Freedom and Democracy/National army for the Liberation of Uganda); the PRC (Patriotes Rsistants Congolais) , the MLIA (Movimiento de Liberacin Independiente de los Aliados); the APCLS (Alianza por un Congo Libre y Soberano); the FRF (Fuerzas Republicanas Federalistas); the FRPI (Frente de Resistencia Patritica de Ituri)

Except by its geographical name, Africa does not exist, said Ryszard Kapucinski to capture the complex reality of that continent. In the case of Congo, it is a more complex reality. Being one of the world poorest countries, having over four million inhabitants and with a limited military power, -it is surrounded by smaller states with more powerfull armies-, its reality dangerously contrasts with the wealth of its natural resources.

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and the FPJC (Frente Popular por la Justicia en el Congo). In adition, Congos national army, the FARDC, have also participated in this acts against the human rights (In May 2009, they raped a group of 21 women and girls), being one of the main violations, the systematic raping towards women. For those reasons, Congo clearly lives an asymmetrical war favored by a failed State, a state in which guerilla has surpassed and trampled over the governments sovereignty. A state without warranty, where the International Right has failed and the Human Rights are unreachable utopias. These guerillas use women as one of their weapons for power. Just as the NGO International Amnesty an organization that works towards the recognition of the Human Rights- points out: The rapes performed by this armed groups are frequent, because they are utilized as a war tactic to terrorize the civilians. Nowadays Congo is the country where the guerillas are the responsible of the most of the rapes. In contemporary wars, as Congos war is, about 95% of the casualties are civilians, which imply very serious violations of the International Humanitarian Rights international agreements, one amongst them, the Geneva conventions. This violence towards women does not only include raping. It also includes psychological and physical abuse, mutilations, torture, disfigurements, brutal raping in which the victims die because of the wounds , mass raping and situations in which the soldiers oblige fathers to rape their own daughters, mothers and sisters. The worst catastrophe Congo has lived to the opinion of many Human Rights activists.

This violence towards women does not only include raping. It also includes psychological and physical abuse, mutilations, torture, disfigurements, brutal raping in which the victims die because of the wounds , mass raping and situations in which the soldiers oblige fathers to rape their own daughters, mothers and sisters.

With that, guerillas acquire power and ensure sovereignty throughout fear, silence, intimidation and threats. According to the UN statistics, until today, over 250,000 people have emigrated from Congo in search of peace. Congos government accepts these numbers and recognizes the terrible situation of its country, specially its women tragedy. However, they protect their army and most of these crimes have passed with total impunity at Congos courts. Perhaps most people could consider this conflict as an ethnical conflict in some way it is-. But, beyond that, it is an economical and social conflict because fighting for the countrys wealth natural resources-, is implicated, as it has been mentioned before. A fight for power and territorial control and a violence and crime heavily hit society.