Rape in Ituri: Kpandroma Under a Law of Silence

December 17, 2004 - (monuc.org) With precise figures unavailable, the Kpandroma region, in Ituri's Djugu territory, seems to hold a sad record of sexual violence - a situation worsened by the splintering of unruly militias, which have evolved into banditry from their original civil defence role. This violence flourishes thanks to the silence of a population traumatised by years of fighting - a silence only broken by the rare few who dare to step forward and talk to MONUC.

There has been an average of one rape case reported for every day since last July, said one heath official in Djugu. The latest victims include a 3-year-old girl and a 76-year-old lady, according to one source, who requested not to be named out of fear of reprisals. Like him, everyone else in this territory and in Mahagi fears reprisals, if he speaks out. Another organisation fighting sexual violence in the area reported 71 cases of rape over the last four months.

These figures are disturbing if one considers that for each reported rape case, at least two go unreported, as many in Kpandroma believe. According to the above-mentioned organisation, the localities of Kpandroma, Ngote and Rethy in the Djugu territory are the most affected. Further north, owing to a concentration of militiamen, the areas of Zaa, Lenge and Amee, north of Kpandroma, in the territory of Mahagi, are also particularly affected.
"They no longer respect ages"

"They" refers to militiamen of the Front des Nationalistes et Integrationistes (FNI), at least those still reluctant to join the DRC (Disarmament and Community Reintegration) transit site in Kpandroma. And yet this is the disarmament site that has admitted the biggest number of militiamen so far. On 11 November, 115 of them officially departed from the site, with 95 of them opting to go back to school or joining professional reinsertion projects and 20 others choosing to be integrated into the Congolese national army.

This violence affects both girls and women. Several local sources said schoolgirls in the region of Zaa, 10 km north of Kpandroma, are constantly obliged to take a zigzag way to school to avoid meeting militiamen. In other areas, schools just did not reopen last September because of this insecurity. Such was the case in Walla in the Mokambo village, 10 km east of Kpandroma, and in areas north of the Mahagi territory towards Djalasiga and Aungba.

Rape and violence
Renewed conflict last July and the splintering of FNI armed factions are among the root causes of widespread sexual violence against women in the region. These clashes, pitting the FNI against the rival Forces Armées du Peuple Congolais (FAPC) militia of Jerome Kakwavu, led to the latter's retreat towards the southern part of Mahagi territory and towards the northern part of Djugu territory. Occurring not only in Djalasiga, about 130 km northwest of Mahagi, but also in Djegu, 31 km east of Mahagi and in Ndrele, 20 km southwest of Mahagi, the clashes broke a consultation and pacification dynamic largely driven by the local church.

While the FNI is far from having a monopoly on rape, it must be noted that the group's inordinate splintering into multiple factions has only amplified the phenomenon. Several FNI factions (especially those in Amee, Nokia, Katanga, Lalo and Libri) are totally uncontrolled, acting more like armed gangs than real civil defence forces. Sometimes they even fight one another. Several local sources reported that, on November 30, a fierce gun battle erupted around the Bale market (38 km southwest of Kpandroma), between two rival FNI factions respectively based in Livo (44 km south west of Kpandroma) and in Pakala (51 km from Kpadroma). This conflict killed 23 people, wounding several others who subsequently treated at the hospital in Rethy.

The law of silence
The Kpandroma region, though comparatively more successful with the disarmament process, remains under a law of silence essentially imposed by reprisal threats on the part of still-armed militiamen. The combined efforts of local and international actors, including humanitarian agencies, will be needed to help break this silence that reinforces the rapists and their impunity.

From: http://www.monuc.org/Story.aspx?storyID=356