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CONGO-RAPE Mar-18-2008 (640 words) xxxi
Church leaders say rape is used as weapon of war in Congo
By Bronwen Dachs
Catholic News Service
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (CNS) -- Women are afraid to work alone in the fields in many parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rape is used as a weapon of war, said religious leaders and Catholic aid workers.
Leaders of the religious congregations working in eastern Congo's Katanga province said they "cannot remain silent" in the face of "all kinds of violence, repeated cases of sexual abuse, and the total lack of respect for the lives of our brothers and sisters."
Sexual violence "has escalated, reaching alarming rates, and is considered by many experts to be the real weapon in this war that obliges the people to leave the land they live on," the major superiors said in an early March statement.
"It seems clear" that rape is being used as a "terrible weapon" to "annihilate an entire population," they said.
Congo is still recovering from a 1998-2003 war that left much of the country in ruins and killed an estimated 5.4 million people, mainly through hunger and disease.
Despite the 2003 peace agreement and elections in 2006, eastern Congo is "plagued by the presence of gangs and armed groups. The cost is paid by its civilians," the major superiors' statement said.
Nicole Poirier, Congo country representative for the U.S. bishops' Catholic Relief Services, told Catholic News Service March 15 that with militia groups roaming the countryside local communities live in fear.
"In certain areas people are very afraid, and they change the ways they go about their lives," she told CNS in a telephone interview. By alternating the hours they work in the fields and working in groups, women can limit the risk of being raped, "but that kind of precaution doesn't help in their homes," she said.
"They never know when they are going to be attacked," which "terrorizes the population," she said.
According to the U.N. news agency IRIN, the number of women in eastern Congo affected by gender-based violence is so great that U.N. officials have called it the worst instance of sexual violence in the world. The brutality that accompanies rape is of great concern: Women routinely are raped by more than one man, violated in front of their families or tortured after the rape, IRIN reported.
Lane Hartill, regional information officer for CRS in West Africa, told CNS in February that doctors in eastern Congo "see the results of brutal rapes where women are violated with guns and sticks."
Poirier said the brutality is "beyond comprehension."
Meanwhile, in their statement the major superiors addressed the lack of justice regarding sex crimes.
Not only are most crimes of sexual violence "left unpunished, but those who commit them do so without any fear of the consequences," they said.
"Given the impunity enjoyed by the criminals who commit these acts, we are wondering if this practice may not be consciously desired and funded by persons in search of power or, perhaps, by internal and external forces whose intentions remain hidden," the major superiors said.
"We deplore the culpable indifference, both on the part of the civil authorities, as well as the international community, in the midst of one of the worst catastrophes in the history of humanity," they said.
Among recommendations by the major superiors are the reform of the judicial system, government-provided care for victims and rigid law enforcement for those convicted of rape.
"The people of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo demand justice: It is inhumane to continue turning a deaf ear to their cry of pain," their statement said.
They noted that many organizations, including church groups and health care centers, "offer an admirable service," usually free, to many victims.
"Many small measures to help in prevention as well as psychosocial support to survivors" are being made, Poirier said.
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