DR Congo: Armed Conflict, Sexual Violence, Force Over 14,000 to Flee into Uganda

The ongoing conflict and violence have driven more than 14,000 people, a large majority of them women and children, from their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) in the past six weeks, a report by CARE- a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty has indicated.

Fleeing civilians have sought safety in neighboring Uganda, home already to 1.4 million refugees, most of them South Sudanese.

“Women and girls are particularly vulnerable to sexual violence, including repeated rapes, at the hands of armed groups,” Care said in a report launched Thursday.

Last Month, DR Congo military launched an offensive against Ugandan militants known as Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo which is likely to force nearly 370,000 people from their homes, the United Nations said on Thursday.

DR Congo, almost the size of Western Europe, is the world’s largest source of cobalt and Africa’s biggest miner of copper and tin.

But for two decades, it has failed to defeat dozens of local and foreign militias in the east of the country including Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militant accused of copious human rights abuses.

Most of the displaced people arrive through the Bunagana border point in south western Uganda, but some brave the dangerous waters of Lake Albert to escape an even greater threat in the DR Congo.

More than half of them are children.

CARE reports that one official in Uganda’s Nyakabande Transit Centre estimates that nine out of 10 women fleeing the DRC are raped along the way, sometimes more than once and sometimes by gangs.

“Women, girls and civilians are hunted down by out-of-control armed groups, forced to abandon their loved ones when they cannot flee fast enough, devastated by physical and emotional pain due to assault, rape, loss of friends and families,” says Delphine Pinnault, CARE’s country director in Uganda.

“The use of sexual violence against women and girls in DR Congo must stop. The world cannot stand and continue to watch and accept what is happening.”

Pinnault said it is high time the world come together to denounce the massive abuses and demand protection of DR Congo’s citizens, women and girls in particular.

CARE staff members who conducted a rapid assessment last week explain that while initially more women sought refuge in Uganda, more men have begun arriving.

Many of them are still trapped in DR Congo and droves have been executed by the armed gangs for trying to leave the country.

“The sight of my husband being killed is still fresh in my mind,” says Evelyn, who paid 60,000 Uganda shillings (US$17) to be smuggled across Lake Albert, a large sum when one lives on a dollar or two a day.

“They tied his hands behind his back and shot him in the head. That same day, I started planning my escape from our village. I was so scared because many people had been killed by the armed groups while trying to flee.

“Life has been extremely hard for us. Sometimes I ask myself why we had to go through these killings. We are lucky to be here but we all have families and friends still stuck in DR Congo.”