VOA Congo Story: War, Women and R**e helps end the isolation of victims by documenting the details of sexual violence in an interactive social media platform, that will help drive awareness and accountability. All armed groups, including foreign armies fighting in Congo, have been accused of using sexual violence as an instrument of war to terrorize the population by preying on those least able to
protect themselves. One of those armed groups is the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda, the FDLR, composed of the remnants of the former Rwandan Army and Rwanda’s Interahamwe militia; another is the Congolese national army. Yet another is the Mai-Mai, the loosely formed, animist based, violent militia of the north and south Kivu provinces of eastern Congo, bordering Rwanda. In late summer of 2010, the use of sexual violence as a tool of war in eastern Congo appalled the rest of the world. Between late July and early August of 2010, armed gangs of FDLR fighters and the Mai-Mai r***d over 300 women and a number of young boys for 4 consecutive days in a town called Luvungi. The r**es occurred not far from the camp of UN peacekeepers, who were in the region to protect civilians, but who were unaware of the events. The international community learned of the r**es from NGOs, including the International Medical Corps, who were operating in that remote part of Congo. In a special web report from the Africa Division of VOA, we’ll tell you about the descent of eastern Congo into uncontrolled violence and the war that is carried out there through r**e. Through the work of our reporters who have gone into small villages to meet the victims, you will hear the voices of women whose voices are seldom heard. They will describe what they have lived through; we will report on their medical treatment, on the help provided by the Congolese authorities and local and international NGOs, on their re-integration into their families and communities, and their hopes for the future. We will report on steps toward justice for the victims and on steps to protect them in the future from the violence that has terrorized them for years. Our report will be in the English, French, Swahili, Kinyarwanda and Kirundi languages – the languages of the region.
