Between January and March, at least 1,300 acts of sexual violence were committed in Kasai Central Province, DRC, mostly on the outskirts of Kananga. NGO Médecin sans frontières relies on the number of victims received at Kananga’s provincial hospital and in three health centers.
- Advertisement -
With our special correspondent in Kananga, Sonia Rolley
When Chief Kamuina Nsapu was killed in August 2016 and KasaïCentral is lit., rare are cases of sexual violence. Residents still report them with great emotion and attribute them to the security forces who oppress militiamen who claim to be this customary leader and rebel against state authority.
► To read also: Kamuina Nsapu, the death of a boss
But when MSF took over a year later, the phenomenon was already worrying. And it’s gotten worse since then. However, the crisis is officially over. Last year, Médecins Sans Frontières already received an average of 273 new cases per month. The NGO realized that care had to be decentralized and that not all the victims reached the hospital in Kananga.
In conflicts such as the Bakwa Kenge in August, civil society reported no less than 50 cases. This area is still largely inaccessible. The victims are predominantly women. But 3% of the victims are men. There are only disturbing statistics in this still incomplete picture. One in five victims are minors. 57% are raped by several assailants and 60% by armed men.
The explosion of cases in the last three months is due to the increase in armed robberies at night in Kananga. Armed men who break into at night, rob and rape the women they find in their homes.
► To read also: DRC: the forgotten victims of the rapes committed in the prison in Lubumbashi
“Many survivors are stigmatized by their communities, rejected and expelled by their families. They need socio-economic support. “
Kailee Jordan, Field Coordinator for Médecins Sans Frontières at Kansai Central, discusses the increase in cases of sexual violence
.
