Here is a link to the NY Times article on a study soon to be published by the American Journal of Public Health on the prevalence of rape in the DRC:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/world/africa/12congo.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

There are a few corrections to my coverage of the Kikoze mass rape incident:

-I originally reported the date of the ex-FRF FARDC attack and mass rape in Kikoze as March 31st. This date should actually be March 26th, 2011.

-I also reported that 9 survivors came to Uvira to receive treatment. The total number of confirmed cases in the Kikoze mass rape is 9; however, only 8 women came to Uvira to receive treatment and report the incident.

-The battalion commander for the FARDC unit in question is located in Muranvia, which I originally spelled Murambia, but I’ve seen it spelled both ways. The same goes for Kikoze; it can also be spelled Kikozi.

And now, more updates:

-The FARDC commander in Muranvia has confirmed that he sent his troops to the Kikoze to hunt Mai Mai elements in the area, but still denies that his soldiers raped anyone.

-The UN mission to Kikoze and Muranvia noted the high number of child soldiers among the ex-FRF FARDC troops.

-OCHA and CTLVS-Uvira are coordinating meetings between local organizations to come up with ways to provide more services in the Haut Plateau area, in particular in the area around Bijombo (which includes the village of Kikoze). There are several NGOs, notably AGAPE, AJDC (Associations des Jeunes pour le Développement du Congo), and Arche d’Alliance, that have created a synergy to bring psychosocial services and human rights monitoring to the Bijombo zone of the Haut Plateau.

And now, a bit of commentary. In my opinion, the follow-up surrounding the Kikoze incident is moving a bit slowly for a number of reasons:

-The Kikoze area is very remote, and therefore investigating the matter requires quite a bit more time and resource investment on the part of the UN.

-The media has not picked up on this incident, unlike the New Years Day incident in Fizi Town. This probably has a lot to do with the numbers, 50+ confirmed in Fizi Town versus 9 cases confirmed in Kikoze so far.

-In the incident in Fizi Town, there were MONUSCO troops stationed nearby during the attack and mass rape. Perhaps the UN moved faster on providing the impetus to arrest Col. Kibibi and his men because the incident happened where they were supposed to be able to protect civilians.

-The reality is that the MONUSCO mission in Uvira and Fizi is still very constrained by the lack of resources, a difficult operating environment, and the fact that these incidents are being committed by armed combatants on both sides. MONUSCO still has very limited presence in Fizi Territory and in the Haut Plateau of both Uvira and Fizi. Maybe there is also some lack of initiative from higher up; Margot Wallstrom, the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence, has yet to visit Fizi Territory, despite the fact that the region is sliding backwards in terms of sexual violence committed by armed groups. I don’t think it is going out on a limb to say that the Congolese government is also showing little initiative in terms of cutting down the impunity of its own troops.

On 4-21-11 I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with a MONUSCO official in Uvira. I asked him some questions about MONUSCO response to incidents such as the recent mass rape in Kikoze. The MONUSCO official gave me a detailed plan of how MONUSCO reacts according to their mandate to intervene, support, prevent, and provide follow-up.

When the Kikoze mass rape was first reported, MONUSCO immediately sent troops from the Pakistani Battalion (PAKBATT) to Kikoze via helicopter for a fact-finding mission. Once the PAKBATT unit confirmed the abuse of human rights in the area, a special force of Egyptian troops was sent to Kikoze in order to show a UN presence, to protect the villagers from further harassment. All during this time, MONUSCO prepared a mission to Kikoze, with a joint protection team from Civil Affairs, Human Rights, Political Affairs, UN Police (UNPOL), and PAKBATT. This mission also included several local partners, such as Arche d’Alliance and AMCAV.

In addition to their own investigation, MONUSCO assists in legal proceedings against the perpetrators, providing impetus and support to the Congolese military justice division that will prosecute the soldiers allegedly responsible for the attacks. It should be noted that the commanding officers of the FARDC unit in question deny that their soldiers committed any wrongdoing.

Currently, the MONUSCO mission is investigating the Kikoze incident and meeting with the FARDC battalion commander in Murambia over the allegations. Then, a military tribunal is supposed to form to bring the perpetrators to justice. This echoes the same response that occurred after the New Years Day mass rape in Fizi Town: MONUSCO sent a mission to Fizi to investigate and provide stability, then they provided transportation and other support to the Congolese military court in Baraka that tried and convicted Col. Kibibi and his men.

The official also told me that MONUSCO is using an ongoing proactive approach at all levels (national as well as territorial) to prevent human rights abuses by the FARDC. MONUSCO is also involved in training officials in human rights, supporting the justice system, and disseminating the law among Congolese citizens.

There is a lot of discussion as to how effective MONUSCO is at maintaining peace and stability in eastern Congo, especially since incidents such as the one in Kikoze continue to occur. However, one must remember that the tangle of conflict in eastern Congo is complicated and involves much more than just MONUSCO. To be sure, local civil society organizations, such as SOS FED and Arche d’Alliance, remain at the front lines in terms of providing assistance to vulnerable persons and monitoring the human rights situation.

I will have more information on this situation, as well as commentary, as I find out more on the local, national, and international response to the Kikoze incident.

On March 31^st, an attack on civilians occurred in the village of Kikoze, in the Haut Plateau of Uvira Territory.  The perpetrators were integrated ex-FRF units of the FARDC, stationed nearby.  A number of women in Kikoze were raped, and on April 5^th, 9 survivors arrived in Uvira town to seek assistance and report the incident.  PSVS lodged the women and gave them first-response psychological care, while Arche d’Alliance collected the information regarding the attack for legal and human rights action.  PSVS also facilitated medical treatment for the women at the hospital in Uvira, with direct financial support from IRC.  Other organizations that provided resources and assistance were AMCAV and CICR.

Kikoze is about a 3-day journey out of Uvira, and most of the journey must be made on foot across difficult terrain.  In the remote areas of the Haut Plateau, monitoring the human rights situation remains difficult because of the lack of access to these areas.

On April 8^th, all the women who had come down from Kikoze started their return journey home.  PSVS gave each woman a pagne and a cooking pot to take back home with her.

On the same day that the women of Kikoze were sent home, OCHA held its weekly security briefing, and the incident in Kikoze was discussed at length.  One of the concerns brought up at the OCHA meeting was that there still aren’t many transportation resources available for the Haut Plateau and other remote regions of the Eastern Congo.  Remember, it takes days to reach a place like Kikoze by foot, and it is hardly the most remote village in the Haut Plateau.  If a survivor requires immediate and drastic medical treatment, she may not be able to make it a major hospital in time.  In addition, human rights monitors in the Haut Plateau are also sparse, and villages in the hills lack the maisons d’ecoutes that are mostly scattered in towns along heavily populated thoroughfares.

Another alarming concern was brought to light; these women will return to Kikoze with their pagne and cooking pot, but there still remains little protection for them back in their village, or even en route to their homes, traveling on lonely mountain footpaths.  Some of those at the OCHA meeting expressed concern that the women were being sent home unaccompanied.  Indeed, even if they return home safely, they may risk being re-violated or even killed, since they dared seek help outside of their community and shared the details of the incident with human rights monitors.  The same FARDC unit is presumably still near Kikoze, with the violators in its ranks.  Were these women being sent to their doom after being already violated, with only a pagne and a cooking pot to show for it?

Again, an unfortunate symptom of the problem of sexual violence in the Kivus and the response from the NGO community: women are often left vulnerable after seeking assistance from humanitarian organizations.  Granted, protection from the FARDC is a responsibility that lies with the Congolese government, and they deserve criticism for failing to curb the depraved and violent behavior of their own soldiers.

Whether it is from the lack of resources to surmount the many obstacles, or from the lack of will to follow through, local and international organizations are failing to provide sufficient care and protection for many survivors.  Sometimes, the lack of creative thinking or recognition of these problems seem to defy common sense, and gives the appearance of apathy.  Much of what I heard at the OCHA meeting was a bit stultifying, although I don’t doubt there are many individuals and groups who are hard at work to assist survivors of sexual violence.   However, SOS FED, which is a tiny organization compared to a lot of the big-hitter NGOs in Uvira, appears to provide its beneficiaries with much better care than what was given to the survivors from Kikoze.

Women leaving our centers are accompanied back home by reintegration officers, who meet with community leaders to make sure that the reintegrating woman’s rights will be respected upon her return.  Currently, SOS FED’s two reintegration officers in Kazimia and Kikonde are accompanying women returning to the Ubwari Peninsula, the site of ongoing combat between the FARDC, FDLR, and Mai Mai.

In addition, women leaving our centers receive a small cash stipend to help them in starting over again in their community.  This is in addition to whatever income they gained at the SOS FED center from practicing communal cultivation.

Personally, I question how much psychological recovery survivors can gain in 3 days, especially considering the devastating psychosocial consequences of rape in Eastern Congo.  This is why we never send women home after 3 days with a pagne and a cooking pot.  However, SOS FED is still a small organization with limited resources confronting an enormous problem.  I believe the difference is that SOS FED’s model is highly replicable and yet still very effective.  SOS Fed’s model has an emphasis on wholly treating the outcomes of rape, including the social, psychological, and economic effects.  For what we cannot do ourselves, we seek partnerships with organizations like Arche d’Alliance to provide more complete assistance to our beneficiaries.

PSVS still does a pretty good job, and this is not meant to be a critique of PSVS or their financiers at IRC.  Nonetheless, perhaps the humanitarian community as a whole needs to look at the models by which they assist the women of South Kivu, and ask themselves if they are really as effective and efficient as they can be.  So far, no one is scrambling to replicate the SOS FED model, and SOS FED is still spending a lot less than what a lot of local NGOs here receive from international financiers.

The nine survivors from Kikoze demonstrated courage by making a dangerous journey to Uvira to seek assistance, denounce the perpetrators, and then return to their village.  Next week, MONUSCO is supposed to be sending a mission to Kikoze to investigate the incident.  The survivors who made their way to Uvira indicated that there are probably more women who were raped by the FARDC in the Kikoze area.  And we are only a little over three months into the year…

In my last blog entry, I wrote about a UNFPA data-mapping project that is being undertaken here in the Kivus. The goal of the data-mapping project is to provide better assistance to survivors of sexual violence; if one NGO assists a survivor, the information provided by registering her in the global database will make it easier for her to receive other forms of assistance, be they medical, psychosocial, judicial, or socioeconomic. In addition, the information gathered can clarify where attacks against women are concentrated, and are being perpetrated by whom, thus helping prevention and advocacy efforts.

How this project works: Each NGO that receives a survivor interviews her and records information on her physical, mental, and emotional state, on forms provided by UNFPA. In addition, details of the incident are recorded, including date, location, and the identity/affiliation of the perpetrator. The “first-response” NGO (the one filling out the form) records the type of assistance they gave the survivor. Some biographical information is also recorded, which can be useful in identifying the kinds of assistance a survivor may require. Each assisted survivor also receives a unique ID number that contains information on the location of the incident, as well as the first NGO to assist the survivor. All this information contributes to a global database that will give all involved a clearer picture of the crisis of rape in Eastern Congo. It should be noted that the privacy of survivors is not affected by being added to this database.

The reach of this project acknowledges that rape does more than damage the physical and mental health of a woman; there are a variety of serious effects that a survivor must endure after being violated. NGOs in South Kivu tend to be fragmented, and survivors frequently lack a complete source of assistance. In addition, MONUSCO has noted a high level of repeat reporting by local NGOs, complicating matters.

SOS FED works primarily in the domain of psychosocial assistance and socioeconomic assistance, with perhaps a heavier emphasis on the former. SOS FED shelters women, helping them regain their mental and emotional health without having to deal with judgmental communities and restrictive customs. In addition, SOS FED teaches risk-reduction techniques through group cultivation, which has the double benefit of helping women reduce their chances of being attacked and providing them with income. An NGO such as Arche d’Alliance focuses on judicial representation and the protection of human rights through building civil society. The various hospitals and clinics throughout Fizi treat women for the physical trauma of rape and its aftereffects. So, as you can see, everyone has something to do, and coordination is necessary in order to get things done.

In all, the assistance provided by SOS FED remains the most holistic, yet practical, that I have seen in South Kivu. However, there is always something missing, especially for a small, local NGO like SOS FED. SOS FED particularly lacks capacity in the areas of judicial representation and medical services.

The center staff members refer women to nearby hospitals or clinics if they require immediate attention for fistulas or infections stemming from their attack. In addition, each center has basic medical supplies for minor illnesses and injuries. However, this is not nearly enough for the kinds of physical trauma that beneficiaries may be suffering from; almost all of the women at our centers complain of continual lower abdominal pain and sometimes irregular bleeding. Nonetheless, arriving at a hospital does not always guarantee effective treatment, as the cost of good medical care can be too expensive for our beneficiaries.

Our center staff also instructs beneficiaries on their rights, but do not have the resources or training needed to represent these women in court. Granted, the Congolese judicial system has a long way to go before it can be described as effective in handing out punitive sentences to offenders. However, pressure applied to civil and military authorities can make a difference, especially if there is a well-documented, public source of information on incidents of sexual violence.

This is where the UNFPA data-mapping project becomes useful for SOS FED. Once a survivor has a dossier created by the SOS FED staff, it becomes much easier for her to receive judicial or medical support, should she require it. Being registered in the database means that a survivor can receive free medical treatment at a hospital or clinic; all SOS FED has to do is get her there. If a survivor requires extensive treatment for severe trauma, SOS FED can always coordinate with PSVS to send the survivor to Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where (if accepted), she can receive some of the best medical care in the Kivus. Arche d’Alliance, with its large resources, institutional knowledge, and national network, can use the information provided in the database to produce human rights reports and put pressure on local officials, national authorities, and the international community to address the issue of sexual violence in the Kivus.

The local CTLVS and Arche d’Alliance remain the focal points for the UNFPA data-mapping project in Uvira and Fizi Territories. This past week, Amisi and I arranged for training for our staff on completing dossiers for each beneficiary. Arche will make sure that each center has a sufficient number of forms at its disposal, as well as visit our center frequently to pick up the dossiers. Further networking will ensure that we can increase the level of assistance for our beneficiaries through coordination with other organizations. There is a caveat: the success of the project depends on more than participation from SOS FED; many different actors, including UNFPA, have to come through if survivors of sexual violence are to see a noticeable improvement in assistance.

Overall, participation in this project should ensure a better, more complete standard of care for SOS FED beneficiaries. L’Union fait La Force.

There is evidence of a growing humanitarian crisis in Fizi Territory. I have been attending regular OCHA security briefings to keep updated on the situation in Uvira and Fizi. Now, I will share some of what I have been hearing. We start in the Ubwari Peninsula, down in Fizi Territory.

The Ubwari Peninsula juts into Lake Tanganyika, south of Baraka and just north of Kazimia. In the month of March, battles continued between Amani Leo troops and Mai Mai Yakutumba on the Ubwari. Thus, accessibility to the villages in the Ubwari has been limited for humanitarian agents, and there is very little information on refugee movements and civilian casualties coming from the area. Fighting near Kazimia has resulted in at least 1 reported civilian casualty. Last year SOS FED closed the reception center in Kazimia, which was the right decision, given the current proximity of combat.

There are concerns about the lack of protection in the area around Kilembwe, in the Haut Plateau, where the FLDR is targeting the civilian population. Many of the mass rapes committed by the FDLR this year happened in the vicinity of Kilembwe and Kilimba. Supposedly there are plans for a larger Amani Leo operation to head into the Kilembwe area to drive out the FDLR. Right now, MONUSCO patrols only reach Kilicha. On March 14, more than 40 civilians were robbed by the FDLR on their way to the market in Kilicha.
The Mai Mai is waylaying and robbing travelers on the road from Uvira to Baraka, near the villages of Elila and Kabondozi. On March 16, a vehicle belonging to the NGO TEARFUND was ambushed and robbed near Mukindje, about 15 km from Baraka. In these incidents, there were no reported injuries.

In March, more FNL activity has been reported, throwing in another wrench in the machine. The FNL (Forces Nationales pour la Libération) is a Burundian rebel movement that is opposed to the current government in Burundi. In Uvira Territory, combat between the FNL and the FARDC on March 12 disrupted agricultural activity near Kiliba; when farmers hear that there is fighting close by, they become reluctant to go to their fields. In Fizi, as of March 15 it was reported that over 200 FNL troops were camped out in the forest of Lulambo, near the village of Kabembwe.

Now, we return to Uvira Territory, for a demonstration of just how difficult it is to negotiate the security situation in South Kivu. Due to increased incidents of armed bandits waylaying travelers in the Runingu area, the Pakistani Battalion of MONUSCO (PAKBATT) stationed in Uvira Territory attempted to create a Temporary Operations Base (TOB) in Kashatu. However, they soon abandoned their plans, due to a lack of support from the local authorities. Apparently, the local authorities wanted more and more money from MONUSCO for “permission” to put a TOB there, even though this would have increased security for the civilian population. Again, another demonstration of just how difficult it is, even for the UN, to stabilize the security situation in a region rife with corruption.

In February, Médecins Sans Frontières released a briefing on the “dramatic increase in mass rape and violence” in Fizi Territory. There are worries that the conflict in Fizi is entering into a “new phase of brutality”. In recent years, MSF saw a decline in reported incidents of sexual violence in Fizi; however, this trend is starting to reverse itself. The situation of women in Fizi, which has never been good, is getting worse.

On March 13, I wrote an entry about the cases of mass rape that have been rising since the beginning of the year. Please refer to that entry for a more complete picture of this “new phase of brutality”. Stay tuned for more.

Good news:
Colonel Kibibi Mutware, the ex-CNDP Amani Leo commander who led his troops on a rape and pillaging spree in Fizi town on New Years Day, has been found guilty by a military court of crimes against humanity, and has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
According to the BBC, this is the first time a commanding officer of a FARDC unit has been convicted of rape. This hopefully sets a precedent that will hold commanding officers accountable, and will therefore be reflected in the actions of their subordinates. This by no means signals the end to mercenary-like behavior on the part of the Congolese military, but perhaps the higher-ups in the military are starting to pay attention due to increased scrutiny. This will be especially interesting due to the number of rebel “armies” that are currently being incorporated into the FARDC; creating a trained, well-behaved military out of so many different factions will be quite the feat. Here’s hoping for the best.
The military court in Baraka also convicted 8 more soldiers under Col. Kibibi’s command, including 3 officers, and gave them sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years. However, the heavier sentences went to the officers, possibly again signaling to FARDC commanders that they need to be responsible for the behavior of their units.
An unusual aspect of the trial was the willingness of many of the survivors to testify against their attackers; forty-nine women stepped forward to give testimony in court.

Today Amisi, Marceline, and I are getting together a list of supplies we will be sending down to the centers in Mboko and Kikonde. This list includes basic necessities such as rice, beans, cooking oil, and soap. Thanks to these staples, survivors of sexual violence can take time to recover in the physical and mental safety of the centers.
Despite the fact that women provide the economic backbone of the Congo, it is horrifying to think that many are barely able to sustain themselves and their children. This is particularly tragic in the case of rape survivors. Rape carries a strong social stigma for women in Congo, and therefore the consequences in such socially centered communities are devastating. Women who are raped are often rejected by their communities, and even by their families. Some women at the centers will tell you about their husbands kicking them out of the house after they were raped. These women are falsely labeled as “prostitutes”, and because of the social stigma, they are often unable to participate economically in their community. Some of these women end up becoming prostitutes, as being already labeled as such means that it may be the only economic option available. Thus, what does a woman do to provide for herself and her children? She may end up selling her body, even after it has been ravaged against her will.

Of course, prostitution is widely available throughout this part of East Africa, especially since men don’t really have to worry about any social consequences for their sexual behavior. Abortion? Forget it, a woman can be thrown in jail for even saying she wants an abortion. Contraceptives? Only if the man agrees to it. A saying among a lot of men around here is that “you can’t taste the lollipop without removing the wrapper”. Translation: condoms are for suckers.

In this war-torn and politically unstable region, it has been an all-out war on women’s bodies, both in the form of rape and in economic terms as well. The message seems pretty clear: a woman’s body does not belong to herself, but instead to the man with the gun or the man with the fat pocketbook. The total breakdown of law and order and the nature of the war allow for this culture to germinate, as it would happen anywhere in the world under similar circumstances. Honestly, there is nothing more infuriating about working in the Congo than having to think about these realities.

This is why the SOS FED centers are so vital to building peace and equality. Women can recover without starving or selling their bodies. They can cultivate communally, harvesting produce in tranquil fields among others who have shared their experiences. They will have an income, through which they can buy soap and cooking oil themselves, and send their children to school. These women can return to their communities through interventions from the reintegration staff; they will tell their community leaders that these women should not be shunned.

Soap, rice, beans, cooking oil. We will pack it onto a big fuso (transport truck) and send it down into Fizi. When the harvest for beans and manioc occurs, we will get a fuso to bring the produce up to Uvira so the women can sell it at a higher price. The women of the Congo endure.

Congolese women in Baraka, Fizi Territory

Congolese women in Baraka, Fizi Territory

On Februry 7th, Amisi, Marceline, and myself made our first official field visit down into Fizi Territory, visiting the SOS FED center in Mboko and visiting with the managers of the SOS FED Kikonde center. We had to meet Sangho and Mimmy, the Kikonde center managers, in the town of Baraka, as the road to Kikonde was too close to some recent battles between Amani Leo troops and opposing elements of the Mai Mai.

In order to get us all down there, we hired a motorcycle and driver to carry Marceline. Our driver was named Hali, which in Swahili means “The Situation”. I explained to Amisi and Hali that there was a famous American TV star that went by the same name. When they inquired what the American “Situation” did on television (actor? musician?), I had a really difficult time explaining to them that he was not a talented individual, but just famous for being stupid. Alas, the cultural gap.

The road into Fizi can only be described as bone-crunching, but scenic. Most of the way it follows Lake Tanganyika’s shoreline, and as one goes further and further into Fizi it feels as if the jungle is swallowing you whole. All the towns kind of look the same, with the same signs (bearing the painted logos of various international NGOs) proclaiming some development project (clinic, school, etc.) that has since fallen into dilapidation. We passed by small markets where women sat by vegetables, oil, and piles of ndagala (fry-sized fish) swarming with flies. We also passed many women hiking back from their fields, shouldering heavy loads of produce or firewood. Most of the men we passed were leisurely sitting in the shade, chatting and glaring at us when we passed by.

I first visited the SOS FED center in Mboko in the summer of 2009. This time around, there is a new lupongo (fence) built around the center to shield it, and the outdoor kitchen finally has a roof. I was very glad to see Mariamu Bashishibe, the center manager, and her assistant Chamulungo. We met for an hour or so, talking about plans for 2011, and got an update on how many women had come to the center in the past month, how many therapy sessions they held, etc.

We left Mboko after a while to get to Baraka before dark. Once in Baraka, we checked into the Hotel Pili-Pili (“Chili-Pepper Hotel”), and then we hustled off to meet Sangho Laliya, the director of the Kikonde center, and her assistant Mimmy.

Sangho and Mimmy reported that the Kikonde center had already received 14 women in the month of January. Two of these women reported that they had been violated by Amani Leo troops in Fizi town during the infamous mass rape of January 1st. Through word of mouth, these women had heard that “SOS FED is there to help you”, and had trekked to Kikonde. It was encouraging to hear that SOS FED has such a reputation all over Fizi Territory, even if I find it extremely sad that in this time of unprecedented “peace”, SOS FED’s services are still in very high demand.

On our way back, we stopped at Mboko again to visit a hectare where beneficiaries were cultivated miyogo (manioc). The field was surrounded by squat palm trees, the air buzzing with the calls of exotic birds and the harsh whine of insects. It was hot and humid, and you could almost feel things germinating on your skin. As the women tilled the green-brown earth, they talked to each other in loud voices, joking and gossiping. Indeed, it was clear that the therapy aspect of SOS FED’s services extended beyond group therapy sessions at the centers. Here in the fields, I saw women working together, talking together, healing together.

We showed women photos of the completed Ahadi Quilts, assembled by quilting societies in East Lansing, Michigan and Columbia, Maryland. The women were very pleased to see the results, happy that someone abroad was taking interest in the expression of their experiences.

The manioc and bean harvest is supposed to be sometime in March. Stay tuned for more.

A fight breaks out in a bar in the dark of the night in the town of Fizi, deep in the territory that bears the same name. The argument is between a civilian and a soldier of the 43rd Sector, over a woman. In the resulting melee, the soldier shoots the civilian. This sets off a riot, and an angry crowd lynches the soldier in public.

News of the lynching reaches the troops of the 43rd Sector. To “avenge” their fallen comrade, a group of soldiers descended upon Fizi for a massive campaign of rape and destruction. So far, 50 cases have been confirmed, but as more people return the official number is expected to climb. The real number is probably much higher, since many women will not report that they have been violated.

The 43rd Sector is part of Amani Leo (“Peace Now”), a military operation charged with dealing once and for all with the marauding FDLR rebels who continue to ravage the Kivus. Their commander, Lt. Colonel Kibibi Mutware is a former CNDP rebel who was integrated into the FARDC as the result of a 2009 peace agreement. He commands a group of Kinyarwanda-speaking Banyamulenge troops, often resented because of the role of their ethnic group in the Rwandan invasion of Eastern Congo.
Lt. Col. Kibibi claims that the perpetrators of this mass rape were soldiers disobeying orders to stay on base. However, as the people of Fizi recounted the horror they survived, it became clear that more than a few witnessed Lt. Col. Kibibi urging his soldiers to attack the people of Fizi, directing them in committing unspeakable acts of violence. These accusations were serious enough to be included in a UN report on the Fizi mass rape. Also, it is not the first time that Lt. Col. Kibibi has been accused of human rights abuses.

It is a well-documented phenomenon when FARDC military commanders spur their troops to ravage the very citizens they are sworn to protect, and the latest incident in Fizi is quite possibly another instance of such a sickening perversion.

MONUSCO troops now patrol Fizi town in order to maintain order, and a Congolese military spokesman has stated that all who were responsible for the carnage have been arrested. The Congolese military supposedly has a “zero-tolerance” policy towards human rights abuses, and yet it begs the question why something this massive and atrocious occurred in the first place.

The general apathy of the Congolese government and the international community towards human rights abuses committed by the FARDC is bearing bitter fruit. Human rights training, reprimands, and the removal of some commanders who condone rape have not been extensive enough to cut away the cancer that plagues the Congolese military. Amani Leo is quickly becoming a joke at the expense of the people of Eastern Congo.

When does this end?