Rape with impunity a part of every day life in the Congo

On his visit to Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated the UN’s commitment to ending sexual violence throughout the country. At Heal Africa, a holistic center set up to provide psychological and medical healing to rape victims –some as young as two years of age, he spoke about the every day ills women in the country suffer.

Many women and young girls have suffered at the hands of Ugandan LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) and FDLR (Revolutionary Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) rebels who have fought over ownership of land thick with natural resources like gold and minerals. MONUC (The United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo) is dealing with these cases on a day by day basis as the increase of incidents citing brutal rape and other forms of sexual violence continue. TRNS sat down with Virginie Mumbre, a counselor at the Heal Africa center to find out the latest on these sex crimes.