Does the devil live in the Democratic Republic of Congo? It would appear so, judging by the heinous atrocities being committed against women in the east of that country.
Mass systematic rapes are being carried out seemingly by all elements involved in that country’s protracted conflict.
These include the government troops and the armed rebels fighting over the country’s lucrative mineral resources.
Almost 500 women were reportedly raped between July and August this year by armed rebels.
Now, according to Margot Wallstrom, the United Nations’ special envoy on sexual violence against women in conflict, the government troops are also among those raping and killing women in remote villages in the Walikale region.
There is a UN peacekeeping force of 18 000 based in that country that is supposed to protect civilians yet these atrocities continue to happen right under their noses.
Isn’t anyone in power angry and disgusted enough to act?
There seems to be a general malaise and inaction about the scale of the horror and debasement that is being exacted on these women. Does anyone who holds sway of power care?
This was the question posed by some the delegates attending a seminar hosted by the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes (Accord) in Durban two weeks ago.
The seminar reflected on developments 10 years after the adoption of the UN Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security on October 31 2000. It was an African-led initiative following much lobbying by civil society.
The resolution marked the first time the council had addressed the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and recognised the undervalued and underused contributions women make to conflict prevention, peacekeeping, conflict resolution and peace-building.
It also emphasised the importance of women’s equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security.
So with that agenda in mind, hundreds of women from across the continent filed into a hall in Durban to ascertain the extent to which this resolution was being adopted and whether such protective measures were being observed. The delegates included academics, politicians, UN representatives, NGOs and activists.
The academics presented worthy arguments recognising some of the gains that have been made.
Many of them include the growing number of women who are now peacekeepers. But the overwhelming view was that the resolution had not been fully implemented for a number of reasons.
It was the delegates from the Congo and Sudan who were the most compelling.
A tiny black woman from the Sudan, dressed in colourful traditional wear, stood up to make her point.
She launched into a lengthy and shrill tirade explaining that until two weeks ago she had never heard of this resolution.
What was the point of it if the very people it aimed to protect were not even aware of it or what it sought to do?
“We are being raped. We are being raped all the time,” she said repeatedly. “What good is your resolution now?”
The shrillness and hysteria in her voice were haunting — it was filled with utter despair and her flaming rage matched her colourful headscarf.
No amount of intellectual rhetoric from the panellists could ease her vivid pain and dismay that all we could do was to gather in a room and talk while she and others in her country were being defiled.
Her sentiments were echoed by participants from the Congo. They were not interested in resolutions and progress made — they simply wanted to know what the world could do to help them. Now.
One of the women who had been raped in the Congo told Wallstrom, who reported it to the council, “a dead rat is worth more than the body of a woman”.
Hundreds of Congolese women took to the streets to express their anger about what is happening and to demand action. Is anyone listening?
Women of the world should show solidarity with their sisters in the Congo and do whatever they can to highlight their plight and demand that those responsible be held to account.
The repeated violations, carried out with impunity, are staggering and should shame all humanity.
Resolution 1325 is binding on all UN member states and its adoption is an important international political recognition that women and gender are relevant to international peace and security.
Ten years since its adoption, it seems some member states see it as binding only on paper but not in reality, particularly in the Congo. The devil must live there.