Basamae
The last thing Basamae Maombi would see was the face of the man raping her. She had recognised him and called out his name, hoping the pain and indignity of the attack would stop. But it only made things worse. He held her down, pulled out his dirty knife and gouged out both of her eyes.
As shocking as Basamae's story is, it is not unusual in a country ravaged by a war that has claimed over five million lives and seen as many as half a million women and children...
more »Basamae
The last thing Basamae Maombi would see was the face of the man raping her. She had recognised him and called out his name, hoping the pain and indignity of the attack would stop. But it only made things worse. He held her down, pulled out his dirty knife and gouged out both of her eyes.
As shocking as Basamae's story is, it is not unusual in a country ravaged by a war that has claimed over five million lives and seen as many as half a million women and children become victims of sexual violence.
The hospital in which she lies in the border town of Goma, the capital of the war-ravaged Congolese province of North Kivu, has kept her alive physically, but they have few resources and the emotional trauma she has endured will not be treated here.
When Basamae awakens, she puts on a bright blue dress that has been delicately embroidered with small flowers. The colourful attire is not unusual for a Congolese woman but seems out of place in the drab ward with its stained walls and rusted beds. She sits up to have her picture taken and turns her face toward the sun coming in through the window. She can feel the sun but will not see it again.
Sexual violence against women has become part of modern warfare. In 2008 the United Nations officially recognised rape and sexual violence as a weapon used by armies against civilians. The Security Council voted unanimously that sexual violence was 'a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instill fear in and forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.'
According to UN Special Representative Margot Wallström, rape is not simply committed randomly by soldiers in 'the fog of war', but is often a deliberate and orchestrated policy during conflict 'aimed to destroy not only people, but their sense of being a people'.
A full text by Robin Hammond is available.
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