'We Die Again'

Rape, murder and unrest are still part of daily life in eastern Congo. A young victim tells of her sexual assault and the kidnapping of her twin sister during the worst massacre in two years.

Editor's Note: This is part of a series of occasional updates on conflicts the Hot Zone reported on last year. This information, including the eyewitness account, was gathered with the help of local journalists and non-governmental organizations in the region.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has seen more than its share of killing, but despite a new democratically elected government and a war that has been officially over for four years, the bloodshed and sexual violence continues. Yet news of the turmoil rarely seems to reach beyond Africa.

In the most recent incident, 18 civilians, including six children, were killed in a nighttime raid in three villages in the Walungu region of volatile eastern Congo on May 26.

Victims of the attack in Walungu
(Picture provided to Hot Zone by
photographer wishing to remain
anonymous.)

Another 29 people were seriously wounded and 12 others kidnapped in the attack, according to a spokesman for United Nations peacekeeping forces there.

The UN blamed the massacre on a dozen men from the Rwandan Hutu rebel group known by its French acronym FDLR, or the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

The FDLR is made up of Hutu members of the former Rwanda Army (defeated by Tutsis now in charge in Rwanda) and the Interahamwe militia, a Hutu paramilitary organization which was largely responsible for planning and carrying out the 1994 Rwandan genocide and whose members fled into the jungles of Eastern Congo in the aftermath.

UN military officials believe there are at least 10,000 FDLR Hutu rebels in eastern Congo. The UN's largest peacekeeping force in the world, 17,000 troops, is based in the DRC with most in eastern Congo. Together with DRC government soldiers, they've conducted numerous offensives to root out the Rwandan Hutu rebels, but with marginal success so far.

Local news reports say the May 26 attackers in Walungu left notes on the bodies of those they killed, stating the massacre was in retaliation for a UN/DRC offensive against them that began in April. They also vowed to return.

Witnesses also say the attackers were wearing the uniforms of DRC government troops and killed many of their victims while they slept, using machetes, sticks, knives and guns. They fled when a UN patrol reportedly fired on them as they were entering the third village.

The FDLR's leader denies the rebels were responsible, saying the group has never attacked civilian populations. He's called for an investigation into the killings.

This latest attack was the worst massacre in two years. In May 2005, 19 civilians were hacked to death in the same province, South Kivu. In July that year, 40 people, mainly women and children, were burned to death in their homes. Both incidents were blamed on the Hutu rebels.

Many Congolese hoped the national violence might subside with democratic elections that resulted in Joseph Kabila remaining president of the DRC, after a fall run-off election. But with a poorly paid, barely trained and ill-disciplined national army, the government's efforts to provide security and stability continue to be challenged.

As many as four million Congolese people died during the 1998-2003 civil war that pitted foreign troops from Zimbabwe, Angola and Namibia—supporting DRC President Laurent Kabila (Joseph Kabila's father)—against rebels backed by Uganda and Rwanda.

It became known as Africa's "First World War" and was prolonged, if not altogether motivated, by the effort to control eastern Congo's rich trove of diamonds, gold and other mineral resources.

The following is an eyewitness account by a young woman whose family was attacked during the May 26 massacre in a group of villages known as Kaniola. The area has been a frequent target of violence by Hutu militia. Her name has been changed to protect her from retribution.

"My name is Kahumba and I am 23 years old. The night of May 26 is a night I will never be able to forget. We were sleeping in our house when we heard a lot of commotion. People in the village were crying out "kandi rhwamafa," (a Mashi expression which means, "we die again." Mashi is the local language spoken in Kaniola).

"My mother told us to crawl under our beds. Five minutes later I heard them coming to our door. They forced it open and entered our house. Three Interahamwe with guns and machetes entered our house. They were wearing the uniforms of FARDC troops (Armed Forces of the Democratic Republic of Congo) but they were speaking Kinyarwanda (the chief language of Rwanda).

"They shot and killed my elder brother immediately. It instantly brought back the memory of how they had killed my father last year. One of them grabbed my twin sister and raped her. Another one pulled me from under the bed where I was hiding. He stuffed a piece of cloth in my mouth and then raped me. When he was finished the third one also raped me, all the time saying to me, "If you make noise we kill you. Don't you see where your brother is lying on the floor?"

"I asked him to have mercy on me, but he said, "If you say that again we will kill you too." After he finished, he pushed a bottle into my sex (vagina). It was too painful. When they were leaving to go back into the bush, they grabbed my twin sister. My mother pleaded with them to let her go. She said she would give them two goats and 6,500 Congolese francs ($13) if they released her. But they took the money and the goats—as well as my sister.

"In the morning my mother and I walked very far to Muzinzi (a camp for internally displaced persons) to see a nurse. It was very difficult for me because of the pain. In Muzinzi we met other girls who had also been attacked. A car from [a German aid organization] took us to Bukavu for more medical care.

"As I wait in Bukavu, I feel there is no more reason to live because at any time I can be killed like my brother, my father and other people in our village. I don't feel well and I don't know if I was infected with the HIV virus during my rape. I'm speaking and walking, but with so much suffering in my heart. Why did this happen to Kaniola? What did we do before the eyes of God ? I believe the Interahamwe want to kill us all.

"My twin sister is still in the forest with our attackers. I don't know if she's alive or dead. I don't want to go back to home. Now when I dream, I only see people who come to kill me."

-The International Rescue Committee (IRC) operates a "rapid response" program in eastern Congo which, along with help from local organizations, assists victims of sexual violence. Learn more about those efforts here.

-Kevin Sites reported from the Congo in October 2005. His multimedia stories about child soldiers, rape as a weapon of war and other topics are archived here.

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