NAIROBI, Kenya — A brutal war has raged for over two years in southern Congo's Kasai province. It is a region that is difficult to access for aid organizations due to its remoteness, hostility from the government and, of course, the violence itself. Two United Nations investigators, an American and a Swede, were killed there around the beginning of the conflict in 2016.
One of the few groups that is present is Doctors Without Borders, commonly known by its French acronym, MSF. It released a report last week that documents a disturbingly high rate of sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups in Kasai. Rapes are being committed many times a day, and MSF has treated more than 200 victims of sexual violence per month on average since May 2017. Eighty percent of victims said they were raped by armed men.
"Of the 2,600 victims of sexual violence treated by MSF since May 2017, the vast majority were women," says the report. "Thirty-two were men, some of whom reported having been forced under armed threat to rape members of their own community. Another 162 were children under the age of 15, including 22 under the age of five."
The war in Kasai began in August 2016 when a local traditional leader hostile to the central government was killed. A militia named after him, called Kamuina Nsapu, began to target Congo's national army, which in turn employed another local militia called Bana Mura to suppress the rebellion.
The conflict has been characterized by its brutality.