NGO sensitises soldiers and former rebels against rape

An NGO that cares for victims of sexual abuse, Nturengaho ("HALT"), said on Thursday it had registered 446 cases of girls and women raped during 2003, and that government soldiers and rebels were among the perpetrators. During a two-day workshop to highlight the problem and to try to mobilise representatives of the army and former rebel movements against rape, HALT said many more cases went unreported. "The situation is alarming, there are many cases of unwanted pregnancy; we have today mothers aged 10, 11 or 12 years," HALT representative Theodora Nisabwe told IRIN. "There there are incest cases: we have registered three cases of daughters raped by their own fathers in the city of Bujumbura, two young girls raped by their uncles in the countryside, cases of mothers aged 80 raped by gunmen, the list is long," she said. Nisabwe said HALT's partner NGO, Centre Femme MSF Belgique, had seen in the last three months more than 120 women and girl victims of rape who were now receiving clinical and psychological treatment. She said the most affected regions were the eastern province of Ruyigi with 91 registered cases from April to November 2003; the city of Bujumbura with 86 cases, the central province of Muramvya with 60 cases from June to November and the district of Rumonge in southern Burundi with 36 cases from January to November. The figures, however, did not "reflect reality" because many women and girls were ashamed to come forward, she said. Nisabwe said that soldiers and rebels were among the perpetrators of rape because they no longer had the opportunity to go to their homes to see their wives because of the war. "Soldiers and rebels spend a long time without having sexual relations with their wives; we think they accumulate frustrations and due to this sexual frustration, they use force to satisfy their needs." She said the workshop wanted to target those responsible for the army and police because they were supposed to protect the population. "We want them to help us to eradicate this phenomenon, especially to prevent rape. We ask them to receive victims who come to them, to help them in launching a prosecution." A countrywide campaign against rape ran from 25 November to 10 December.