A Congolese doctor has denounced rape as a “weapon of mass destruction.”
Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor, has spent years treating rape victims in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Dr. Mukwege, according to a report by Fides News Agency, manages the health center of Panzi, in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu.
The presence of armed groups in the regions of North and South Kivu make them the two most unstable areas of east DRC.
The doctor says that the act of rape is “born from the desire to destroy the woman as the bearer of life. In this sense, they are [used as] weapons of mass destruction.”
Dr. Mukwege has been threatened several times for his work against sexual violence, and at one point was forced to leave Bukavu.
War rapes are weapons used in various conflicts around the world, he added: “I met some Bosnian women and Syrian doctors who told me of similar rapes.”
The Fides report of Dr. Mukwege’s statements come a week after the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict in London, from 10-13 June.
