"Nov. 13, 2006 - Warning: do not read this story if you are easily disturbed by graphic information, or are under age, or are easily upset by accounts of gruesome sexual violence."
Newsweek's World News reports on the problem of rape in Congo being used as a means of terrorism, to continue a war that is supposed to be over. But this isn't your garden-variety rape, here. These women have been raped and abused so badly that they've developed fistulas.
Fistulas (here, where the barrier between the vagina and the rectum or the vagina and the bladder is torn, connecting the two areas) are pretty rare in most parts of the world. Even really violent rapes don't usually cause fistulas. So when western doctors heard about the vast amount of fistula reports, they didn't believe it. Then they realized what was happening-- there is a vicious circle of almost ritualized rape in many areas of Congo, especially the countryside. One faction will raid a village, kill, rape the women, and leave. The surviving men raid the village supporting the first group and do the same. These groups each have a "signature" for when they rape women, which usually involves inserting something into the woman's vagina. Occasionally they even shoot the woman through the vagina, but they are careful not to kill her. They don't want to kill her, they want to cause as much damage as possible. These women will then become incontinent and infected, and almost certainly shunned by their society. Many will never be able to have children. Some can become continent again if they receive treatment and surgery-- others can't. I would like to point out that I have been using the term "woman" here loosely-- the victims are all ages. The oldest victim was 71. The youngest? Only 12 months old.
