The War on Congo's WomenPhotos from a country where it's more
dangerous to be a woman than a soldier. As many as 500,000 women
have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo since it
plunged into an ongoing civil war in 1996. A recent UN survey
estimates soldiers are responsible for nearly one-third of all
rapes and sexual violence committed in the country's eastern
provinces. Discipline in the national army is weak, soldiers
seldom get paid, and many are told by their superiors to "live
off the land," which invites abuses. Soldiers and militants
alike act with impunity. The problem is compounded by a lack of
legal infrastructure and an indifference to the plight of women.
An average of 1,100 new incidents of rape are reported each
month; one study found that more than that number of Congolese
women are raped every day. The wards of the the Panzi Hospital
in Bukavu, the first fistula center in Congo to treat rape
victims, are often full. Dr. Denis Mukwege, the soft-spoken
obstetrician-gynecologist who fo