By Elizabeth Costner
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

LUANDA, Angola – On Wednesday, international humanitarian group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released a report that Angolan soldiers routinely and repeatedly rape Congolese women who have illegally crossed the border looking for work in the diamond fields.  The army in Angola explicitly denied the allegations, although they have said that they will investigate. 

MSF stated that over a two-week period in October they saw over 200 rape victims at a clinic in Western Kasai, a Congolese province bordering Angola.  The rape of Congolese women was described as “pervasive and systematic” and the report stated that some migrants have died as a result of the violence, while others have been exposed to HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.  “Women are systematically raped by several soldiers, some of them raped in front of their children.  The abhorrent practice continues and is repeated over several days as they are transported to the border.” 

MSF’s allegations follow similar reports by other human rights groups.  Angola’s government does not typically respond to criticism from Western rights groups, although it has described illegal immigration as a major problem.

Human rights activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) accused their government as well as Angola’s of turning a blind eye to the reports. Voice of the Voiceless, a DRC non-governmental organization, stated that “[t]he situation seems to be getting worse but the Angolan and Congolese authorities we have repeatedly approached show no political will to end the situation.”

UN figures estimate that 44,000 Congolese have been expelled from the diamond fields in Angola since January.  An estimated 400,000 DRC citizens continue to live in those areas despite the recurring problems.

For more information, please see:

Reuters – Angola army denies Congolese migrant rape charges – 8 December 2007

AllAfrica.com – Angola: UN Human Rights Chief Alarmed By Reports of Abuses of Congolese – 7 December 2007

AllAfrica.com – Congo-Kinshasa: Activists Denounce Political Apathy Towards Migrant Rape Victims – 7 December 2007

AP – Angolan Soldiers Accused of Mass Rape – 6 December 2007