‘They took all the women here’: People left of rape, Dr. Congo recolutions to the gelbreak

Warning: This article includes the details of rape from the beginning.

“He told me that if I tried to run away, he would kill me.”

22 -year -old Parakinine, in the early hours of January 27, recalls the words of her rapist in a prison in the East Democratic Republic of Congo’s largest city Goma.

“I was forced to let this happen instead of losing my life,” Parakin tells the BBC.

He was another person to rape her in Munzenz Jail. The first attack was so violent that she came out.

She says that her attackers called the men’s block next door “Safina”.

“We heard a noise because they jumped on the water tank. There were many of them, and we were very scared. Those who were inauspicious were raped. Those who were lucky were lucky. Went.”

The chaos was spreading through the gel, and the surrounding city. After rapid advances through the region, the rawandan-supported M23 rebels were closing on Goma.

Most jail guards and city officials had already fled. Shooting could be heard outside the jail.

Hours later, inside the premises, the fire broke out – was clearly determined by the male prisoners because they tried to escape.

By morning, about 4,000 male prisoners were demolished. But some women managed to go away. According to two sources, a total of 132 women prisoners and at least 25 children were burnt.

A UN official told the BBC that “at least 153 women were destroyed” by “reliable sources in jail”.

In a month, the Pascinine is back to the chartered shell of the jail premises, where an empty watch tower is still standing.

She wants to tell her story and is ready to recognize. That is also a voice for the dead.

She passes through the main yard of the women’s section, looks at the scorched walls, the cooking utensils are scattered and piles of clothes. Her hand comes to her mouth in Wordless horror, and she shakes her head.

“At one point I didn’t know what was happening,” she says. “It was after others dying that I started pulling myself together, I would say that it was God who wanted me to be saved.”

An onion seller, Pascinine, the wound behind bars here when his employer accused him of theft.

22 -year -old Nadin has also returned to jail for the first time. In her mind, she cannot escape from it.

“When I sleep at night, whatever I have seen here comes back to me. I see the dead again – as I saw many bodies until I came out. Instead, they let us die like animals here.

Nadin says he was also raped by two men.

“They came with alcohol,” she tells the BBC. “They wanted to drug people. They took me with force. They took all the women here.”

The BBC cannot verify how many women were raped that night, out of 167, which sources say, was being held.

Nadin is angry at the authorities – to close her in the first place on an unpaid loan, she says, and then failed to go out.

“I don’t think justice may be present in the Congo,” she says. “I condemn the way the government is running things.”

Dr. Congo Government – More than 1,500 km (1,000 mi) in the capital Kinshhasa – nothing is going on in Goma. The rebels are under complete control and continue to move forward in the east.

After the fire, the floor of the prison is a small pink slippers, between the pile of ash in the carpet, which is burnt on one side. Some shiny buttons shine in the dirt next to it, perhaps from children’s clothes.

Women prisoners were allowed to keep one of their children in jail. According to a source, only two out of 28 children survived the explosion in the jail. Child prisoners – were first released in the day – held in a separate block.

It was not just smoke and flames, who killed the weakest people who do not want to identify, according to a wide account of another survivor of the age of 38. We are calling him Florence.

She says that “children began to die” when tear gas was fired in the women’s section.

“The jail was surrounded by soldiers and police, firing bullets, rather than on fire, and throwing tear gas at us,” says Florence.

“When the tear gas was dropped on us, the fire intensified. Our eyes were bent as if the chillies were inserted into them. There was almost no way to breathe,” she says.

Fire and rape are immersed in confusion, all sides are eager to convict someone else.

Human rights groups say that rape is widely used by M33 rebels and government forces as a war weapon in DR Congo.

However, in this case, Florence says that he was a fellow prisoner.

“You could see that they were prisoners. Some came without shoes. When they climbed on the roof of the women’s prison, they used to call the names of the people they knew. And any of the attackers armed or armed or Was not in uniform. ”

Florence says that he heard “bullets cracking” outside the jail from 23:00 pm, and the prisoners were dying outside the police.

“If a prisoner came out, they shot him. When bullets were flying, I was begging on my knees that we were begging God to give us from this bad situation.”

She says that some prisoners who were broken into the female section were looking for a safe escape.

They broke one of the walls from the outside – a place where the police were not normally deployed. But soon that difference was filled – with fire.

Florence first saw the flames at around 04:00. Then after hours, she reached the body from the body.

“People were dying in front of our eyes. I could not count them. We tried to revive them by giving them water. Some women were suffocated by fire, as well as gas. Some people died of heart attack Gone, “Florence said. BBC.

She also blames the congregations for the loss of life of so many people.

“The state should have opened the doors when he saw the fire or came out and kept it out.”

The BBC has contacted the government in Kinshhasa, who is telling for the response of what the remaining people have told us but we have not found one yet.

Florence says that the woman jail was finally opened at 11:00 pm – she does not know who – and she emerged with 18 other people. He was not given any help.

She says, “Even the policemen found on the road did not ask for the news of the prisoners, or asked if anyone was hurt, or how we were,” she says.

By then the rebel fighters were in some parts of the city, entering around 08:00. Goma was falling.

Women did not mind – in jail or outside.

In a tent in Goma’s hospital ground, we meet a 25 -year -old and SIFA, a 25 -year -old, Sifa, who was drawn from flames by a friend.

She lies to her left – any other situation is very painful. Her right hand is heavyly banded, and has marks on her hand and her face. He also burns on his back. When her dressing changes, nurses have to morphine him.

But his pain is more than physical.

His two -year -old daughter Esther died in jail.

“I was Easter on my back. When we wanted to escape, something fell on him. A bomb? I don’t know. He died on the spot,” SIFA tells the BBC.

She says that Esther was just starting walking and was “without sin”. Sometimes she used to play with other children in jail, but mostly she was in favor of her mother.

How did a peanut seller, Sifa air, with his daughter, in a Teming jail behind bars?

She was accused of being involved in a robbery, which she refuses. She says she was put in jail without convicting. Local sources say this is a common phenomenon.

The whole story of what happened in Munzenz Jail can never be known. It seems that people in power are in no hurry to find out this.

SIFA and other survivors talked to us that no one had contacted them to contact them to testify about the horrors of 27 January – not rebel in the control of Goma, nor the government in Kinsaasa now Who used to run jail.

“Nobody will follow (this case),” SIFA says. “No one will be chased. It is already over.”

Additional reporting from BBC’s Viatske Burma, Goktay Kotton and Yavon Kettinga.