Bukavu Panzi Hospital with Dr. Denis Mukwege; Monday, June 8, 2008)
***
Two days following the attempt on his life, under armed escort by
MONUSCO peacekeepets, Dr. Denis Mukwege, alongside his family, left
Bukavu in the morning of Saturday, October 27, for an unknown
destination, according to newswires.
Radio Okapi reports that Dr. Mukwege and his family boarded an
Eco-Flight aircraft at Bukavu Kavumu Airport for an unknown
destination.
A source close to Dr. Mukwege's is quoted by Radio Okapi as saying:
"They were evacuated for security reasons at the request of his
Western friends."
The Radio Okapi report quotes provincial authorities asserting that
the police investigation on the attempted assassination of Dr. Mukwege
and the murder of his night watchman are still "ongoing," though the
murderers are still at large.
Contrary to what my Bukavu sources told me, Radio Okapi claims that
the assailants donned civilian clothes.
The departure of Dr. Mukwenge is undoubtedly a terrible loss for the
mass rape patients at his Panzi Hospital.
I got the privilege to meet and to photograph Dr. Mukwege on Thursday,
June 30, 2011, at the Woodrow Wilson Center, in Washington, DC.
He is a tall and charismatic figure who exudes confidence, comfort,
and compassion.
His penetrating, intelligent eyes all focused on you as you talked to
him and the soothing smile that seemed never to depart from his lips
were certainly much prized by his patients who were gra, I thought at
the time as I briefly chatted with the man nicknamed "The Angel of
Bukavu."
Dr. Mukwege was one of the panelists of an event billed as "Sexual Violence and
the Political and Security Implications in the Congo."
Other impressive panelists included Maria Otero, US Undersecretary of
State for Democracy and Global Affairs; Mark L. Schneider, of the
International Crisis Group; Steve McDonald, of the Woodrow Wilson
Center; and Dr. Faida Mitifu, DRC ambassador to Washington and a
native of Bukavu.
According to the notes I took of his remarks--and encapsulated in my
post of of July 3, 2011, titled "Congolese Women Sexual Terror Victims
as sitting ducks"--Dr. Mukwege argued that sexual terrorism was a
sophisticated and "carefully planned strategy," allowing mass rapists
to "create a space for themselves" in order to achieve the following:
1) To extract minerals and other resources;
2) To effect the destruction of the social fabric of a community by
carrying out broad daylight public rapes in front of victims'
relatives;
3) To weaken and undo the political and social strength of local
communities; and
4) To impact the demography of an area (mass rape is therefore a
sophisticated form of ethnic cleansing or "femicide," that is, the
intentional and targeted destruction of women by rape and infliction
of genital injuries with bayonets or other sharp objects).
As I re-read this Dr. Mukwege's anthropological theory of sexual
terrorism, it now dawns on me that the scenario of a robbery gone awry
that Thursday evening just doesn't hold water.
It was a planned assassination attempt.
And by killing or forcing Dr. Mukwege to leave Bukavu, sexual
terrorists have added another layer of buffer to consolidate the
"space" they've created for themselves in the Kivus.
--(With www.radiookapi.net, newswires, & materials from this blog)--
***
PHOTO CREDITS: Via: www.3tamis.org
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