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1 | 01:00:34:23 | COMMENTARY In Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, government soldiers are getting ready for morning prayers.
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| UP SOT - SINGING
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| 01:00:44:01 | The text for today’s sermon is taken from recent events, and focuses on the need to protect civilians, who’ve become targets in an endless cycle of fighting and violence.
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| UP SOT PRIEST – Halleluja
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| 01:01:02:03 | These soldiers are still on full alert after the rebellion led by the M23 movement last November. |
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UPSOT – PRIEST (French/ Swahili) …looting during operations…
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| 01:01:22:21 | When the rebels attacked the key eastern town of Goma, the Congolese Army was ordered into full retreat. |
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2 | 01:01:31:03 | COMMENTARY They came here, to the town of Minova about 50 kilometres away.
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| 01:01:35:22 | It’s a thriving market town and has largely been spared the years of fighting, which has caused the death of over 5 million people.
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| 01:01:44:09 | Women in particular have become targets. Rape has become one of the key weapons of this war.
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3 | 01:01:53:06 | COMMENTARY A centre provides sanctuary and support for survivors and children, born from rape and rejected by their families.
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| 01:02:01:21 | The founder witnessed what happened when the soldiers came to Minova last year. Its too dangerous to show her identity.
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4 | SUBTITLES 01:02:10:18 | “WOMAN 1” It was the 22nd November…
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| 01:02:17:18 | …we saw soldiers and tanks…
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| 01:02:23:18 | Soldier’s wives shouted on the streets…
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| 01:02:28:14 | ‘run, run run, the M23 have entered, if they see you…
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| 01:02:34:05 | …you’ll be raped and they will kill you”.
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5 | 01:02:38:11 | COMMENTARY But it wasn’t the M23 rebels, it was soldiers from the Congolese army. They were angry and humiliated after being ordered to withdraw, retreating from their positions from their positions which left their wives and children as well as their home town of Goma wide open to the rebels
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6 | Anonymous SUBTITLES 01:02:57:23 | CAPTAIN
We arrived in Minova, I was with my company at 1630hrs.
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| 01:03:02:13 | The soldiers were in retreating
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7 | Anonymous SUBTITLES 01:03:04:23 | MAJOR
Morale was low, we were shocked to have lost our positions.
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8 | SUBTITLES 01:03:16:05 | SERGEANT “BONIFACE” We were all demoralized and disappointed.
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| 01:03:22:22 | We thought they’d betrayed us.
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9 | SUBTITLES 01:03:26:13 | CAPTAIN There were over 2,000 soldiers out of control, with no orders.
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10 | SUBTITLES 01:03:35:24
| WOMAN 1 There were so many soldiers, with tanks everywhere.
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| 01:03:38:16 | The women were afraid and asked me if we were going to die. |
| 01:03:41:15
| I said ‘No, we’ll not run, Let’s eat first’.
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| 01:03:43:13 TC:03:39 Music track: “REDRESS opening maybe” TC OUT: 01:04: |
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11 | 01:03:48:13 | COMMENTARY As night fell the situation got worse
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12 | SUBTITLES 01:03:56:22
| SERGEANT “BONIFACE” We’d lost all hope, we weren’t thinking like human beings anymore.
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| 01:04:03:08 | It was night, we arrived here after crossing the bridge.
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| 01:04:10:24 | It wasn’t as though you knew how many women you were going to rape.
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| 01:04:15:08 | That day it wasn’t many, there must have been three.
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13 | SUBTITLES 01:04:22:03 | SOLDIER “MATESO” It’s true that we raped here.
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| 01:04:24:08 | We found women, because they can’t escape…
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| 01:04:30:24 | …you see her, you catch her, you take her away, and you have your way with her.
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| 01:04:35:10 | Sometimes you’d kill her…
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| 01:04:38:11 | …when you finished raping, then you’ll kill her child.
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| 01:04:44:06 | You rape and you carry on.
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14 | 01:04:48:22 | COMMENTARY In other parts of town, people were unaware of what was about to happen.
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| 01:04:53:11 | One woman was sitting in her boutique when she heard gunshots outside.
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15 | SUBTITLES 01:04:58:21 | “Woman 2” Suddenly the soldiers came.
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| 01:05:01:06 | Without warning they started to beat us, over and over again.
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| 01:05:08:00 | There were three who raped me two from the front…
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| 01:05:12:17 | …the other said he wouldn’t go where the others left their dirt.
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| 01:05:16:11 | So the third took me from the back.
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| 01:05:20:14 | I thought I was going to die
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16 | 01:05:27:02 TC: 00:05:18 MUSIC TRACK: “REDRESS opening maybe” TC OUT
01:05:36:16
| COMMENTARY At the centre soldiers were also on the rampage, two groups had already been, looting and raping the women.
Then a third group arrived
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17 | SUBTITLES 01:05:39:10
| WOMAN 1 So I stayed calm and told the women to not be afraid.
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| 01:05:42:05 | If I have to die, I’ll die here with you, I will not run.
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| 01:05:49:18
| They made me sit and started touching me, they ordered me to give them money.
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| I said I don’ t have money.
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| All the children around me.
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| 01:06:00:05 | Then they stared to rape the women from the dormitories, I saw it all.
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| The girls who’d run away came and said they’d been raped again.
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| 01:06:15:20 | It was terrible, I thought they were going to kill me.
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18 | 01:06:23:08 | COMMENTARY One of the girls had been brought to the centre some months before after being raped by militia in the hills. She’s only 14 years old.
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19 | 01:06:32:08 | 14 YEAR OLD |
| SUBTITLES
| When we heard the gunshots we came out of the house.
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01:06:36:02
| Everyone was running and looking for a place to go.
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| 01:06:38:20
| There was no time to find someone to go with.
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| 01:06:43:01
| We ran into the bush.
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| 01:06:45:12
| The soldiers started to search and beat people in the bush.
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| They found us three girls and they raped us.
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| 01:06:53:19 | They beat us badly and they left. |
| 01:06:56:15 MUSIC TRACK “REDRESS opening maybe” 07:15 |
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20 | 01:06:58:08 | COMMENTARY Throughout the town and the surrounding villages the soldiers were in a frenzy
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21 | 01:07:04:18 ASTON SERGEANT “MATESO” FARDC
| SOLDIER “MATESO”
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| SUBTITLES 01:07:07:07
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We met other people, we killed just for the sake of it.
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| 01:07:11:02 | We raped, we destroyed everything, everything in our path.
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22 | 01:07:25:17 ASTON SERGEANT “BONIFACE” FARDC
| SERGEANT “BONIFACE”
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| SUBTITLES 01:07:27:21
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When we enter homes, we open the door and find them hiding.
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| 01:07:30:17 | They try to scream, so we tell them to stop screaming.
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| 01:07:34:03 | When we see that she’s screaming sometimes we let her go.
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| 01:07:38:16 | Or you’ll find her hiding in the bush and have sex with her there.
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23 | 01:07:46:03 | COMMENTARY The soldiers felt cut adrift, Two of the most senior generals had been relieved of their command. One for smuggling weapons.
It left a power vacuum with only the soldiers immediate superiors to restrain them. But in Minova they didn’t.
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24 | 01:08:03:09 ASTON IDA SAWYER Human Rights Watch
| IDA SAWYER – HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH The officers do not control their troops, they do not make efforts to discipline their troops, or to give orders to their troops not to carry out abuses against the civilian population. They do not intervene to stop the rapes to stop the looting. And that’s what we saw during the, the Minova area rapes, where the officers did not intervene and allowed this to happen.
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25 | 01:08:25:20 | COMMENTARY Yet in Minova the level of chaos was so high this Sergeant says he was even ordered to rape by his commanding officer
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26 | SUBTITLES 01:08:34:17 | SERGEANT “BONIFACE” |
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| The Commander gave us an order, and he was the one who started to do it.
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| 01:08:41:21 | There was shooting everywhere. |
| 01:08:45:23 | He told us to surround him so he wouldn’t get shot. |
| 01:08:51:01 | The he started raping her.
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| 01:08:54:19 | He told us to go and rape women.
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27 | SUBTITLES
| SERGEANT “MATESO” |
| 01:08:58:14 | I raped because my Commander started to rape first.
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| 01:09:04:10 | On my own, I’ve raped fifty three women.
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| 01:09:09:06 | I don’t know how old they were, older women around 30 or 40 years old.
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| 01:09:17:23 | Younger women, babies around 3 and kids aged 5 and 6 years old.
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28 | TC IN: 01:09:23:17 MUSIC TRACK Studio 9 Dark Intro TC OUT: 01:10:06:12 |
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| 01:09:31:10 | COMMENTARY Women in Eastern Congo know they are at their most vulnerable to rape when they go to gather food, in the fields or the forest.
What they never thought would happen was to be attacked by groups of their own soldiers in their homes.
Aware of troop behaviour, Colonel Kubuta knows he must inspire his soldiers to follow the correct moral code.
UP SOT
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29 | SUBTITLES 01:10:02:05
01:10:11:08 ASTON Rev KUBUTA SHEMUSOBYO FARDC
| Lt COL Rev KUBUTA SHEMUSOBYO (military priest) The message we’ve emphasised to the military is that we were civilians.
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| 01:10:13:08 | We have no right to attack the civilian population.
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| 01:10:16:15 | We cannot rape them, we cannot loot.
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| 01:10:23:04 | We cannot bully them. |
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| We are here to protect the civilians and their possessions…
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| 01:10:33:02 | …despite the difficult situation during operations.
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30 | 01:10:36:24 | COMMENTARY It’s a message that may be getting through to some of the soldiers.
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31 | 01:10:41:02 | SERGEANT “BONIFACE” I realised there was no point doing this, I was just destroying people.
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| 01:10:48:22 | So I realised I can’t continue doing this, my conscience told me it wasn’t good.
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32 | 01:11:04:20
| COMMENTARY But a culture of looting and rape has pervaded the nations armed forces, and the integrating of untrained and uneducated militia men into the army has proved disastrous.
As thIs former child soldier can testify |
33 | SUBTITLES 01:11:20:19
| SERGEANT “MATESO” I entered when I was between 8 and 9.
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| 01:11:26:21
| I started as a Mai Mai in Shabunda, then I left and entered the Government.
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| 01:11:33:05 | Then I left the Government and entered the PARECO.
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| 01:11:36:09 | Then I left the PARECO and went back to the Government…
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| FADES DOWN
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34 | 01:11:40:02 | COMMENTARY His unit was even bribed to fight with the rebels for a short period last November, before rejoining government troops in Minova and taking part in the mass rapes.
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35 | SUBTITLES | SERGEANT “MATESO” |
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| Raping gave us a lot of pleasure… …when we rape we feel free.
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36 | TC IN: 01:11:59:12 MUSIC TRACK: “Congo 2a” TC OUT: 01:12:51:05
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| 01:12:08:12 | COMMENTARY It’s estimated that hundreds of thousands of women, children and even men have been raped.
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| 01:12:18:19 | Many say they expect it, at least once but will probably be abused three or four times. Their daughters born from rape are now being raped too.
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| 01:12:31:05 | So why is this happening? It’s a question the women ask themselves
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37 | SUBTITLES | WOMAN 2 |
| 01:12:35:11 | We wondered in our hearts, we asked ourselves…
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| 01:12:40:12 | why are they doing this?
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| 01:12:43:18 | Don’t they have women like us?
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| 01:12:46:12 | That’s what we wondered…
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| 01:12:49:02 | …because they’re all just destroying and destroying.
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38 | 01:12:52:07
| WOMAN 1 I think they loot because the government doesn’t pay them.
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| 01:12:57:21
| That’s why they loot for food.
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| 01:13:01:03
| If they’d only looted, without raping, we would have understood.
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| We would have thought they’re just hungry, it’s the hardship.
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| 01:13:08:19 | But they raped as well.
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| 01:13:11:14 | Maybe they raped because they hadn’t had sex for a while.
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| 01:13:15:14 | But it wasn’t just that, they took women by force.
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| 01:13:21:11 | It’s beyond raping, it’s not just sexual appetite.
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| 01:13:25:06 | Maybe they think the country is exhausted.
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| 01:13:27:15 | That it’s a dead country.
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| 01:13:29:15 | That's why women must die, that’s what I am thinking.
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39 | TC IN: 01:13:33:01 MUSIC TRACK Studio 9 Dark Intro TC OUT: 01:14:04:13
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| 01:13:43:10 | COMMENTARY Perhaps justice could help to save the country.
Yet in this part of Congo, it seems to be fractured and forgotten like the Minova court house
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40 | 01:13:53:19 | IDA SAWYER we have seen no, no clear improvements in the behaviour of groups and that largely seems because there is complete impunity. |
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| Um, in that the commanders most responsible for these horrific abuses that we’ve documented in the eastern Congo, are not brought to justice. Instead they are most often rewarded, and given positions, and power and wealth
and this sends a message to lower ranking soldiers and the other militia leaders that the way to get power, wealth, positions in Congo is by raping and killing and committing horrific abuses on the civilian population |
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TC IN: 01:14:27:05 MUSIC TRACK Congo 2a TC OUT: 01:15:01:12
| they’re meant to protect.
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41 | 01:14:34:16 | COMMENTARY There have been some trials for rape, but despite convictions, the women who have risked their lives to testify often see the perpetrators walk free
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42 | SUBTITLES 01:14:44:12 | WOMAN 1 The victim sees that the rapist’s been punished.
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| 01:14:50:19 | Then you do all the psychological work with the victim.
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| 01:14:56:06 | You tell them that life is worth living.
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| 01:14:58:24 | But then they see, within a week, the rapist is walking on the streets again…
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| 01:15:03:08 | It is said that they will be punished.
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| 01:15:08:07 | But I’ve never seen anyone who has raped, looted or killed being punished.
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| 01:15:15:16 | I’ve never seen that, really there’s nothing like that here in Congo. | ||
43 | 01:15:21:00 | COMMENTARY But there are signs that the tide is slowly turning and the crimes in Minova may prove to be a test case.
Evidence is being collected by military prosecutors for a trial | ||
44 | 01:15:35:18 ASTON MOKUTA AMDONDO Military Prosecutor, North Kivu
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SUBTITLES 01:15:39:11
| MOKUTA AMDONDO Military Prosecutor, North Kivu We have today not only the right, But also the duty … |
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…to prosecute these soldiers.
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| 01:15:44:19
| To arrest them and to put them in front of the appropriate courts.
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| 01:15:52:08 | We must do it for the civilian population…
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| 01:15:57:16 | …to whom we must provide legal security. |
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We must act urgently…
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| 01:16:05:24 | …also for the honour of the military justice
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| TC IN: 01:16:08:19 MUSIC TRACK “Studio 9 Dark Intro” TC OUT: 01:16:28:19 |
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45 | 01:16:13:02 | COMMENTARY But the crimes were committed at night and one of the many challenges facing the investigators is that the victims cannot identify their attackers.
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46 | SUBTITLES 01:16:23:11 | WOMAN 1 There were so many groups you wouldn’t be able to identify them.
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| 01:16:25:22 | They enter the house and the bedrooms.
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| 01:16:30:02 | Others will take stuff away.
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47 | SUBTITLES | 14 YEAR OLD |
| 01:16:32:15 | I don’t know them.
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| 01:16:34:21 | They were 3 of them and they found us 3 girls.
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48 | SUBTITLES 01:16:38:08 | WOMAN 2 How can you recognise someone at 10 o clock at night?
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| 01:16:42:10 | I didn’t see their faces, I don’t know them. |
| 01:16:47:08 | How can you see someone who is hitting you in the eyes?
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| 01:16:50:19 | How will you know someone Who’s inserting a guns barrel…
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| 01:16:54:01 | … in your mouth…
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| 01:16:55:21 | … and then another one in between your legs?
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| 01:16:58:05 | Then he leaves and another one enters |
49 | 01:17:01:04 | COMMENTARY However, there is a legal precedent allowing for commanding officers to be put on trial should it prove impossible to identify the individual perpetrators
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50 | SUBTITLES 01:17:11:07 | N Kivu Prosecutor - MOKUTA AMDONDO The essence of this principle means …
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| 01:17:15:23 | …that the commanders of the units…
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| 01:17:18:18 | or the most senior officers…
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| 01:17:21:20 | …must be pursued on a criminal basis…
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| 01:17:27:12 | …for these serious crimes on an international level… |
| 01:17:34:02 | …committed by soldiers under their control at the time of the events.
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51 | 01:17:42:09 | COMMENTARY Despite feeling both remorse and defiance, the two rapists told us they would face justice, if their commanding officer gave himself up
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52 | SUBTITLES 01:17:51:06 01:17:52:20
01:17:56:00
01:18:01:12
01:18:03:22
| SERGEANT “MATESO” I can accept… …that if they catch my Colonel who ordered us to rape first …
…if they find him then I will admit that I raped too
But if they don’t catch him then I can’t admit to anything…
…because they’re the ones who sent us
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53 | SUBTITLES 01:18:05:13
01:18:10:12
TC:18:11 MUSIC TRACK Congo 5a 01:21:50:14
| STAFF SERGEANT “BONIFACE” If those who committed these crime can be arrested and judged…
…then that would be good.
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54 | 01:18:16:02 | COMMENTARY The women of eastern Congo need to believe there will be justice and an end to impunity because they continue to face the consequences of these crimes.
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55 |
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01:18:47:10 | WOMAN 1 On the 22 November I received 130 cases.
Within those 130 cases, there were 17 girls under 18 years old,
from 11 years old.
Women have become like goats.
Women don’t have any value in Congo,
No value at all.
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56 | SUBTITLES 01:18:49:12
01:18:54:16 | WOMAN 2 If justice is done, maybe this will stop soldiers.
It’s just that they aren’t afraid of anything.
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01:19:00:21 | COMMENTARY The crimes that were perpetrated in Minova in November 2012 could become a turning point.
If a trial goes ahead it would send an important signal that there are consequences for committing crimes and perhaps even an end to impunity.
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TC IN:01:20:22:11 MUSIC TRACK Congo 5a TC OUT: 01:21:51:00 | N Kivu Prosecutor MOKUTA AMDONDO Today, we talk of massive collective rape
and looting by soldiers during their retreat.
It’s very important because it’s about women,
vulnerable people …
…who were raped, in the most deplorable way.
Those women must be protected
against all forms of aggression…
…by the authorities.
Today they are the victims,
military justice must intervene, it must intervene
to provide legal security for the population.
To neutralize the soldiers
who have committed those grave crimes…
… at an international level.
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01:20:33:06 | COMMENTARY To date eight commanders have been suspended from duty. Six of them are under investigation.
A trial has yet to be confirmed.
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60 |
| WOMAN 1 |
| 01:20:44:23
01:20:51:15
01:20:55:24
01:21:01:16
01:21:06:09
01:21:08:11
01:21:14:09 | For those of us in Congo and the villages, there’s no peace.
Before we had victims from the high plains.
I always thought it was FDLR, CNDP who were raping…
…that it wasn’t our Congolese brothers.
But when I saw what happened…
…that our army has looted and raped their own people…
…our life in Congo has no meaning.
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61 | Credit roller – fade up 01:21:33:14
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EDITOR Emiliano Battista Anita Sandhu
UNIT MANAGER Bella Barr
COMPOSER Steve Hamilton
A FILM BY Fiona Lloyd-Davies
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62 | 01:21:45:24 | (STUDIO 9 FILMS LOGO fade up from black ) A STUDIO 9 FILMS PRODUCTION © MMXIII in association with Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
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