By Lucy Lapoti
Dec 3, 2003
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GULU - Men here have abandoned their wives for Congolese women. Congolese women followed soldiers to Uganda during the UPDF’s last pullout from the DR Congo in May 2003. Ms Margaret Odong, the chairwoman of Grassroots Women for Development, a local NGO – said Congolese women have split families and are the reason men here are increasingly beating up their wives. “We are now fighting two wars; the one between the Lord’s Resistance Army rebels and government, and the one between women and men because of the presence of these single Congolese women,” she said. Odong was speaking at a three-day workshop on conflict resolution organised by Uganda Media Women Association in Gulu recently. She said men run to the Congolese women, leaving their wives to take care of the children. She said as women go out in search of food, they are sometimes beaten and raped by soldiers and civilians. She cited an incident in Koch Ongako in Omoro County where soldiers raped a woman. She said Congolese women who are snatching men either did not find their husbands when they arrived in Gulu or were simply snubbed by the soldiers. She said men beat their wives for refusing to give them money to buy drinks. Men also beat the women if they cook little food or refuse “to have sex with them [men] even when children are still awake”. Ms Christine Akumu, the district gender officer, confirmed that her office has registered several cases of men mistreating women. She said her office is working together with Fourth Division spokesman Lt. Paddy Ankunda to solve such problems. “If such something involves a soldier, we work through the army PRO’s office to ensure that the culprits are reached.” She said her office is always in touch with [the army] to fight any unlawful acts committed against women by soldiers. But Lt. Ankunda told The Monitor that he has not received any rape case involving a soldier. He said any soldier who commits such a crime would be punished. “For the case of Congolese women who do not know where their husbands are, we assist them by calling their husbands to pick them up,” he said. Army spokesman Maj. Shaban Bantariza denied that soldiers rape women in Gulu. “That is a wrong report, there is nothing like that. As a journalist, go to the ground, have a population sample and come out with the figure of women who have been raped by UPDF soldiers,” he said. |
© 2003 The Monitor Publications
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