Women tell BBC of rape ordeal at Goma’s Munzenze prison | Global News Avenue

Warning: This article contains painful content from the very beginning, including descriptions of rape.

“He told me that if I try to escape, he will kill me.”

Pascaline, 22, recalled the words of her rapist in a prison in Goma, the largest city in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo in the early hours of January 27.

“I was forced to let it happen, not lose my life,” Pascalin told the BBC.

He is the second person to rape her in Munzenze prison. The first attack was so violent that she fainted.

She said her attacker crossed the wall from the man’s neighborhood next door, known as “Safina.”

“When they jumped onto the tank, we heard a noise. There were a lot of people in it, and we were scared. Those who were unfortunate were raped. Luckily those who were lucky were not raped.”

Chaos spread across prisons and surrounding cities. After the rapid advance of the region, Rwanda-backed M23 rebels were shut down in Goma.

Most prison guards and city authorities have fled. Shootings can be heard outside the prison.

A few hours later, inside the compound, there was a fire – apparently a male prisoner trying to escape.

By morning, about 4,000 male prisoners had erupted. But few women can escape. Two sources said a total of 132 female prisoners and at least 25 children were burned to death.

A UN official told the BBC that “at least 153 women were killed”, citing “a reliable source in prison.”

In a month, Pascaline returned to the burnt shell of the prison complex, where there was still an empty watch tower.

She wants to tell her story and is willing to be identified. She is also the voice of the dead.

She walked through the main yard of the Women’s District and glanced at the burnt walls, scattered cooking pots and a pile of clothes. Her hands came to her mouth with speechless horror, and she shook her head.

“Once I didn’t know what happened,” she said. “After seeing other people die, I started pulling myself together and I would say it was God who wanted me to be saved.”

Onion seller Pascaline was imprisoned here when her employer accused her of theft.

Nadine, 22, returned to prison for the first time. In her mind, she couldn’t escape.

“When I go to bed at night, everything I see here comes back to me. I see the dead again – as many bodies as I see here until I leave. Instead of opening the door, let’s be like Death like animals.”

Nadine said she was raped by two men, too.

“They drink.” “They want to take drugs. They pick me up by force. They bring all the women here.”

Sources said the BBC could not verify how many women were raped that night, and a total of 167 women were detained.

Nadine was angry with the authorities, she said, locking her first on unpaid debts and then failing to let her go.

“I don’t think justice exists in Congo,” she said. “I condemn the way the government is running things.”

Doctor of Congo – More than 1,500 km (1,000 miles) from the hotel in the capital Kinshasa – nothing is running anymore in Goma. The rebels were in full control and continued to advance eastward.

After the fire, among the ash of carpeted atop the prison floor, there was a tiny pink sandal that burned on one side. Some shiny buttons glittered in the dirt next to them, perhaps from children’s clothes.

Women prisoners were allowed to leave one of the children in prison with them. Sources said only 28 children survived in prison. Earlier in the day, a child prisoner in another neighborhood was released.

According to another 38-year-old survivor, it was not only the smoke and flame that killed the most vulnerable, he didn’t want to be identified. We call her Florence.

She said that when tear gas was fired into the women’s area, “the children began to die.”

“The prison was surrounded by soldiers and police, who did not put out the fire, but fired bullets at us and threw tear gas at us,” Florence said.

She added: “When tear gas fell on us, the fire became violent. Our eyes sting as if peppers were poured into them. Almost impossible to breathe.”

Fire and rape shrouded chaos, and all parties were eager to blame others.

Human rights groups say rape is widely used by both the M23 rebels and government forces as a weapon of war for the Congolese doctors.

However, in this case, Florence said it was a prisoner.

“You’ll see they’re prisoners. Some people don’t have shoes. When they climb up the roof of women’s prison, they call the names of people they know. And, the attackers are not armed or unified.”

Florence said she heard “bullets crackling” outside the prison starting at 23:00, escaping prisoners were killed by police outside.

“If a prisoner gets out of the car, they shoot him. When the bullets fly, I kneel in begging God to get us out of this bad situation.”

She said some prisoners who broke into the women’s department were looking for a safer escape route.

They violated one of the walls outside – a place where there were usually no police officers stationed. But soon, the gap was filled by the fire.

Florence first saw the flames at 04:00. Then hour after hour, she rushed from her body toward her body.

“People are dying in front of our eyes. I can’t count them. We try to recover them by giving them water. Some women are suffocated by fire and gas. Some women die from heart attacks,” Florence told the BBC.

She also blamed the death of the Congolese authorities.

“The state should open the door when it sees a fire or puts it out.”

The BBC has contacted the government of Kinshasa to respond to what survivors have told us, but we have not received one yet.

Florence said the women’s prison finally opened at 11:00 – she didn’t know who was who – she showed up with 18 other survivors. They didn’t help anything.

“Even the police we found on the road, there was no news about the prisoners or asking if anyone was injured or how we were injured,” she said.

At that time, rebel soldiers entered around 08:00 in certain parts of the city. Goma fell.

These women don’t seem to matter – in prison or out of prison.

In a tent at Goma’s Hospital, we meet another survivor, Sifa, 25, who was pulled out of the flames by a friend.

She lay on the left-anywhere else was too painful. Her right arm was tensed, and there were burns on her arms and face. Her back was still burned. When her dressing changes, the nurse must give her morphine.

But her pain was not just physical.

Her two-year-old daughter Esther died in prison.

“I had Esther on my back when I wanted to escape. The bomb fell. I didn’t know what. She died on the spot,” Sifa told the BBC.

She added that Esther had just started walking and had “no sin.” Sometimes she would play with other children in the prison, but mainly she was with her mother.

How did Peanut Seller Sifa end up in prison with her daughter?

She was accused of participating in the robbery, which she denied. She said she was sentenced to jail without being convicted. This is a common situation, local sources said.

Probably never know what happened in Munzenze prison. It seems that those in power are not in a hurry to find out the answer.

Other survivors SIFA talked to us told us that no one contacted them to prove the horror of January 27 – not the rebels who now control Goma, nor the government in Kinshasa once often ran to prisons.

“No one follows (this case),” Sifa said. “No one will be hunted. It’s over.”

Other reports from BBC’s Wietske Burema, Göktay Koraltan and Yvonne Katinga.