A testimony to the United Nations on Wednesday 29 June by a Congolese right group, of a woman that was kidnapped twice by militants in the Democratic Republic of Congo, repeatedly raped and forced to cook and eat human flesh.
This testimony was given by Julienne Lusenge, President of Female Solidarity for Integrated Peace and Development (SOFEPADI) an internationally recognized human rights activist. Speaking to the United Nation security Council during a UN Security Council meeting for a regular briefing on Congo, she cited instances of arm attacks by militants which included a woman having to cook and eat human flesh and the trauma that often results from such abuses.
According to Lusenge statements, the woman was First Kidnapped by CODECO (Cooperative for Development of the Congo) militants while on her way to pay for ransom requested by the militants for another kidnapped family and then forced to cook and eat human flesh. The woman told the Human rights group that she was repeatedly raped and physically abused, then she said the militants gash a man’s throat.
“They pulled out his entrails and they asked me to cook them. They brought me two water containers to prepare the rest of the meal. They then fed all of the prisoners with human flesh,” Lusenge told the Security Council, recounting the woman’s story.
Lusenge said the woman was released after a few days, but while trying to return home was kidnapped by another militia group whose members also repeatedly raped her.
“Again, I was asked to cook and eat human flesh,” the woman, who eventually escaped, told SOFEPADI
The UN’s Stabilization Mission in DRC (MONUSCO) through the voice of Bintou Keita expressed her determination to protect civilians and help tackle drivers of conflict and violence with the help of Peace Keepers under her command, Condemns the reprehensible attempts to fuel inter-communal tensions.
Keita said it was incumbent upon the Security Council to fully support regional efforts to defuse the current diplomatic and security tensions between neighboring States and “put an end to the scourge of armed groups”