In 2009, Joseph Mpambara was convicted in the Netherlands of murder and torture during the 1994 genocide. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison. A Dutch court is now considering his appeal.
February saw the trial of 11 men before the Democratic Republic of Congo’s pioneering “mobile gender court”. The men were accused of raping more than 60 women in Fizi, South Kivu province. In February, the “City of Joy” also had its official opening. The compound will serve as a campus where Congolese women, most of them rape victims, will be groomed to become leaders in their communities in the hope that they will catalyze social change.
On Sunday 6 February 2011, “De mannen die mij hebben vermoord” (Dutch edition of “The Men Who Killed Me”) was launched at Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught, one of three former World War II-era concentration camps in the Netherlands.
The second interdisciplinary colloquium on sexual violence “Systematic Sexual Violence and Victims’ Rights” will take place April 7 – 8, 2011 in The Hague, The Netherlands.
Over the holidays, Anne-Marie and her partner Freek made a trip to Rwanda to celebrate her good friend’s marriage. While they were there, they had the opportunity to visit Solace Ministries, and reconnect with many of the people who helped make “The Men Who Killed Me” happen, including some of the women featured in the book.
The Dutch edition of “The Men Who Killed Me” – “De mannen die mij hebben vermoord” – will be available in February 2011 from Wolf Legal Publishers. The book will have its official launch on 6 February 2011 at the Nationaal Monument Kamp Vught in the Netherlands, accompanied by a photo exhibition that will run from 6 February until 27 March 2010.
On 16 November 2010, after four months of hospitalization, Immaculée Makumi passed away at the age of 61. Among the loved ones Immaculée leaves behind is her beloved daughter Claudine. Immaculée had a hard life, having experienced many forms of discrimination. During the Rwandan genocide in 1994 she was raped and infected with HIV as a result.
In August 2010, Mukomeze paid a visit to Solace Ministries in Kigali, Rwanda. During our visit, we were able to reunite with almost all of the seventeen individuals who shared their testimonials in “The Men Who Killed Me”, and had the opportunity to see first-hand how they had used the proceeds of the book to build better lives for themselves and their families.
The New York Times reported that the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or F.D.L.R., gang-raped at least 150 women in July and August during a weekend raid on a community of villages in eastern Congo, according to United Nations and other humanitarian officials.
The Hirondelle News Agency in Arusha reports that a Rwandan medical doctor, Jean-Chrysostome Ndindabahizi, who had been apprehended in Gabon in June for his alleged role in the Tutsi genocide, was recently re-arrested.
