Gender-based violence is rising in Central African Republic amid violence, weak legal and care systems and the stigma of speaking up, locals and aid groups say.
Since 2020, incidents have jumped from about 9,200 reported cases to 25,500, according to cases tracked by the United Nations and partners.
The AP spoke with three women who said they had been sexually assaulted. One blamed Wagner. One blamed an armed bandit. One, a security guard, blamed a UN peacekeeper.
The UN mission didn't receive any allegation of sexual assault involving its personnel last November, spokesman Vladimir Monteiro said, and stressed that the UN takes such allegations seriously.
Previous allegations
The UN has long wrestled with allegations of sexual assaults by UN peacekeepers in Central African Republic and elsewhere.
The government's justice ministry didn't respond to requests for comment. The new constitution has measures to tackle the issue, saying authorities must ensure that sexual assault is eliminated.
But that comes as little comfort for survivors.
A survivor of sexual assault told the AP that two masked and armed Russian fighters burst into her home two years ago, held her at gunpoint and took turns raping her. Her five children were forced to watch in the dark.
She blamed the Wagner mercenary group that operates alongside Central African Republic's army. Locals and rights groups of abuses have also accused them. She had seen them patrolling in her town of Bambari before. On the day of the assault, they were fighting rebels there.
Low funding
International funding for the country has dropped, with gender-based violence receiving some of the least support. The humanitarian request for about $14 million received less than 15% of that, according to the UN.
Central African Republic has been in conflict since 2013, when rebels seized power and forced the president from office. A 2019 peace deal between rebels and predominately Christian militias only lessened the fighting, and six of the 14 armed groups that signed later left the agreement.
Wagner, a UN peacekeeping mission and Rwandan troops are all on the ground to try to quell the violence.
Doctors Without Borders, one of the main organisations working on gender-based violence, says it has seen an increase in patients due to the expansion of services and outreach. But it says the majority of survivors likely don’t come forward, often because help is not available where they live.
A local fighter who works with Wagner asserted that he saw six of the Russians rape a local woman in the tent where he was sleeping at their base in Bambari in early 2023.
The Russian government didn’t respond to questions.
Fear retaliation
Women don’t usually blame Wagner because its fighters are so entrenched in communities that they fear retaliation, aid groups said. During a visit by the news agency AP in March, Russians could be seen driving trucks around Bangui and walking in the western town of Bouar.
Women who come forward find it hard to receive justice, said Lucie Boalo Mbassinga, vice president of the Association For Women Lawyers for Central Africa.
She said they had 213 cases of sexual assault and rape reported in 2022 and 304 cases in 2023. Sometimes women open a case against local fighters but withdraw it because perpetrators' families pay survivors not to proceed, she said.
In November, Mbassinga's organisation closed a programme that was helping survivors across eight provinces, including in the capital, because there was no more money, she said. The cuts by the UN Development Programme have prevented staff from reaching women in more rural areas, accompanying them to court and providing medical and mental health support, she said.
“Victims are abandoned,” Mbassinga said. She suggested having mobile courts to better reach rural areas.
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