On 13 September, a rebel from the CPC group sexually assaulted Igna* from the Central African Republic in her house. Please join us in prayer for Igna who is displaced and still waits on medical care after the attack.
Igna (36) lives in an informal IDP camp in the Haute Kotto district in eastern Central African Republic. In the early hours of Sept 13, members of the Coalition Patriotique pour le Changement (CPC) forcefully entered Igna and her husband’s house.
10 rebels entered the house and started threatening them, asking for money and cigarettes. “My husband convinced them that he could take them to where cigarettes were sold. When he left, five of the attackers remained in the house with me. That is when one of them raped me.”
After the assault, one of the men asked Igna to take her to where cigarettes were sold. Once there, she managed to escape and hide in the bush. “He fired three shots to scare me into coming out of hiding, but I didn’t. I stayed there till daybreak until I heard my nephews calling out my name, searching for me.”
Last year, two of Igna’s brothers were killed during an attack by the same group. She and her surviving family have sought refuge in an IDP site in the area along with other villagers who’ve fled the insecurity. Field sources estimate that around 100 people are currently living in the camp. With no medical care nearby, Igna is still waiting to receive medical attention.
An instrument to punish or harm the wider Christian community
Various rebel groups terrorize communities throughout the CAR. These attacks have often been systematically directed against Christian communities to enslave and weaken them.
Within the context of political fragility and insecurity, women and girls (especially IDPs) are especially vulnerable to incidences of sexual and gender-based violence at the hands of armed groups.
According to the 2022 OD Gender Report, women are targeted as a sexual ‘prize’ and used as an instrument to punish or harm the wider Christian community. They are widely viewed to be of lesser value, both as Christians and as women. As easier targets for sexual crimes, attacks may also result from their general lower status instead of explicitly religious reasons. Whether women and girls are viewed as pure or worthless, their bodies become a vehicle for imparting shame on the Christian community, particularly in cultures when sexual purity is inextricably tied with family honour. Survivors of sexual abuse return traumatized and symbolic reminders of the power of the perpetrators.
*Name changed for security reasons
**Picture for illustrative purpose only
Please pray
- Igna will receive medical attention soon and also for her spiritual and emotional healing.
- Pray that the Lord will strengthen Igna’s family and comfort them as they grieve the loss of Igna’s brothers and her attack. Pray that God will protect them and the many other vulnerable Christian families displaced by the insecurity from further harm.
- Pray for the wellbeing of Christian communities across CAR living in poor humanitarian conditions in IDP camps. Ask for the Lord to meet their daily needs and for this to be a strong testimony of the Lord’s faithfulness as our Provider.
- Pray for peace in the country so people can return to their homes, raise their families and freely live out their Christian faith.
- Pray also for the countless rebels groups in CAR – may they hear and be completely transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
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