In 2011, Aimé was a 31-year-old school teacher in the town of Doruma, in northern Democratic Republic of Congo. When rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army attacked the town, Aimé and five other men were forced into the forest with them.
For the next two weeks they were kept in a hole dug in the ground. Most nights he was taken out and tortured. The first night his captors forced a stick into his anus. “It hurt enormously,” he recalled. During the following nights, five rebels took turns raping him.
The traumatic consequences of that episode, and the help that Aimé eventually found, illustrate how the often-overlooked problem of sexual violence against men in conflict situations is beginning to draw attention from the humanitarian community.
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About the author
Burton Bollag
Burton Bollag is a freelance journalist living in Washington, D.C. He was based for a number of years in Europe (Geneva, Prague and Bratislava) and as chief international reporter for Chronicle of Higher Education reported widely from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. He has also done radio reporting (for NPR from Geneva) and TV reporting from various locations.
