Tshisekedi pledges to protect revered DRC doctor Denis Mukwege

In this file photograph taken on October 6, 2018, Nobel Peace Prize winner Denis Mukwege talks to the press at the Panzi hospital in Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's South Kivu province, a day after receiving the prestigious award. 


Photo credit:  Alain Wandimoyi | AFP

What you need to know:

  • Recently, Dr Mukwege said he has been attacked verbally and threatened by people after denouncing the massacres in Kipupu, South Kivu province.
  • In his message titled "Call for peace," published at the end of July, he said even members of his family have been intimidated and threatened.
  • Jolino Makelele, the Congolese Minister of Communication and spokesperson for the Congolese government, told the media after a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Friday, the medic will be protected, and his views acted on. 

Kinshasa,

Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi has personally assured the protection of Dr Denis Mukwege, a revered medic in the country, following reports that he has been threatened with death.

Dr Mukwege, a 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, is renowned for constructive surgery for women sexually brutalised in the Congo war.

In 2018, the Nobel committee awarded him the prize, which he shared with Iraqi Yazidi activist Nadia Murad, for separate efforts to help restore normalcy for the women.

But he has been unpopular in the country lately. In June, he quit a counter Covid-19 committee in the part of the country in which he operates, citing red tape.

Recently, Dr Mukwege said he has been attacked verbally and threatened by people after denouncing the massacres in Kipupu, South Kivu province.

The famous gynaecologist claimed to be the victim of threats following his “fight for peace and truth".

In his message titled "Call for peace," published at the end of July, he said even members of his family have been intimidated and threatened.

Government’s pledge

Jolino Makelele, the Congolese Minister of Communication and spokesperson for the Congolese government, told the media after a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Friday, the medic will be protected, and his views acted on.

“The Head of State kept the members of the Council of Ministers informed of the intimidation, hate mail and death threats to which Dr Mukwege was the subject following his plea in favour of peace in the east of the country, by proposing the creation of a [special] international criminal court for the DRC in order to prosecute the serious crimes committed there against the civilian population",” he said.

"This is why the President has committed the government and, in particular the ministers of Interior and Security as well as Justice, to take all the necessary measures to ensure the safety of Dr Mukwege and the opening of investigations.”

Dr Mukwege recently said he will continue to speak out on the reality of the atrocities in the DRC.

"No threat nor use of fear will prevent me from expressing myself on the reality of the atrocities experienced by the populations of my country, whose consequences I treat every day in my hospital in Bukavu,” he said.

“Since 2012, after two assassination attempts, I continue to receive death threats. I live in my hospital without being able to leave except for my trips abroad. Who has an interest in murdering me? Why is my search for the truth and desire for justice unsettling? "