Nobel Peace Prize-winner gynecologist shaped by his faith

Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, known as “the man who heals women victims of rape,” was awarded the Nobel Peace on Oct. 5 along with 25-year-old Nadia Murad, a former sex slave at the mercy of the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq.

Mukwege, 63, is a committed Pentecostal Christian and the son of a pastor. The famous physician followed in his father’s footsteps by also becoming a minister at a Pentecostal church in his home city of Bukavu, the capital of South-Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC),

He works at the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu and can add the prestigious gong to a list of accolades including France’s Legion of Honor.

In 1999, under the aegis of the Community of Central African Pentecostal Churches (CEPAC), Mukwege built the hospital in which he often works 18-hour days and treats up to 10 rape victims a day.

He specializes in repairing injuries associated with female genital mutilation — an horrific crime used as a weapon of war — and is considered a world leader in such reconstructive surgery.

The hospital was originally intended to allow women to give birth in safe conditions. However, it soon became a specialist center for the treatment of women survivors of violence, most of them victims of sexual assault.

From 1999 to 2003, during the Second Congo War, rape was widespread, committed by soldiers, members of armed militia and civilians.

This “war on women’s bodies” seemed to have eased in 2015 but has proved resurgent in recent years.

In Oct. 25, 2012 he almost lost his life just weeks after giving a speech at the United Nations during which he condemned the practice of mass rape in the DRC.

Four armed men held his daughters hostage at his residence while waiting for him to return home. Upon his arrival a firefight erupted. Mukwege’s bodyguard was shot but the doctor narrowly missed taking a bullet.

This prompted him to go into exile in Europe for three months.

Since then, he has lived within the premises of the Panzi Foundation under the permanent protection of soldiers of the UN Mission in the Congo (MONUSCO).

Nonetheless, he has no hesitation in denouncing the abuses of the country’s regime. When asked about the upcoming elections on Dec. 23, Mukwege said he believes the results will be doctored.

He has appealed to the Congolese people to engage in peaceful protest should that eventuality come to pass.

In November 2017, the people’s movement “Peace and Solidarity” conducted a simulated vote, dubbed the “citizens’ vote”.

The results, published early this year, designated Mukwege as the second most suitable person to serve as the “administrator” of a political transition, after Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo, the archbishop of Kinshasa, the DRC capital.

But Mukwege has gone on record as saying that he has no interest in the presidency.

Many Congolese rushed to congratulate the latest Nobel Peace Prize winner after his name was read out.

“The Nobel Prize that has been awarded to you is an honor to you and to our country,” said Cardinal Marcel Utembi Tapa, the Archbishop of Kisangani and president of the National Episcopal Conference of the Congo (CENCO).

“At the same time, it is a call to each one of us to resolutely oppose all forms of violence against women. The criminal use of rape as a weapon of war is a grave attack on the respect and life that all human beings, particularly women, deserve,” he said.

Lay Catholics, through the Lay Committee of Coordination (CLC), expressed their delight and pride.

They said the distinction conferred on Mukwege should encourage all Congolese people to commit to democracy, social development and progress.