[ Français ]
Our Friend Freddy Mulongo has long been fighting for freedom, peace and human rights for his country of origin, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Along with other members of the Congolese exile community in France, he has notably denounced the widespread sexual crimes committed against women in the war-torn country. On December 10th, that work bore fruit with the award of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to the Congolese surgeon Denis Mukwege, for his work treating women victims of rape and other forms of torture. Freddy Mulongo was at the award ceremony, as both a journalist and a peace activist.
Denis Mukwege was awarded the prize jointly with Iraqi activist Nadia Murad, a member of the Yazidi community who was enslaved and raped by members of the Islamic State group.
“It is in the name of the Congolese people that I accept the Nobel Peace Prize. It is to all victims of sexual violence across the world that I dedicate this prize,” said Denis Mukwege in his acceptance speech.
“…I come from one of the richest countries on the planet. Yet the people of my country are among the poorest of the world.
“The troubling reality is that the abundance of our natural resources – gold, coltan, cobalt and other strategic minerals – is the root cause of war, extreme violence and abject poverty.”
Below are links to Freddy Mulongo’s dispatches from Oslo, on the “Reveil FM International” (International FM Awakening) site. In French only.
Denis Mukwege’s speech; Overview of the long struggle
Denis Mukwege in Oslo: “In the name of the Congolese People”
Oslo: Denis Mukwege calls for a “Congolese Nuremberg Tribunal”
Our thanks to King Harald V, Queen Sonja and the Norwegian People
