Minova

Minova
Minova
Coordinates: 01°42′25″S 029°01′09″E / 1.70694°S 29.01917°E / -1.70694; 29.01917
Country  Democratic Republic of the Congo
Province South Kivu
Territory Kalehe
Sector Buhavu

Minova is a town and refugee area[1] in northern South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo.[2] It is known for atrocities committed there in 2012.

History

There was international outrage and UN condemnation of these actions against hundreds of Congolese civilians. In 2014 the DRC Army conducted the "Minova Trial", at which numerous women testified. It was the largest rape tribunal in DRC history. In the end, only junior officers were convicted at the trial. An international summit was held in London in 2014 to work on actions against rape in warfare. But the women of Minova are still at risk, and many were attacked again as area violence continued.[3]

Since 1994 Minova has grown from a village to a large town, primarily due to the influx of refugees from the fighting associated with the First and the Second Congo wars, and subsequent continued fighting in this eastern area.[1][4][5][6] As of 2012 Minova had grown to incorporate the former village of Butando to the northwest.[7]

On June 13, 1999, the fugitive, Valérie Bemeriki, genocidaire and former Radio-Télévision Libre des Milles Collines animatrice, was arrested in Minova.[8]

For three days in 2012, troops of the DRC committed systematic rapes and atrocities against refugee women and girls, who had been run out of Goma, then controlled by M23 rebel troops.[3] Among the perpetrators were members of the US Special Forces-trained 391st Commando Battalion.[9]

Geography

Minova is located in northeastern Kalehe Territory at the head of a deep bay, Kabuno Bay, on the western shores of Lake Kivu.[10] The bed rock consists of metamorphic schists and quartzites.[11]

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as tropical wet and dry (Aw).[12]

Climate data for Maiduguri
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 25
(77)		 25
(77)		 25.2
(77.4)		 24.8
(76.6)		 24.7
(76.5)		 24.5
(76.1)		 24.6
(76.3)		 25.3
(77.5)		 25.3
(77.5)		 25.1
(77.2)		 24.7
(76.5)		 24.8
(76.6)		 24.9
(76.9)
Daily mean °C (°F) 19.4
(66.9)		 19.4
(66.9)		 19.6
(67.3)		 19.4
(66.9)		 19.4
(66.9)		 18.7
(65.7)		 18.6
(65.5)		 19.3
(66.7)		 19.4
(66.9)		 19.4
(66.9)		 19.1
(66.4)		 19.3
(66.7)		 19.3
(66.6)
Average low °C (°F) 13.8
(56.8)		 13.8
(56.8)		 14.1
(57.4)		 14.1
(57.4)		 14.1
(57.4)		 13
(55)		 12.6
(54.7)		 13.3
(55.9)		 13.5
(56.3)		 13.7
(56.7)		 13.5
(56.3)		 13.8
(56.8)		 13.6
(56.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 117
(4.61)		 100
(3.94)		 128
(5.04)		 156
(6.14)		 144
(5.67)		 63
(2.48)		 35
(1.38)		 75
(2.95)		 132
(5.2)		 160
(6.3)		 150
(5.91)		 147
(5.79)		 1,407
(55.41)
Source: Climate-Data.org (altitude: 1464m)[12]

Representation in other media

The American documentary The Testimony (2015) was made about the women and their testifying at the Minova trial.

Notes

  1. 1 2 "HOT Activation, South and North Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo". Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team. 16 December 2012. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013.
  2. ↑ Minova (Approved) at GEOnet Names Server, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
  3. 1 2 Mark Townsend, "Revealed: how the world turned its back on rape victims of Congo", The Guardian, 13 June 2015; accessed 15 November 2017
  4. ↑ "Increase in forced labor, rape and harassment in eastern Congo". Oxfam International. 13 November 2008. Archived from the original on 22 August 2010.
  5. ↑ Delay, Jerome & Gouby, Melanie (26 November 2012). "Congolese town allegedly looted by gov't troops". The Guardian. Manchester, UK. Archived from the original on 8 January 2013.
  6. ↑ Prekabo, Vicky (26 December 2012). "DRC: Helping displaced communities in Goma". United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Archived from the original on 8 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Minova, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo" (PDF). Reférential Geographique Commun, République Démocratique du Congo. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 January 2013.
  8. ↑ "Valerie Bemeriki". TRIAL (Swiss association against impunity). Archived from the original on 8 April 2013.
  9. ↑ Whitlock, Craig (23 May 2013). U.S.-trained Congolese troops committed rapes and other atrocities, U.N. says. Washington Post. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Territoire de Kalehe: Zone de santé de Minova (PDF) (Map). UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. 3 June 2014. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 September 2014.
  11. ↑ Simplified geological map of Kabuno Bay, (Map). Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. from Smets, Benoit; et al. (2016). "The role of inherited crustal structures and magmatism in the development of rift segments: Insights from the Kivu basin, western branch of the East African Rift". Tectonophysics. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2016.06.022.
  12. 1 2 "Climate: Minova - Climate graph, Temperature graph, Climate table". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 3 December 2013.
  • Map "Minova, Sud-Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo" (PDF). Reférential Geographique Commun, République Démocratique du Congo.
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