Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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New Vision (Kampala) - December 11, 2001
"This figure is believed to be much higher because the majority of our members have not yet been tested," Hilary Mukamazimpaka, AVEGA coordinator said. She said the above figures were obtained from a survey carried out in three provinces of the country, namely Kigali city, Kibungo and Butare.
It was found out that out of this sample, 66.7 per cent were HIV /AIDS positive, while 80 % had been seriously traumatised because of the sexual torture they went through.
"Some of these people living with AIDS are dying a slow death," Sylvia Barakagwira, head of the AVEGA advocacy department told dpa.
According to Barakagwiza, rape was used as a weapon by the marauding Hutu militias. Some Tutsi women were gang-raped, or were kept in solitary confinement by the militia who were raping them.
AVEGA has expressed concern that because of the death rate among its members, no one will be left to give testimony about the horrors that took place in Rwanda in 1994.
Barakagwira deplores the fact that those who were at the helm of rape and the killings now in the U.N. Tribunal detention in Arusha, Tanzania, have access to free drugs provided by the international community, while their victims here are faced with a certain death.
However, since June 2001, with the help of well-wishers, AVEGA has initiated a project aimed at assisting those infected with the killer disease and orphans by providing them with antibiotics and food items.
The Rwanda genocide claimed one million people, mostly ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus. More than 100,000 genocide suspects are crammed in Rwandan jails.
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