The Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on July 5, 2014

Belgium on Friday urged the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to scrap a heavy tax on a hospital caring for mass rape victims and founded by a doctor honoured by the European Union for his work, saying it threatened the institution's survival.

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Panzi hospital in the eastern city of Bukavu, which was founded by famed Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege, announced this week that authorities had seized its accounts and that it could no longer withdraw money, purportedly for tax evasion.

Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo called "on the Congolese government to drop the monthly tax of more than 40,000 euros ($48,000) that Panzi hospital has to pay," according to a statement from the government in Brussels, the former colonial power in what was once called the Belgian Congo.

"The tax indeed threatens the care provided to rape victims," he added.

De Croo, who also heads the ministry for development cooperation, which has provided equipment to the institution, said he is "worried about Panzi hospital's survival" after its accounts were seized and management could no longer pay the wages of 500 medical staff.

Mukwege, who in November received the European Parliament's Sakharov rights prize for his work, told AFP by phone from Bukavu that the government action was "unjustified" because Panzi hospital has a special status and its personnel are taxed "at the source by the finance ministry".

For the past 15 years the Panzi hospital has specialised in treating victims, mostly women, of violent sexual assault in the country's volatile eastern region, where the army has been fighting rival militia groups.

The militants vying for control of the region's mineral wealth often use mass rape to terrorise the local population.

"If the war is officially over today, eastern Congo continues to be the theatre of armed conflicts where rape is used as a weapon," De Croo said.

While receiving a string of international prizes, Mukwege is a frequent and highly vocal critic of rights abuses, poor governance and lack of basic services in Congo. In November, he called on people across Africa to follow the example of Burkina Faso, where veteran leader Blaise Compaore was ousted in a revolt sparked by his bid to extend his time in power.

The message would have resonated in Congo, where President Joseph Kabila is weighing up his options as his second and final term in power is due to come to an end in 2016.

“The hospital is a victim of the criticism of its director. He is an embarrassing witness of all those who commit sexual violence and those who allow it to happen,” Jonas Tshiombela, a local rights activist, told Reuters.



(FRANCE 24 with AFP, REUTERS)



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