Every year, tens of thousands of Congolese cross the border to work in the diamond-rich province of Lunda Norte, in Angola.

Since 2003, the Angolan army regularly expels some of this “illegal” population to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). This year, it is estimated that 44,000 people have already been deported to DRC.

Already denounced by MSF in 2004, these violent expulsions feature pervasive and systematic sexual violence against Congolese women perpetrated by some soldiers in the Angolan army.

Since October 2007, MSF teams present in Western Kasa – a Congolese province bordering Angola –have collected one hundred testimonies among expelled Congolese women. These women report abuse, detention, rapes and beatings by the Angolan military before being expelled to the other side of the border.

Here are ten of their stories.