A polygamous man in the Democratic Republic of Congo has married triplets on the same day in a dazzling wedding ceremony after they reportedly asked him to marry all three of them.
He dutifully obliged, explaining that he felt that he was “obliged to because they are triplets”.
The big day took place in Kalehe, which is a territory located in South Kivu, in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, near the border with Rwanda.
The man, who has been named only as Luwizo, is said to have fallen in love with triplets Natasha, Natalie and Nadege, and agreed to marry all three of them on the same day.
Luwizo said that he first fell in love with Natalie before meeting her two other sisters. And he claims that the three women asked him to marry all three of them. He said: “I was obliged to marry all of them because they are triplets. It wasn’t an easy decision because until now, my parents don’t understand what I’m doing.”
One of the three said she and her sisters had shared everything since they were children and so sharing a husband was not a hard choice for them.
One of the sisters – it is unclear which one – is quoted in local media as saying: “When we told him he had to marry all of us, he was shocked. But because he had already fallen in love with all of us, nothing could stop our plans since we were also in love with him.
“Even though people considered it impossible for three women to share one husband, to us, sharing everything has been our life since childhood.”
Kivu is a dangerous place, even today, as warring militias fight over the resources there that are used to make rich countries’ mobile phones and computers.
South Kivu has been plagued by violence for decades. Women and children are regularly raped and mutilated by Hutu militias interested in the resources in South Kivu, which is far from the capital Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a former Belgian colony.
Local human rights activists have warned more violence could break out there any day now, with local NGO ACMEJ issuing a statement saying: “there is talk of the birth of a new rebellion”.
Women and children have been at the forefront of violence in the area, highlighted to the world in the Rwandan Civil War (1990-1994) but women and children are still being raped and mutilated by Hutu militias interested in the resources in South Kivu, a province far from the capital Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a former Belgian colony.
It is extremely resource-rich and produces the valuable mineral coltan needed in mobile phones, and that wealth has made it the scene of atrocities.
