Frenzy of Rape in Congo Reveals U.N. Weakness

[BurtWorm]

Frenzy of Rape in Congo Reveals U.N. Weakness
(The right is totally wrong about the UN. It's not a threat to anybody or anything.)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/04/world/africa/04congo.html?hp




Michael Kamber for The New York Times

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: October 3, 2010


LUVUNGI, Democratic Republic of Congo — Four armed men barged into Anna Mburano’s hut, slapped the children and threw them down. They flipped Mrs. Mburano on her back, she said, and raped her, repeatedly.

It did not matter that dozens of United Nations peacekeepers were based just up the road. Or that Mrs. Mburano is around 80 years old.

“Grandsons!” she yelled. “Get off me!”

As soon as they finished, they moved house to house, along with hundreds of other marauding rebels, gang-raping at least 200 women.

What happened in this remote, thatched-roof village on July 30 and continued for at least three more days has become a searing embarrassment for the United Nations mission in Congo. Despite more than 10 years of experience and billions of dollars, the peacekeeping force still seems to be failing at its most elemental task: protecting civilians.

The United Nations’ blue-helmets are considered the last line of defense in eastern Congo, given that the nation’s own army has a long history of abuses, that the police are often invisible or drunk and that the hills are teeming with rebels.

...

[d_r]

1. horrifying.

what is going on in the congo is horrific. It is like a nightmare that human condition can sink so low. It seems like there are basically gangs of roving mad men, themselves the product of the horror of Rwanda and years of violence and so on, just moving through committing atrocities.

[polly7]

2. I agree, this is one of the most disturbing things I've ever read. K & R.

Rape as a Weapon of War
Eastern Congo is caught in an epidemic of appalling sexual violence, as militias use rape as a military tactic to destroy communities. Congolese women and girls in particular bear the vicious brunt of this crisis. Indeed, eastern Congo right now is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or a girl.

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/why/why-congo

Minerals Fueling the Fight
Greed for Congo’s mineral wealth has been a prime cause of the atrocities and conflict, and multiple armed groups use mass rape as a deliberate strategy to intimidate and control communities as they profit from the illicit trade in Congo’s conflict minerals – tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold. Many of these same conflict minerals end up in our own electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, and digital cameras.

http://www.raisehopeforcongo.org/content/why/why-congo

This is where we should be using the militaries we claim are being used for humanitarian purposes at present, imo.

[BurtWorm]

3. kick

[RadiationTherapy]

4. Go in, round up all of the men and get them out of there right now.

Leave behind a contingent of UN forces to assist the women and children left behind. The first nationwide, all-male group therapy session starts now.

[shireen]

5. if ever a strong overwhelming international show of force is needed, it's in Congo

If that fails, the women and girls should be supplied with weapons to defend themselves (maybe those private security firms can be hired to train them). I'd contribute to that movement.

[BurtWorm]

6. The private security firms are absolutely not to be trusted!

I just read a book by a woman who worked in Bosnia (Katherine Bolkovac) who blew the whistle on DynCorp officers who paid for sex from girls from Eastern Europe who were kept as sex slaves. UN officials, too.