Rape a weapon of war in Congo, activists say

Rape a weapon of war in Congo, activists say




CNN) -- Rape has turned into a weapon of war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with the number of attacks on women having grown threefold over the past few years, human rights activists said Friday.

A Congolese rape victim, left, at the Heal Africa clinic in Goma on August 8, 2009.






Anneke van Woudenberg, senior researcher with Human Rights Watch, told Christiane Amanpour that 200,000 women and girls have been raped in Eastern Congo since 1998, and the condition of women has become more dire as the Congolese army has pressed a military campaign against armed groups in the countryside.

"Rape is being used as a weapon of war in eastern Congo. So we notice and we have documented that when armed groups walk into town, they will rape the women and girls, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately, in order to punish the local population," she said. "It's the easiest way to terrorize a community."

Congo has witnessed one of the worst humanitarian crises since World War II, with a death toll estimated at more than 5 million. Most of the dead have come not from direct violence, but the consequences of the fighting: disease and starvation. While the war formally ended six years ago, fighting persists in eastern Congo, and women are paying a high price. CNN visits a devastated community »



http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/10/16/amanpour.congo.rape.documentary/index.html

The same tactics were employed by the lavalasse regimes under the directions of Aristide and Preval when they unleashed the bloodthirsty "chimeres" on the haitian population .It is no big secret what they did to poor and well-to-to women .All was done in the name of democracy brought to us by 20,000 war-bound american marines under the presidence of Bill Clinton.Yes,he is another of those well-intentioned foreigners who love Haiti so much .See for yourself : More corruption and biswit labou .Thanks but no thanks !

Je suis vraiment trouble et desole ,a mon tour, quand je vois des femmes de notre terroir se mettre en quatre pour defendre la pourriture lavalasse .Elles doivent savoir qu'il y a une chose beaucoup plus importante que le respect de la dignite humaine ,au sens le plus stricte de sa legitimite morale et physique . On dirait que "certaines femmes" sont vraiment desinteresses au sort "d'autres femmes " qui subissent ces humiliations de la pensee congo .

Je me suis toujours dit ,en ce qui concerne notre pays,qu'il a fallu des femmes congos pour donner naissaance et enseigner la mentalite congo aux enfants qui vont bientot devenir des hommes , ceux qui vont les humilierr et les detruire dans tous les lendemains de l'existence sociale .Il n'y a pas a sortrir de la :
L'apprentissage du respect de soi et de l'autre commence a la maison.