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Genocide in the Congo
Author: BobR    Date: 12/05/2007 12:42:52

I posted this story on the board, but I think it's important enough to bear repeating here. I apologize in advance for all the cut & paste...

Although Darfur gets a lot of press and lip service, there is a little-known genocide going on in the Congo (little known in the U.S. anyway). From this article:
... By rights, Ombeni should be nearing the end of her university life, perhaps fending off marriage requests or applying for teaching posts in the city. But her schooling, and her life's journey, were brutally interrupted almost five years earlier.

Back then she was a typical 15-year-old with dreams of university and a better life. Her home was a village in the countryside, where, when she wasn't studying, she helped in the fields. It was while out working one evening that rebel forces captured her carefree innocence. For months she became their slave, both sexual and physical, as they lived in various wooded compounds along the Rwandan border. Heavily pregnant, and near death from lack of food, the rebels returned her to her village so her parents could watch her die...

---snip---

Schuler Deschryver's anger is also felt a few kilometres away, on the outskirts of Bukavu, where Dr Denis Mukwege, an obstetrician for more than 20 years, tries to deal with the aftermath of sexual violence. He runs Panzi Hospital, set up in 1999 in response to the emergency crisis after the so-called African war; it houses more than 350 patients. Each day, 10 new cases are admitted, some as young as nine, so badly damaged that reconstructive surgery is often required. The victims sit on benches, lining urine-soaked corridors, alone and frightened. On eye contact, there is nothing. No expression, no acknowledgement, no smiles - just a fleeting confirmation that behind their eyes, a pained suffering lies deep...

I've spared the blog the horrific details, but they are there in the article. I found this story via this blog entry on Bob Harris's website. He adds the following:
...The eastern D.R. Congo borders on Uganda, Rwanda, and Burundi, and the current horrorshow is a direct descendant of the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1998-2003 Second Congo War (aka the African World War) which followed it. This Second Congo War, which at its height involved about two dozen factions from eight different countries, is almost certainly humankind's deadliest conflict worldwide since the end of World War II, with a death toll estimated by the International Rescue Committee at 3.8 million people as of early 2005.

Since the aftermath is still estimated to claim more than 1000 additional lives every single day (think malaria, malnutrition, dysentery, ongoing scattered violence, etc.), and about 1000 days have passed since the original estimate, at least four and perhaps more than five million Africans have died in less than ten years. ...

Something has to be done about this. In the article a woman states: "During the war here, just one silver back was killed. And when it happened, within 48 hours millions in funding was sent to ensure the rest of the gorilla population was protected. Why isn't the same done with our women?" That's a very fair question. The first step is to raise awareness about this, difficult as it may be to discuss the details.

Pass it on...

 

156 comments (Latest Comment: 12/06/2007 03:46:43 by BobR)
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