Violence against women "beyond rape" in Congo - U.N.

[*Arabman]

Mon 30 Jul 2007, 12:47 GMT

GENEVA, July 30 (Reuters) - Extreme sexual violence against women is pervasive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and local authorities do little to stop it or prosecute those responsible, a U.N. investigator said on Monday.

Rape and brutality against women and girls are "rampant and committed by non-state armed groups, the Armed Forces of the DRC, the National Congolese Police, and increasingly also by civilians", said Turkish lawyer Yakin Erturk.

"Violence against women seems to be perceived by large sectors of society to be normal," she added in a report after an 11-day trip to the strife-torn country.

Erturk, special rapporteur for the United Nations Human Rights Council on violence against women, said the situation in South Kivu province, where rebels from neighbouring Rwanda operate, was the worst she had ever encountered.

The atrocities perpetrated there by armed groups, some of whom seemed to have been involved in the 1994 Rwandan massacres in which 800,000 people were killed, "are of an unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond rape", she said.

"Women are gang raped, often in front of their families and communities. In numerous cases, male relatives are forced at gun point to rape their own daughters, mothers or sisters," she said.

After rape, many women were shot or stabbed in the genital area, and survivors told Erturk that while held as slaves by the gangs they had been forced to eat excrement or the flesh of their murdered relatives.

Widespread sexual abuse in the various conflicts racking the republic -- which last year held elections hailed as marking a new era -- "seems to have become a generalised aspect of the overall oppression of women", Erturk said.

Her report followed charges from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour last week that soldiers and police used excessive force, including summary executions, in quelling opposition protesters in the west of the DRC earlier this year.

In the central Equateur province, the police and army often responded to civil unrest "with organised armed reprisals that target the civilian population and involve indiscriminate pillage, torture and mass rape", the report found.

Although the DRC parliament outlawed sexual violence in July 2006, "little action is taken by the authorities to implement the law and perpetrators continue to enjoy immunity, especially if they wear the state's uniform," Erturk said.

Erturk said Congo's justice system was corrupt and in "a deplorable state", while conditions in prisons were "scandalous".

Senior army and police officers shielded their men from prosecution, and when some were arrested they escaped easily, probably "with the complicity of those in charge".

In a few cases courts had ordered the state and individuals to compensate victims. But "to this day the government has not paid reparations to a single victim who has suffered sexual violence at the hand of state agents", said Erturk.

http://africa.reuters.com/wire/news/usnL30471668.html

[Advocatar]

stupid adoons.

[Luq_Ganane]

Closest thing Somalis ever had to these guys were the USC.

[*Arabman]

Christianity is the majority religion in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, followed by about 80% of the population, comprising Roman Catholic 50%, Protestant 20%, Kimbanguist 10%.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic ... o#Religion

Far more people have died in Congo than Darfur. Far more atrocities are committed against civilians in Congo than Darfur. Most victims in Congo are Christians. My question; where are the George Clooneys, Brangelinas, Don Cheadles, Matt Damons and the rest of "influential people" to save them? Why do those "influential people" love Muslims but neglect Christians?

[Advocatar]

Islam is the answer for these people/africa oo dhan in general, I agree............look at senegal and co, they dont do what their brothers do in congo, sacrificing children, eating monkies, beyond rape etc.

[Ican]

What have Somali muslims been doing to each other for the past 17 years: raping, killing, maiming. Let's not act innocent and superior.

As for Darfur, arabman you need to face it, the arabised Sudanese are committing atrocities against other innocent Muslims in Darfur. Instead of wasting time diverting attention and blaming it on unimportant celebrities, help your fellow African Muslims against the Arab wannabe government in khartoum.

[paidmonk]

Its got nothing to do with being Bantu; countries like Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Gambia put Somalia to shame in terms of conduct and civility; they are examples to follow; even their wars aren't as dirty as ours.

The only answer is to set a standard. These Congolese never set standards, and Somalis broke their standards during the Siad Barre era and the civil war when they began rape and shit.

[*Arabman]

[As for Darfur, arabman you need to face it, the arabised Sudanese are committing atrocities against other innocent Muslims in Darfur.]

That's what Western media report. It's difficult to trust the credibility of Western media.

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

"Extreme sexual violence against women is pervasive in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and local authorities do little to stop it or prosecute those responsible, a U.N. investigator said on Monday."

Loca authorities??? There are none. That's the problem.

[Koronto91]

The Darfur issue is highly publicized because of the recent discovery of oil in that region and the fact that the Sudanese government has issued drilling rights to Chinese companies rather than American/European companies.

At the end of the day its about the $$$, the U.S. government does not in anyway care about the "Humanitarian Crisis" in Darfur, it just wants a hand in the oil drilling deals.

Don Cheadle, Clooney, Susan Sarandon & even Danny Glover are all misguided buffoons who never bothered to read up on the geographical/social background of the region, like headless chickens they follow what CNN reports.

I read somewhere that some Hollywood actress (can't remember which one) was pushing congress to punish Americans who visit Sudan.

Gimme a Break!

[musika man]

Somali refugees face bleak future

Since the beginning of Somalia's civil war, thousands of refugees have poured into neighbouring Kenya. The BBC's Cathy Jenkins reports on the hopes and fears of these long-term refugees from the Dadaab camps in north-east Kenya.

The road to the compound where the aid workers from the Dadaab refugee camps live is lined with rolls of barbed wire.

A large gate, manned by security officers, marks the entrance.

It is a mini-fortress in the middle of a flat, scrubby, featureless landscape.
This is bandit land. The relief organisations take their safety seriously.

No one drives outside the headquarters without an armed escort. Everyone returns before dark.

The Dadaab camps are in Kenya's north-east province which borders Somalia.

The area is awash with guns which have flowed easily over the porous frontier since Somalia's civil war began in 1991.

Rape

The bandits are ethnic Somalis who live in the area, and Somalis who cross backwards and forwards between the two countries.

The odd United Nations four-wheel drive has changed hands over the barrel of a gun.

One morning I followed some women who had been collecting firewood from the bush.

Nowadays they are having to walk further and further from the camp to find suitable trees.

They do so in fear - many have been attacked and raped by bandits.

When I was with them, they enjoyed the luxury of my armed guard. The soldiers fanned out between the thorn bushes and kept watch.

Normally the women would have no such protection.

Life goes on

Somalis are known for being inveterate traders and the refugees are no exception.
Inside the camp there are markets where vegetables, rolls of cloth, goat and camel's milk are sold.

It makes for a colourful scene. The narrow corridor between the stalls bulges with excited people.

For many of the 120,000 people at Dadaab, the camps will be home for the forseeable future.

In a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees office, I met a woman who was off to Australia.

She has been selected for resettlement. She cannot name any city in Australia, but nevertheless she is over the moon to be going there.

She will always be a Somali, she says, but in a few years time her children will be little Australians.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/576679.stm

[Steeler [Crawler2]]

Koronto
Funny how you simply dismiss the massive amounts of Muslim non-state violence like it was really nothing................after it has raped your own country. Mind boggling. I guess Somalis concerned about the rape of Somalia are just misguided buffoons who don't understand the geographical and social background of the region.

[Ahmed-Gurey]

Rape in Somalia is very rare except during the early years of Somalia's civil war

with no central government, we have done better than many countries with functioning governement. Latif, a retired U.N diplomat, uses concrete examples of how Somalia and its people have been resilient and productive. On a normal day, Mogadishu(the most unstable city of Somalai) functions better than Nairobi. When Puntland and Somaliland are put into mix, then you would be hmmmmmm.


--------------------

Somalia: A 'Failed State'? Let's Look At the Other Side
By:Abdul Latif
July 26 2007

WHILE OPENING A SOMALI peace meeting in Mogadishu last Thursday, Prime Minister Mohamed Gedi departed from the usual cries about a failed state and asked his countrymen to build on the many positives around them.

He said: "As a country, we have been given as many negative tags: A failed state, a terrorist haven and the country that deleted the word peace from the dictionary."

Then he reminded them: "But we know ourselves better. We know the great potential of our people, our great business skills, and our hard work."

If you are a first-time visitor to Mogadishu on an occasional good day when the warring parties in the capital have "declared" ceasefire, you would not find it difficult agreeing with Premier Gedi.

Indeed, you would find it hard to believe all the jazz about Somalia being the world's most dangerous place to live in besides Iraq.

OF COURSE, MOST BUILDINGS IN Mogadishu have no roofs courtesy of aerial bombings, and most windows have been shattered by bullets.

But in the absence of chaos on the day of the visit, you would easily be convinced that the battle tell-tale signs are throw-backs from the Word War 11.

How come? Believe it or not, on a "normal" day, Mogadishu functions better than Nairobi. The telephone system, both fixed and wireless, is unclogged. Traffic flow is smooth and fast. Taps run with clean drinking water, and electricity supply is uninterrupted.

Yes. In an "ordinary" day, communication with the outside world and business transactions are faster in Mogadishu than anything you can dream of in Dar es Salama or Kampala. And it takes - Telkom Kenya should hear this - only three days to have a fixed line installed in your premises upon application in Somalia.

The situation on the ground in Somalia is best captured in a World Bank report prepared by economists Tatiana Nenova and Tim Harford and released last month.

The report has interesting data on the so called failed state. The population living on less than a dollar a day in Somalia is 43 per cent compared to the 47 per cent and 45 per cent averages in the Horn of Africa and West Africa, respectively.

Adult literacy in Somalia is at 81 per cent. The averages for the Horn and West Africa are, 35 per cent and 49 per cent respectively.

Telephone lines per million people in the country are 15, but 10 and 9 for the same population in the Horn and West Africa, respectively, while the kilometre tarmac/population ratio is the same for Somalia, the Horn and West Africa.

The World Bank report reckons that despite the war and absence of a central authority in Somalia, entrepreneurs are bridging the gap there by lowering rates of extreme poverty.

Somali entrepreneurs have applied two methods to beat the hurdle of absence of a central authority.

First, they have "imported" governance by relying on foreign institutions to control and regulate vital sectors. That includes air-line safety, currency stability, and company law.

In the second tier, they engage the entrenched Somali clan system and other local networks to enforce contract enforcement as well as payment and transmission of funds. For instance, through this system, Somalis scattered all over the world are able to send home a billion dollars every year, funds which reach every remote corner of the country.

Sheer determination by the Somali private sector has buoyed up different sectors to levels not known in the days of Siad Barre.

IN 1991, FOR EXAMPLE, THE NATIONAL air-line had just one plane plying one route. Today, there are 15 air companies with 60 aircraft between them, operating on six international routes and over a dozen local destinations.

Somalia now has 112,000 fixed lines from just 17,000 at the time Siad Barre was chased out of town.

All this means that Somalis can really go places if they so wish. But first they have to decide whether they want to live together as a nation. Short of that they can continue squandering the great potential they have and remain the laughing stock of the world. It really is a matter of choice.

Mr Latif is a retired diplomat
Nairobi

[surria]

When it comes to the Darfur situation I do believe that for the west it is strategic interest, rather than a true sympathy and love for the people. Sudan's oil and its geographic position is what interest these people. However, China is the big player there now and the only thing the Americans and their allies can do is play the humanitarian game.

But, what I am disappointed about is the how you have dismissed the real humanitarian crisis there. NO matter what the intentions of America and its allies are, there are Muslims that are being killed by other Muslims. It pains me to see the suffering of the women and children of Darfur. It is a real shame that the Muslims world lets it continue.

[*Arabman]

[But, what I am disappointed about is the how you have dismissed the real humanitarian crisis there. NO matter what the intentions of America and its allies are, there are Muslims that are being killed by other Muslims. It pains me to see the suffering of the women and children of Darfur. It is a real shame that the Muslims world lets it continue.]

Whose reports are based on "the real humanitarian crisis" in Darfur? Western media. Can we trust it? As a result of the Ethio-American invasion/occupation, there's a real humanitarian crisis in Somalia; does the West or Western media care about Somalis?