The Congo Atrocities
 

I was watching TV last night. They said over 2 million people have died in this civil war more than Vietnam-more than Korea-estimates run as high as 4.7 million.

The soldiers are forcing little girls into the role of "bush brides" where they are gang raped."In conflict zones, especially in eastern Congo, sexual violence against women and girls is rampant and used as a weapon of war by most forces involved in conflict," the report said.

The rebels are practicing Canabalism against the pygmies (link). http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?page=2&tid=390

A recent UNICEF (news - web sites) report suggested that up to 20 percent of Congo's 51 million people may be infected with the HIV virus (news - web sites). The report noted that "many infections occur as a result of rape and other forms of sexual violence against women and girls

A new deadly Ebola outbreak is suspected.

The story that follows talks about the little boys they are using.
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/W...ers030616.html
Innocence Lost
Youngest Victims of Congolese Wars Are Child Soldiers

By David Wright



B U N I A, Congo, June 16 — For many young boys in the northeastern town of Bunia, the day begins with precision marching and a drill.


They are the soldiers of Congo's civil war: teenage warriors, in hand-me-down fatigues. Most of them have been soldiers for years, even though they fall far short of the legal age.

When asked the age of a comrade, a young male who appears pre-adolescent himself answers in French, "He's 18."

Even he can't say it with a straight face. Before much more can be divulged, the other soldiers order the young man to go inside, out of sight.

It is a war crime to enlist and deploy soldiers under the age of 15, but local commanders in Bunia don't seem to care. The United Nations estimates that between 40 percent and 60 percent of the soldiers fighting in Congo's civil war are children.

There are believed to be tens of thousands of child soldiers. They are loyal, enthusiastic — and cheap.

Rebels Without a Cause

In Bunia, where rival tribes are fighting for control of resource-rich Ituri province, aid workers have become all too used to the sight of warrior children.

"The majority of the people with guns are children, anything from 8 [years old] to 16, 18, but the average is 12," said Libby Kennard of Save the Children.

At age 12, Keesambo is already an ex-soldier. He says he quit the army because the food was bad.

"They fed us only a handful of beans and corn each morning," he told ABCNEWS in Swahili, while an interpreter translated his words.

The commanders have been warned repeatedly. Thomas Lubanga, the Hema warlord who controls Bunia, claims to lead an army of 15,000 men.

Lubanga, of the Union of Congolese Patriots, maintains, "I have no child soldiers."

Kristine Peduto, a child protection officer with MONUC, the U.N. Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, doesn't believe him.

"Just look around the streets," she said. "He's got more than 50 percent of his soldiers who are kids, it's not possible for him to deny that."

French peacekeepers have been authorized to shoot any troublemakers. It bothers them that they now face an army of children.

Maj. Xavier Pons, deputy spokesman for the Multinational Force in Congo, said, "It's a pity to see young people with weapons. But our mandate is clear: Anyone who threatens the force will be engaged."

If keeping the peace here means they have to kill children, many boys no older than Keesambo will die.

Thanks for posting this! I've been reading about the Congo quite a bit lately, and I'm glad to see that more people are taking note of some of the horrible things that go on there.

:( :( :(

What the Human Being Does To Each Other!:mad: :(

I just got back from the Congo and it's depressing. The problem is very complicated. Not only do you have local rebels, but you have Zimbabwe, Angola, and Namibimia supporting the government and Uganda and Rwanda supporting the rebels. It's getting better on the western part of the country, but the eastern is falling a part. If it weren't for the French, it would have been worst.

There are good news however, they just swore in 4 vice presidents, 1 from the government and 3 from the different rebel factions. If this holds on, they might be able to move toward the democratazation in a few years.

Another problem also is the amount number of PMC (Private Military Corporations) that is being used to guard the diamond mines by different factions. Most of these PMCs are from the old Rhodesian armies and South African special forces. There is nobody that is holding them accountable.

Arya, last year I was watching a documentary on the diamond mines. Can you tell me if it was about the same area?
(I never get to watch a full documentary...I usually tune in after missing some pretty important info!!!)

The piece showed how the militants turned the village into basically, a situation of slavery. Any dissent was met with punishment not only to the adult, but they would chop off the legs of their infants. It showed the MAJORITY of individuals living in this town with a limb missing...even the children.

They pointed the finger at DeBeers for buying diamonds from the
guerillas and the government for the kickbacks from them.

Is this the same area?

This is really a sad situation. I hope the governmental changes help. but they have so MANY problems...

For your first question, I have no idea which documentary your talking bout so I can't really comment. Can you give me the title so I can check it out? As for the militant action, that's bout sums up most of the conflict in the Great Lakes. That area needs more attention from the world cause Congo have the potential with their natural resources.

As for DeBeers, I do know that the diamond industry, bout 2 years ago, finally agreed to a code of conduct. They have this method of being able to track down where the diamond is comming from. I'm not exactly sure how they do it, I'll find out. But DeBeers is one of the company that sign the code of conduct. I do know that Oppenheimer (the owner) would not want to be in the bad side of the South African government. Especially since the SA government are very aggressive in their attempt to solve this problem. Also with the African Union being started, there was now way De Beers could've done business the old way if indeed this was how they did it. Most of the diamond are smuggled out to Europe and US and the money are used to finance this civil war. I know Mugabe (Zimbabwe) have a stake in one of the diamond field and that is why the Zimbabwean army is there. Hence, the Congo is known as the first World War in Africa.

No way could I remember the name of the documentary, but almost everything you mentioned was included regarding the diamonds.

Thanks for your insight. How I hope they find peace. In so many aspects this is such a desperate situation!

I think you are thinking about a story that appeared on 60 Minutes.

Madmax...WHERE IN THE HECK HAVE YOU BEEN!!!!

I guess you are posting on different threads.

No, I'm pretty certain it was a PBS or Discovery channel because
I really like those stations and tune in frequently. 60 min. is OK, but since that fake report on the car crashes I don't watch them.
Maybe it could have been a National Geographic special-they used to run them on CNBC sunday nights.

sorry, didn't see the documentary. Remmember, I have different channel down here. The good thing is that the Channels down here concentrate, of course, more on Africa. The Hussein's kids death was mention briefly, whereas the Liberia and Zimbabwe problems are more prominent. Tells you that not the whole world are really concerned bout what is gonig on in the Middle East as much as the Westerns.

off-tangent rant warning:
I always wondered whenever bush or any other western leader kept on saying "The World" this and the world community, do they speak for the entire world or just the western world. Food for thought.