Of Congo’s Deplorable State 1

I thought Philippines has the most backward implementation of social justice. However, when I read the news about how the Congo women were abused by the armed forces, police, and rebels alike, I can’t help but be thankful I’m a Filipina.

The July 30, 2007 tells of South Kivu’s (a province of Congo) violence against women. To give you readers a clear picture of what’s going on in there, let me quote Ms. Yakin Erturk statement after her 11-day mission.

"The atrocities perpetrated by these armed groups are of an unimaginable brutality that goes far beyond rape," she said in a statement. "Women are brutally 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."

The statement continued: "Frequently women are shot or stabbed in their genital organs, after they are raped. Women, who survived months of enslavement, told me that their tormentors had forced them to eat excrement or the human flesh of murdered relatives."

These appalling situations can be blamed partly to their volatile political state.

Very Brief Political History of Congo

I want my readers to bear in their minds that Congo has rich mineral deposits like coltan, cassiterite, copper and diamond mines. So you can just imagine the clamor of the US to “help” like what they are doing now in Iraq. The US along with the Belgian gov’t “help” consisted of financing Mobutu, an army chief of staff, to maintain “order” with a coup.