S
Sophia
Guest
24
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1823
TORONTO (NFTF.org) -- On March 8, International Women's Day, the United Nations released a report through their Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
about widespread rape of women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Background Report).
This report prompted an apology that same day from Azarias Ruberwa, one of four DRC vice-presidents and leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), a former rebel movement which is now a party to the national unity government.
During a ceremony
to mark International Women's Day, Ruberwa said: "In the name of all people of the Congo and the nation's leadership which is composed of all parties to the inter-Congolese dialogue, I beg the
forg
iveness of Congolese women for the violence and abuse to which they
were subjected during the war." To his surprise, he was met with boos and heckles from about 3,000 women who had gathered for the event.
Fabiola Faida Mwangilwa, the minister of women's affairs, addressed the crowd and told them: "To rape a woman is to rape one's mother or one's sister. The women of Congo are fed up with this and demand that it be brought to an end immediately."
Ruberwa and DRC president Joseph Kabila have acknowledged that rape reached horrendous proportions during the five-year civil war which ended last year with the establishment of a transitional government. That government is expected to lead the nation through to democratic elections in 2005, its first vote in more th
an 40 years. The war itself killed between 3.7 and 4.3 million people and there were eventually seven foreign nations participating in the civil war along with scores of rebel militia groups.
On
e of the too
ls of terror used by various sides in the war was systematic rape of whole families and villag
es. And despite the general peace and the movement of the transitional government toward stability, rape cases appear to be increasing in some areas, particularly the eastern provinces, which were also the scene of some of the most vicious fighting during the war.
Ruberwa and Kabila spoke jointly in response to the protesting women on March 8 and promised that they will bring an end to this epidemic. More, they have pledged that they will root out the perpetrators (at least those who have committed rape since the war ended), and bring them to justice.
YellowTimes.org correspondent Paul Harris drafted this report.
http://www.yellowtimes.org/article.php?sid=1823
TORONTO (NFTF.org) -- On March 8, International Women's Day, the United Nations released a report through their Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)
about widespread rape of women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (Background Report).
This report prompted an apology that same day from Azarias Ruberwa, one of four DRC vice-presidents and leader of the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie (RCD-Goma), a former rebel movement which is now a party to the national unity government.
During a ceremony
to mark International Women's Day, Ruberwa said: "In the name of all people of the Congo and the nation's leadership which is composed of all parties to the inter-Congolese dialogue, I beg the
forg
iveness of Congolese women for the violence and abuse to which they
were subjected during the war." To his surprise, he was met with boos and heckles from about 3,000 women who had gathered for the event.
Fabiola Faida Mwangilwa, the minister of women's affairs, addressed the crowd and told them: "To rape a woman is to rape one's mother or one's sister. The women of Congo are fed up with this and demand that it be brought to an end immediately."
Ruberwa and DRC president Joseph Kabila have acknowledged that rape reached horrendous proportions during the five-year civil war which ended last year with the establishment of a transitional government. That government is expected to lead the nation through to democratic elections in 2005, its first vote in more th
an 40 years. The war itself killed between 3.7 and 4.3 million people and there were eventually seven foreign nations participating in the civil war along with scores of rebel militia groups.
On
e of the too
ls of terror used by various sides in the war was systematic rape of whole families and villag
es. And despite the general peace and the movement of the transitional government toward stability, rape cases appear to be increasing in some areas, particularly the eastern provinces, which were also the scene of some of the most vicious fighting during the war.
Ruberwa and Kabila spoke jointly in response to the protesting women on March 8 and promised that they will bring an end to this epidemic. More, they have pledged that they will root out the perpetrators (at least those who have committed rape since the war ended), and bring them to justice.
YellowTimes.org correspondent Paul Harris drafted this report.