US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the use of women as “weapons of war” in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) must stop and that Kinshasa should do more to stamp out rape.
Clinton arrived yesterday in the Congolese city of Goma, capital of North Kivu province, which aid groups say is the most dangerous place on earth for women and children, where she planned to meet DR Congo President Joseph Kabila and UN peacekeepers.
She was also scheduled to hold a private meeting with women who have suffered rape and other atrocities as part of her goal to raise international awareness and get both Congo and the UN to punish those responsible.
“It is truly one of mankind’s greatest atrocities. This country has seen humanity at its worst,” Clinton, a long-time advocate of women’s rights and the first US secretary of state to visit Goma, said before traveling to eastern Congo.
Kinshasa and the UN’s biggest peacekeeping force, consisting of about 17,000 troops, are struggling to stabilize the east of the vast central African country after decades of dictatorship and a 1998-2003 war.
ILLEGAL TRADE
Clinton planned to raise the question of the illegal trade in minerals such as cassiterite and coltan, which are dug up in eastern Congo for use in consumer electronics such as mobile phones and whose sale funds armed groups in the region.
“A central focus should be on the fuel that drives the violence — the contest over the conflict minerals extracted from the eastern war zone and helping to power our electronics industry,” Africa expert John Prendergast said.
“Until the trade in minerals becomes legal and transparent, there will be no peace in Congo,” he said.
Clinton has said she wanted corporations exploiting mineral wealth to understand it is in their interests to help end the conflict.
In Goma, tens of thousands of displaced people are packed into camps and vulnerable to attacks.
The UN has accused all sides of human rights abuses in DR Congo, including mass killings, rape and lootings.
Last month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said at least 200,000 cases of sexual violence had been reported in DR Congo since 1996 and aid workers said the numbers were not abating.
JUSTICE
“I hope in [DR Congo] there will be a concerted effort to demand justice for women who are violently attacked and to make sure that their attackers are punished,” Clinton said.
She is on a seven-nation, 11-day trip to Africa. After visiting Goma, she was to head to Nigeria, where the focus would be on fighting corruption, a main theme of her trip, particularly in Kenya and in Angola.
Her final stops are Liberia and Cape Verde before returning to Washington on Friday.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese