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.
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