Women in Congo Stand Up For Peace

The Congo is one of the most violent places on earth today. With a continued war that were the victims not African would be on the pages of our Newspapers daily. Women and children are the worst affected. Women are being systematically raped. Children, raped, beaten and often put into service to fight. Why? Unfortunately it is mostly over coltan, the mineral that makes our cell phones possible. As I explained in post Our Greed Fueling Genocide In Congo The cell phone I have, the one you have… that PDA, just about any small electronic device uses a mineral called coltan. Congo has nearly all the coltan in the world. The mineral should make this starving nation rich, but instead these impoverished people are fighting and running from the longest on going conflict in the world. More than 4 million people have died in this conflict. Conflict over first diamonds, now colton and niobium. As a result the second largest rain forest is being decimated by struggling Congolese looking for the substance. We as the recipients of their mineral wealth should be doing more to help this country. I mean the US is responsible for the chaos in Congo, most people don’t realize that the US Government through the CIA killed their first leader because he wanted to give the wealth to the population and we thought that was to socialist. So we killed democratically elected President Patrice Lumumba and supported the dictator that raped the country of its wealth and starved his own people. Today our companies are supporting the people doing the same thing… We as western society should be active in bringing a peace process, and setting up a system where the minerals are not used to justify more war, but rather part of the solution to helping this country get back on its feet. Truth be told Africa doesn't need westerners to save it. Africans just need a chance to stand up for themselves and support from us when they do. We need to keep our governments accountable to make sure they are supporting initiatives like this and not selling them out. Women in black went to the streets to demand peace and protection. All Africa a great news site has the press release from ActionAid which does OK work. “Cases of violence against women have risen dramatically since the latest fighting broke out. Women have also died while trying to protect their sons from being attacked or taken away by rebels to bolster troops,” says Alpha Sankoh, Country Director of ActionAid, DRC. “Now the women of Goma have decided to publicly speak out to alert the world to what is happening in Congo. “The protest signifies the bravery and commitment of women to speak out against rape and assault. The event will include speeches and silent contemplation, and SAUTI have asked attendees to wear black in keeping with the solemnity of the occasion.” Since January, more than 3,000 cases of sexual violence – mostly by rebels and soldiers - have been reported. The number is not an adequate reflection of the scale of the trauma, as many women and children are afraid to come forward. RSS