Sunday, 07 October 2007
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Epidemic of Rape and Mutilation in Central Africa
"We don't know why these rapes are happening, but one thing is clear; they are done to destroy women."
In a long and detailed article (New York Times, 10/7/07) Jeffrey Gettleman has detailed the extensive "epidemic" of rape in Congo. Not only are hundreds of women being raped every year - doctors expect to treat as many as 8,000 this year [the number was over 6,000 last year] - but the women are being mutilated afterwards. The rapes and the mutilations are deliberate attempts to humiliate both the women and their husbands. This practice has been reported in Darfur as well. It appears to have become widespread in Central Africa. The prevalence of such violence and brutality evinces the pathetic weakness of organized and disciplined systems of administration. Some observers have connected the practice to the genocidal attacks against Tutsi and modern Hutus in Rwanda in the 1990s, the most brutal of them in 1994, noting that the most violent of the perpetrators are Hutu militants who had instigated and enforced that genocide.
The violence and assaults are so frequent that, "recently, the U.N. troops initiated what they call “night flashes,” in which three truckloads of peacekeepers drive into the bush and keep their headlights on all night as a signal to both civilians and armed groups that the peacekeepers are there. Sometimes, when morning comes, 3,000 villagers are curled up on the ground around them."
Pray for God to intervene in the lives of those who are being brutalized and also those who are wantonly brutalizing others. Pray for God to raise up leaders that can bring justice to the region, that Jesus can be lifted up, that hearts can be regenerated and lives changed. Pray for God's spirit to bring special comfort to those who have been brutalized and shamed by this practice. Pray for those who have either lost family members or have been abandoned because of this practice.
For the whole story click here: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/07/world/africa/07congo.html
For a photo essay click here: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2007/10/06/world/20071002CONGO_index.html
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