In “Clinton Presents Plan to Fight Sexual Violence in Congo,” Jeffrey Gettleman describes U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s visit to the eastern Congo, part of a seven-nation Africa tour intended to strengthen relations with strategic African countries and to use American influence to stop Africa’s wars.
Gettleman reports that Mrs. Clinton used her unprecedented visit - she is the first secretary of state to venture into the war zone here - to unveil a $17 million plan to fight Congo’s stunning levels of sexual violence. The money would be used to train doctors, supply rape victims with video cameras to document violence, send American military engineers to help build facilities and train Congolese police officers, especially female police officers, to crack down on rapists.
Gettleman also reports that Mrs. Clinton said she urged the Congolese government to do a better job of protecting its own people and to prosecute offenders in the Congolese military, which is notorious as one of the least disciplined, poorest paid armies anywhere.
Clinton’s visit came on the heels of a Washington Post report “Congo’s Rape Epidemic Worsens During U.S.-Backed Military Operation”. Stephanie McCrummen reports that “an already staggering epidemic of rape has become markedly worse since the January deployment of tens of thousands of poorly trained, poorly paid Congolese soldiers, with people in front-line villages such as this one saying the soldiers are not so much hunting rebels as hunting women.”
