Congo: The Beat Goes On

For as long as I taught Conflicts, there was war in Congo, especially eastern Congo. The Rwandan genocide ended and that conflict overflowed and continued in Congo. Mobutu was overthrown, and the war continued. Laurent Kabila was killed, and the war continued. Mutanga was convicted of crimes against humanity, and the war goes on. Each year in Conflicts, there was a different aspect to look at: rape as a weapon, the use of child soldiers, cult leaders, the role of diamonds and other minerals, and so on and so on. Finally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton bravely visited eastern Congo, and the war goes on. The deaths from this war are now estimated to be over six million. It has been called Africa’s first world war. I just call it horrific. I did not think it could get worse, but it has. Now a new tactic has become known to the world: re-rape. Girls and women who were repaired and healed - at least physically - are returning to clinics after being raped again - and again. I thought that I had heard the worst until reading about a new tactic: autocannibalism. Militia soldiers cut flesh from living victims and force them to eat it.

How can the world allow this to continue in 2010? Not only the scope of the war, but also its brutality? Is it because it is taking place in Africa away from the attention of the world’s media? When will the world care about Africa?