Gazing in the Congo (DRC): the dark heart of Africa (2006-2017)

[Rex Brynen]

Fact is rape in (then) Zaire “locally speaking”, was not considered a horrific act as we in the West consider it - Zairian males (soldiers, civilians and especially government officials) never gave it another thought.

As I think Stan implictly points out here, Zairian/Congolese males may not have thought it a horrific crime. What women thought didn't really enter into it--in a society where they were both disempowered and had no recourse, they could do little but to (try to) go on with their lives.

Nevertheless, we know from programs that deal with survivors of gender-based violence in Africa that the effects, even if less spoken of, are usually traumatic, psychologically, socially, and often medically.

I might draw a parallel with slavery. As we know, many slaves--in the face of conditions that gave them no ability to change their condition--endured slavery as part of their "natural condition," to be dealt with as best they could. It made it no less horrific, no less unwanted by its victims, no less a moral crime, and (practiced on a large scale) no less of a crime against humanity.

Some useful resources on GBV in conflict settings can be found here. See also UNHCR's Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Against Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons. Guidelines for Prevention and Response.

[Tom Odom]

The rape issue is very much culturally defined. First of all in this region men want sex, they get sex. In the 80s studies in Zaire showed that men had 30-40 sexual contacts a month, with ever changing partners. Women were asked and they gave it up. In a locale where veneral rates ran in the 90 percentile with an equally high sterilization rate, the only way a womand could get married was prove she could get pregnant.

Secondly what we would call child abuse is equally culturally based. A female with a menstrual cycle is considered a woman. Over the past couple of decades more insights on paternal sexual predation have added to this.

Gang rape is near traditional when it comes to conquest or vanqusihing an enemy. You defeat the men, killing them or driving them away (in the past you made them slaves) and then raping the women. What has made this epedemic of rape so horrific is its origins in Rwanda as an organized program led by a woman plus of course that AIDS makes rape a mortal assault. Some 250K women were raped in the genocide and many are still dying from it. As bad as that was the continuation of that war and its expansion into the Congo as well as merging with similar conflicts in Uganda and Burundi have made this primeval level of warfare the norm for 2 generations who have participated in it. Child soldiers schooled to kill and rape at will, hooked on drugs, and infected with HIV are not salvageable. Those who survive long enough to reach young adulthood will only create more like themselves. Even if they are salvageable, there are no programs with enough funds, assets, and willpower to impose the security necessary to do the job. That I know is not a PC statement; it is in my opinion very true.

Best

Tom

[selil]

Tom it sounds like you are basically saying that the African continent must be figuratively "re-booted". How do you reset norms of a continent?

[Norfolk]

Tom it sounds like you are basically saying that the African continent must be figuratively "re-booted". How do you reset norms of a continent?

Were these more or less the norms prior to European colonization; and if so did European atrocities merely aggravate an existing condition? Or are these relatively new problems in the region, and not just on the scale that they occurr?

I don't know very much about how society recovered in Eastern Europe and especially the western Soviet Union after WWII, but the closest that I can think of to what has been occurring in Central Africa, in modern times, was maybe the Thirty Years' War. In much of Central Europe, society simply broke down completely, and everyone who wasn't a soldier survived as a camp-follower. Especially the women and children. But I don't know how much, if any applicability that has to modern Central Africa.

[selil]

Norfolk I got the impression from what Tom posted that this was a relatively new occurrence. Of course I'm likely wrong.

[Norfolk]

Norfolk I got the impression from what Tom posted that this was a relatively new occurrence. Of course I'm likely wrong.

No, I expect that you're quite right selil. I probably just misunderstood what Tom wrote; after all, I'm a Redneck, and reedin n' ritin' are really meant for City-folk.

[Stan]

Goma - U.S. Rep Chris Smith launching a four-day human rights mission that will focus on combating human trafficking, child soldiers and sexual violence while at the same time underscoring US commitment to critical peace negotiations due to convene on January 7, 2008.

The US has both a humanitarian and a national security interest in helping them attain stability and security in this critical region of Africa. I’m here to reinforce American support for the peace conference and emphasize our long-term commitment to securing universal human rights as the most effective means to obtaining a genuine and lasting peace.

The US is expected to play a significant role in the January 7th conference scheduled to take place in the North Kivu provincial capital of Goma where insurgent fighting has intensified after the 2006 elections. Rebel forces as well as the government military have recently committed some of the worst human rights abuses in the world in this region of Congo. UN peacekeepers in the region have also come under fire for sexually abusing and trafficking Congolese women and young girls in 2004.

As Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, Smith convened a hearing on the sex trafficking abuse issue in Congo and he remains concerned that the UN must continue to aggressively to address this abuse.

To my dismay and anger I have learned on this mission that the UN is planning on cutting back and downgrading their investigative effort to combat human trafficking by UN personnel, Smith said. That is unacceptable and I will be working to restore the anti-trafficking investigative positions here in Congo.

[Tom Odom]

Were these more or less the norms prior to European colonization; and if so did European atrocities merely aggravate an existing condition? Or are these relatively new problems in the region, and not just on the scale that they occurr?

I would use the somewhat trite expression "A Perfect Storm" in that it combines what happened in the past with what has gone in in recent years. I have debated Adam Hochschild's thesis on the Belgian Congo as European genocide for two main reasons: one is that he uses figures that are extrapolations to make his points. I would say we simply have no good record of population densities in the area at this time. Second is the issue your question gets at: were these traits there before the Europeans came or was colonization the original sin from which all of Africa's woes emerged. Hochschild says the first; I would say that Europeans ruled by terror but they also exploited extant systems in that rule.

Rebooting is an interesting way to put it. I don't have a good answer.

Best

Tom

[Stan]

Just how much cash is needed, since 2007's $22,631,483 still wasn't enough

Other Humanitarian Funding to Democratic Republic of Congo 2007
Table H: List of commitments/contributions and pledges to projects not listed in the Appeal as of 06-January-2008

[carl]

Even if they are salvageable, there are no programs with enough funds, assets, and willpower to impose the security necessary to do the job.

Boy ain't that the truth. I flew some people into a town east of Kindu once and I asked them what they were going to do there. They said they were going to teach classes on conflict resolution. That is what they wanted to spend their time and money on. I doubted the efficacy of the program.

[Stan]

By EDDY ISANGO, Associated Press Writer

GOMA, Congo (AP) -- One of Congo's fiercest warlords sent a delegation on Sunday to meet with members of the government on the first day of peace talks in the provincial outpost of Goma.

The delegation of 10 rebels loyal to Laurent Nkunda arrived in Goma under the guard of U.N. troops. The rebels declared a cease-fire last week.

A spokesman for the delegation said its No. 1 concern is the continued presence in Congo of the extremist Hutu militia FDLR, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda.

[Tom Odom]

The reality of all of this truly emerges when you grasp that what is happening today in the Congo is essentially the same thing that happened in 1960-1963 with one startling difference. In 1960 you could ride a motorcycle from Morrocco to Elizabethville (Lubumbashi) on hard ball roads. I knew a guy who did it--Charlie Laurent (RIP) who commanded 1st Para Ban in 1960 and the entire ParaCommando Regiment in 1964. The Congo had a fully functional transporation system that tied rail, rivers, and roads together. Air was a back up system. All of that is gone. If you cannot move it by air, you can't move it. Funny that the UN peacekeeping effort in the Congo is the largest on record; the previous record holder was the Congo, 1960-1963.

Good luck on teachning conflict management

Best

Tom

[Stan]

I ran across this site - In and Out of Focus.

Fairly old info, but the images and text echo your post. Several short stories, such as The Tutsi Section.

[Stan]

GOMA, Congo (AP) — Congolese government forces summarily executed civilians and members of a politician’s private militia and used excessive force during clashes with the militia last year, according to a preliminary report by United Nations human rights investigators.

The United Nations panel had investigated clashes in Kinshasa, Congo’s capital, in March between Congolese forces and security guards of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former warlord who was runner-up in 2006 presidential elections.

In a statement released Friday in Geneva, the United Nations human rights commissioner’s office said the government killed at least 300 people last March.

The Congo defense minister, Chikez Diemu, spoke for the government.

“There are means of dealing with such serious issues, and not through the media,” Mr. Diemu said from this far eastern city in North Kivu Province where officials were gathering for peace talks with another warlord.

Congolese officials said the clashes started when Mr. Bemba’s troops took over a part of Kinshasa. Mr. Bemba, who once controlled an army of 20,000 but had only a battalion of roughly 600 men at the time, said his men were defending him from an assassination attempt.

[Penta]

Tom it sounds like you are basically saying that the African continent must be figuratively "re-booted". How do you reset norms of a continent?

I'm not sure how much you can.

Thinking the Unthinkable:

1. AIDS, and the fact that we're likely to have much of a generation that are orphans (perhaps from birth) as a result of AIDS in a fair number of African countries...

Well, let's think the unthinkable.

You have a large proportion of people who are orphans. Who have few family ties, hence little of what ties people in to a culture, what socializes them, etc.

Disregarding, for right now, financial and logistical hurdles...

Why not borrow a page from the "Indian Schools" of the 19th and early 20th centuries?

Take those kids (optimally between the ages of 5-8) from their home regions, put them in year-round boarding schools/refugee camps. With food, medical care, education, etc etc. all provided by the foreign nationals running the place.

They're given good educations, etc., yes. But they're also mixed together, regardless of tribal/national origin. Where they have no common language? So be it; the school will have a language of instruction that will probably become a lingua franca.

Primary and secondary ed provided in these camps. Then, they're released to a place (in Africa) of their choosing when they're of age.

In some sense, this may be genocide. However, with such a massive orphan population, it's a question whether the culture itself would not have died off.

Like I said, there are logistical and financial hurdles to this.

But, well...Why not?

*clambers into the asbestos-lined suit*

[Norfolk]

It's certainly the best (or least-worst) option that I've heard of. As to how practical it is, well... But nevertheless, the best so far.

[tequila]

No offense, but I have to say that sounds like an extraordinarily terrible idea. The Indian schools in both Canada and the U.S. were generally underfunded and ignored educational failures, rife with sexual abuse. There is little evidence that the student population of those schools somehow became any better prepared to integrate into the broader American society - the Native population in the U.S. remains at or near the bottom in terms of educational achievement and economic status.

Even if your idea came into complete fruition and operated without a hitch with lavish funding and support, and complete political support from the home countries, how would a small population of orphaned children with decent primary school educations "reboot" an entire continent?

Perhaps one of the steps we could take when addressing African problems is paying them the same respect we do to other groups and actually break these things down into where the problems actually are, as opposed to assuming that an entire continent can be categorized as a single mass entity with the same issues to be solved by the same almighty foreign experts. Egypt is not Nigeria, Namibia is not the Congo. The problems of Ethiopia are not the same as those of Burundi.

[Rex Brynen]

You have a large proportion of people who are orphans. Who have few family ties, hence little of what ties people in to a culture, what socializes them, etc.

Despite the magnitude of the AIDS crisis, extended family networks have proven remarkably resilient in providing support for the children of AIDS suffers and victims, and (appropriately, I think) the current thrust is to empower current care givers with individual and community resources--not to rip children away from their village or other support systems.

Indeed, I think this is an essential lesson from most humanitarian and developmental work: try to build on local resources and support systems where you can, don't rip them down and try to impose an often expensive, unsustainable, poorly-suited external model.

Aboriginal residential schools in North America, were generally a disaster--having taught on a reserve, I can tell you they were regarded by those who had experienced them with hatred (not too strong a word.. if anything, it understates the legacies of abuse, cultural paternalism, and alienation).

There is a good overview of the issue here:

In the early days of the AIDS orphan crisis, there was a rush by well meaning non-governmental organisations to build orphanages. Given the scale of the problem, though, this response was unsustainable, as the cost of maintaining a child in such an institution is much greater than other forms of care. Most people now believe that orphans should be cared for in family units through extended family networks, foster families and adoption, and that siblings should not be separated. Studies in Sub-Saharan Africa have repeatedly demonstrated that growing up in a family environment is more beneficial to a child than institutional care, which should be considered a temporary option or a last resort.

[Penta]

@Tequila: That's the kind of reaction I like.

It was specifically filed under 'thinking the unthinkable' because it's an extreme idea - it could either work really well or really, amazingly badly.

It's also the kind of grand plan that government likes.

The reality is that for the policymaker, from what I can see, Africa seems to be too big. Too varied.

You're right: The responses should be implemented and tailored to each country, each situation.

But that's not how governments (and, to an extent, NGOs) work.

A bunch of little funding lines, each program tailored to the target, is a lot easier to kill, a lot harder to make look "efficient" and "economical", then one big program that treats "all those black people in huts" the same whether they're in South Africa or Somalia, Ethiopia or Equatorial Guinea.

Finally, let's be -brutally- realistic:

1. 99% of America, or most any Western country, will never, ever give a flying #### about Africa beyond platitudes. Ever. It was written off before I was born.

2. Any moron can make a case why European affairs are something for the American policymaker to care about. Middle East and most of Asia, too.

Africa? No. The case for any notice to be paid is hard to make - mostly it's moral and humanitarian, and those cases only last until the next "puppydog eyes" moment arrives in some other part of the world.

3. If Africa were to experience Black Death levels of rapid death - 1/3 or more of the population dying rapidly, let's say 1/2 - does anyone think such a story would ever make it to the front of the world's attention for very long? Does anyone think it would prompt sustained, coordinated action of the type actually needed to make Sub-Saharan Africa something more than convenient shorthand for "hellhole", into (say) something people might consider poor but not hopeless?

I don't.

The idea I put out there was a bad idea in a lot of ways. However, I'm not sure there are any -good- ideas to be had.

[Stan]

We don’t have to travel farther than the 70’s in D.C. with forced integration in schools to understand this is not the right answer. This cookie cutter approach to making folks better off and get along didn’t work in DC and certainly won’t make it in Sub-Sahara. We’re not going to change generations of culture with a few slices of white bread, bowl of pea soup and an education.

EDIT:

3. If Africa were to experience Black Death levels of rapid death - 1/3 or more of the population dying rapidly, let's say 1/2 - does anyone think such a story would ever make it to the front of the world's attention for very long?

We already did that. 800,000 to 1 million in 40 days. Ghastly comes to mind, but little more attention than previously noted.