The eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo has once more been a theater of serious violations of human rights. Women and children as young as nine-years-old have been raped and in some instances murdered. You can hear the cry of these broken hearts.
What has just happened in the Eastern Congo (North and South Kivus provinces), as reported by the United Nations, should not have happened. When people are deliberately planning and committing mass rape, we all need to ask serious questions about motives:
- Were these mass rapes used for the militia to vividly make themselves a concern in the international community and media?
- Were the rapes a way to punish a community that is or is not backing the government in its fight against the militia?
- Should we be so naïve as to think that it is only the result of lust?
- Or, is it a way to secure power, control, and riches?
Whatever the reason may be, this should not happen in the first place. This has to stop!
The Congo needs your supportive prayers, but we also want you to encourage the emergence of strong leaders who can start acting from the bottom up. Lastly, let's show Christ's love to the victims and pray for them.
Tim Odosa M. is a children's rights activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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