Amnesty: 40,000 rapes in Congo

According to human rights group Amnesty, 40,000 woman and girls have been raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo over the past six years. Although the devastating civil war that plagued the country ended in 2003, fighting and sexual violence continues in many parts of the country. Amnesty describes an example of three sisters who were raped by a total of twenty men. Sixteen year old Edith says, "Jeanette was raped by seven soldiers in the storeroom, Francine by eight soldiers in the shop. They put me in the bathroom. I fought with five of the soldiers when they tried to make my brothers watch me being raped. But they beat me so hard." Amnesty urges the Congolese government to take action against the sexual predators and to offer more help for the rape survivors. Currently the medical care for the victims is poor. There are only two eastern hospitals that can treat victims, but the hospitals are dilapidated. What a sad world.