US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton turns her African tour to human rights Monday as she heads to one of its most tragic nations, the Democratic Republic of Congo, to press for an end to mass rapes.
Halfway through an 11-day journey through Africa Clinton heads to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire, where she will lobby for action on ending violence against women.
The United Nations says that nearly 3,500 women have been raped since the beginning of the year in the east of the country as Congolese troops mount an offensive against Hutu militants, some of them implicated in Rwanda's 1994 genocide.
Clinton will head on Tuesday to Goma to offer personal comfort to survivors of sexual violence and urge action to end the abuse.
Meeting students last week in Kenya, the first stop of her seven-nation tour, Clinton spoke out passionately against the sexual violence in the DR Congo, calling it "unspeakable."
"It is the worst example of man's inhumanity to women," Clinton said.
(Source: AFP)
(Photo: Flickr)
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