Ending Extreme Poverty in the Congo

Everybody is Violating Human Rights

Everyone is violating the human rights of the Congolese.  Basically, it boils down to anybody with a gun.  There are no good guys and bad guys when you are an unarmed civilian.

In our wild, wild West everyone had (or could have had) guns.  But you had the sheriff, marshal, or Texas Ranger to keep the peace and to protect the unarmed civilian.

The government troops and national police must stop taking advantage of the people.

allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: All Sides Continue to Violate Human Rights, UN Report Finds (Page 1 of 1).

UN News Service (New York) 18 June 2008 Posted to the web 19 June 2008

Government troops, national police, foreign groups and local militia in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) continue to contribute to deteriorating human rights conditions, the United Nations peacekeeping mission to the country (MONUC) said in a report released today.

The report, assessing the human rights situation in the DRC in April, found that both the armed forces - known as FARDC - and the police (PNC) are among the main violators, including through rapes and acts of torture.

PRAYER:  Dear Heavenly Father, raise the consciousness of the world.  Help us demand to the protection of the unarmed, the poor, and the weak.  AMEN.

Eastern Congo - Rape Capital of the WORLD

Eastern Congo is the rape capital of the world.  Rape is being used as a weapon of war in eastern Congo. (the Wild Wild East!)

How can we allow this to happen?  It is our problem.

Op-Ed Columnist - Nicholas D. Kristof - Rape as a Strategy of War - Op-Ed - NYTimes.com.

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Published: June 15, 2008

World leaders fight terrorism all the time, with summit meetings and sound bites and security initiatives. But they have studiously ignored one of the most common and brutal varieties of terrorism in the world today.

This is a kind of terrorism that disproportionately targets children. It involves not W.M.D. but simply AK-47s, machetes and pointed sticks. It is mass rape -- and it will be elevated, belatedly, to a spot on the international agenda this week.

The United Nations Security Council will hold a special session on sexual violence this Thursday, with Condoleezza Rice coming to New York to lead the debate. This session, sponsored by the United States and backed by a Security Council resolution calling for regular follow-up reports, just may help mass rape graduate from an unmentionable to a serious foreign policy issue.

The rape capital of the world is eastern Congo, where in some areas three-quarters of women have been raped. Sometimes the rapes are conducted with pointed sticks that leave the victims incontinent from internal injuries, and a former U.N. force commander there, Patrick Cammaert, says it is “more dangerous to be a woman than to be a soldier.”

The international community’s response so far? Approximately: “Not our problem.”

Many Children in Congo have no choice

A school scholarship is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.  UNICEF's School Fee Abolition Initiative assisted 500 children to go back to school.

Children were working in the dangerous Ruashi mines.

Congo Helping Hands provides school scholarships to assist rural poor children.  Girls are targeted to keep them in school.  A $15 annual scholarship keeps them in school.  

UNICEF - Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse - World Day against Child Labour highlights the right of every child to an education.

By Amy Bennett NEW YORK, USA, 12 June 2008 -- The UN International Labour Organization has designated today the World Day against Child Labour. Observed annually, it is a day to raise awareness about the cycle of poverty that results when children must work and therefore miss out on educational opportunities.

When children have no choice -- At the Ruashi mining site in Katanga province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, one local woman returned day after day, working side-by-side with her son.

“I like the job because it helps me to survive,” she said. “I do not like to see my children working here, but we don’t have a choice now. We hope when we get much more money, the children can get out.”

A youth protection worker at the site, Chrisante Kyondwa, explained: “The mining environment presents a lot of danger and risks for children. There are children who begin work at 8 and finish at 3 p.m. It is a difficult job that has a huge impact on the child’s health.”

Effects of school fee abolition -- UNICEF has assisted 500 children so far from the Ruashi mines to go back to school. There are no longer any child labourers in these particular mines.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, help these children break the cycle of poverty.  Protect them while they work in dangerous places and under harsh conditions.  AMEN.

Your Flying Choices are limited

In the Congo, your choices are limited.  You can charter a plane from a reliable agency like Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).  It is much more costly.  Or you try to drive which would be take weeks just to go 400 miles and it would be equally dangerous.  So you basically have no choice but to pray, hope, and roll the dice.

Overall, travel is extremely difficult and unsafe in Congo and other African countries.  Car accidents are a leading cause of deaths for expats.

Why It Matters : Danger in African Skies.

This sorry record has led to the European Union including 74 African airlines on its 91-strong global blacklist of planes barred from EU air space. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the country's vast size and severely-limited road network makes it heavily dependent on air cargo, all 54 of the country's airlines are banned. With 20 crashes since 1996, including a Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 that killed 40 people, including 37 on the ground when it overran the runway in the east Congolese city of Goma on April 15, the D.R.C. has the worst safety record in sub-Saharan Africa.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, Give the air traveler courage, Help the African government to value human life, and Instill in African airlines the need for maintenance and replacement.  AMEN.

Land Disputes Complicate Refugee Return to Eastern Congo

Yet another showstopper for the peace process in the Wild, Wild East Congo.

Land disputes make it difficult for 400,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to return to their homes.  The IDPs fled due to fighting and threats from armed rebel groups operating in South Kivu.

allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Land Disputes Complicate Refugee Return to Eastern DR Congo, UN Says (Page 1 of 1).

UN News Service (New York) 9 June 2008 Posted to the web 10 June 2008

The United Nations refugee agency is helping to promote dialogue to ward off disputes over land in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) province of South Kivu, one of the largest issues facing refugees returning to the region.

Land is at the root of many quarrels between Congolese returnees and those who never left the DRC, as well as between refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) today.

To ease the reintegration process for those returning to South Kivu - a province which borders Rwanda and Uganda and has seen relative stability - UNHCR, together with its partners, has been working to encourage mediation.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, give the authorities the wisdom and offer the people the understanding to settle their land disputes.  Peace to all.  AMEN.

UN Proposes Political Pressure to End Armed Conflicts

This week, violence flared up again when rebels killed innocence internally displaced persons (IDPs).  For the time being, the UN proposes to use political pressure to end the insurgency.  President Kabila agreed with the proposal.

The UN may be offering the last invitation for all the armed groups to end all violence.  These are the same groups that signed the peace agreement in January.

VOA News - UN Proposes Political Pressure to End Armed Conflicts in DRC.

Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila has reportedly welcomed a proposal by the United Nations Mission in the country to use political pressure to end insurgency from armed groups in the country. The U.N. proposal would involve the cooperation of all armed groups in the country to ensure peace and security in the restive North Kivu province. It also appealed to the Security Council to approve new military equipment to help ensure peace and stability in the country.

“The new approach, which was proposed by the U.N. Security Council emphasizes more on political pressure for the time being. It means this is going to involve all the armed groups, which signed this deal in January to get involved and really to go on until the end of the process so that peace can be restored. If this is not respected the U.N. Security Council said that it is going to use force and the ICC (International Criminal Court) international justice pressure would be used. These are the two other solutions or two other ways the Security Council would use to solve the problem if the different leaders of armed groups don’t get on the opportunity to be involved in the political solution,” Kohora (VOA correspondent in the Congo) pointed out.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, bring peace to eastern Congo.  AMEN.

Muhammad Yunus Discusses new Social Business Companies

Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of the Grameen Bank and winner of the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize, gave the Commencement address for MIT's 142nd Commencement held June 6, 2008.

Grameen Bank and Dr. Yunus have started many business to benefit and provide needed services to the poor.  Grameen phone and Grameen energy were started from idea generated Grameen Bank customers.  Dr. Yunus discussed his new Social Businesses with Grameen Danone, Grameen Credit Agricole Microfinance Foundation, and Grameen Intel.

More importantly, they discussed the launch of a social business to produce insectide treated mosquito nets.  

The Grameen Bank concept would work well in Congo to give the poor a chance to get out of poverty. 


Commencement address by Muhammad Yunus - MIT News Office.

We have signed a joint-venture agreement with Intel Corporation, to create a social business company called Grameen-Intel to bring information technology-based services to the poor in healthcare, marketing, education and remittances.

We also signed a social business joint venture agreement with Saudi German Hospital Group to set up a series of hospitals in Bangladesh.

Many more companies from around the world are showing interest in such social business joint ventures. A leading shoe company wants to create a social business to make sure that nobody goes without shoes. One leading pharmaceutical company wishes to set up a joint venture social business company to produce nutritional supplements appropriate for Bangladeshi pregnant mothers and young women, at the cheapest possible price.

We are also in discussion to launch a social business company to produce chemically treated mosquito-nets to protect people in Bangladesh and Africa from malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.

PRAYER:

Dear Loving God, thank you for the people like Dr. Yunus and the programs that they develop to help the poor live better.  AMEN.

Microfinance Program Expands Into Congo

allAfrica.com: Africa: IFC Microfinance Program Expands (Page 1 of 1).

International Finance Corporation (Washington, DC)

PRESS RELEASE 5 June 2008 Posted to the web 5 June 2008 Cape Town

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced that it will help launch Advans Banque Congo, a new microfinance institution in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The transaction is the latest in IFC's microfinance strategy for Africa, under which IFC plans to support loans to more than 400,000 small entrepreneurs in Africa's poorest regions in the next five years.

"Microfinance institutions provide valuable support to entrepreneurs and small businesses in developing countries. They also play a key role in improving financial infrastructure," said Claude Falgon, Manager of Advans.  "Working with IFC will enable uus to reach underserved people, helping create jobs and reduce poverty."

Rebels 'kill' Congo refugees

When will peace come to the eastern Congo?

Rwandan gunmen are accused of killing unarmed civilians in a refugee camp.  The gunmen may be part of the Hutu rebels who took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Peace will arrive when all the rebel groups are disarmed by the Congo government and MONUC forces.

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Rebels 'kill' DR Congo refugees.

Rebels from Rwanda have attacked a refugee camp in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, killing at least six people and wounding 30, the UN says.

The gunmen entered the Kinyandoni camp in North Kivu province and shot indiscriminately at the unarmed civilians, a UN spokesman said.

The UN says the rebels have attacked the civilians in retaliation. The presence of up to 8,000 Hutu rebels, some of whom allegedly took part to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, is seen as one of the main obstacles to peace in eastern DR Congo. The UN refugee agency says violence in Kivu has now displaced almost 900,000 people.

PRAYER:

Dear Heavenly Father, bring your peace to the eastern Congo.  AMEN.

Congolese Children denied education

Save the Children is working in Congo to make schools safe and to encourage national governments and international institutions to prioritize quality education.

Education promotes economical development, poverty eradication and overall stability.

Press Releases: Not Specified, Children living in conflict areas denied education.

Despite conflict-affected countries having the most children out of school, donor nations are prioritizing education aid to more stable countries -- leaving countries most in need with little hope of breaking the cycle of poverty and violence. Education is crucial to economic development, poverty alleviation and stability. In the short-term it can help protect children and support conflict resolution; in the long term it lays the foundation for healthier, more productive and better governed societies.

'One of three children is currently out of school in conflict-affected countries,' says Charles MacCormack. 'Providing children with access to education can help alleviate poverty and reduce the risks of perpetual conflict. Let's keep our promise for education for all children, regardless of where they live.' The 'Last in Line, Last in School 2008' report is part of Save the Children's Rewrite the Future campaign, which advocates for the 37 million children who cannot go to school because of conflict in their countries. The five-year initiative, launched in 2006, is dedicated to bringing 3 million children living in conflict-affected countries into school and to ensuring that another 5 million children in conflict-affected countries receive a better-quality education.

PRAYER:

Dear Loving and Merciful Father, protect children everywhere especially those in living in conflict areas like Congo.  AMEN.