Oh, Sudan.

   Oh,    Sudan... click HERE.

 But first,

     --- remember Congo?

sadness....

Never justice.

Still waiting. 

My 

     Still Waiting for Justice

List

 is hundreds of items long....

Just in my own country.

........This decade....

Ahhh, Koko. RIP. Koko the Sign-Languaged Gorilla: Kittens and Paintings and Such...(Stop the Slaughter, Congo!)

Koko was sad when told that Robin Williams, an acquaintance of hers, had died....What? was TOLD? Yes, Koko knows sign language.  (video below)...
Apparently, Koko had become despondent over the death of a life-long friend. Robin Williams managed to make her laugh for the first time in 6 months.

When i was young,
 i learned about Koko. It was a fabulous thing. (Thank you, wise teachers...)
This Gorilla painted pictures of things she liked!
This is a picture of a dog who ran and played with her:

She picked out out prospective mating partners from videos, like a dating site...
She ran and played with kittens and dogs, forming interspecies relationships -- other than her relationships with us humans.
Her own pet kitten --tailless--
she named All Ball.

!!

 Here she is playing with her own little kitten pet.
Warning--
 there is deep emotional moment here.





Robin Williams and Koko

Here is the story and video of Koko adopting two kittens.

http://wtvr.com/2015/10/15/adorable-video-shows-koko-the-gorilla-adopting-two-kittens/

many pics here

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3273726/Meeting-mummy-time-Koko-gorilla-adopts-two-baby-kittens-cuddles-fondly-heart-warming-footage.html



Now. If you can bear it-- watch this very short video of what gorillas do to us, and what we do to gorillas.


 long version here

https://vimeo.com/87866211





Baby Mountain Gorilla

Endangered Silverback Gorillas

One of the most heartbreaking and horrifying acts committed by humans

 is the torture or killing of 

sentient beings. 

Animals such as elephants, horses, all the higher mammals--, who have memories, emotions, families---
that we can treat them so despicably is beyond bearing at times. That we treat even the lower animals poorly reflects on us as well. We all walk about manifesting ourselves. ( The one minute at the end of The Urban Gorilla above--especially in light of the first minute--shows very clearly that the human being, capable of the highest good, is also capable of the most deplorable evil. )

However, to treat such tender and loving animals as, say, elephants, who exhibit deep family ties, who mourn their dead, who are traumatized by loss-- as if we are monsters, and they are nothing--or really, as if they are our hated enemies!
 --surely will be one of our greatest shames we will bear before God the Creator Almighty, when all things are bathed in Light.



This is merely a prelude to ask you to look at the destruction of Gorillas in the Congo. Yes, The Congo is surely in the crosshairs of Satan:  http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/search?q=congo

Nonetheless, if you will spend two minutes researching what happens to gorillas there you will drop to your knees and pray for ....something.  Peace?  Destruction?

That all things be made new...

You can start here:

Destruction of the Giants


Warning.
 If you google:, Congo Gorilla Slaughter  and hit Images, you will weep for a long time.

The situation with elephants HERE:

The Secret Undecoded Language of Elephants and how to stop the poaching

Here is a large collection of respect for animal life quotes, with some wonderful pictures.

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/respect-for-life-animal-quotes.html

We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922 

Mahatma Gandhi: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"

From beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den, The cry goes up to witness The soullessness of men. ~M. Frida Hartley

more respect for life

puppy: Here       Whales: HERE

.

.

.

Humans HERE

.

.

.

republished by request...

Healing from Rape in the Congo. Award and Recognition Due.

Award Deserved.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nobel-prize-peace-mukwege-award/congolese-doctor-dedicates-nobel-peace-prize-to-victims-of-sexual-violence-idUSKCN1MF1U1

https://www.ctvnews.ca/mobile/world/nobel-peace-laureates-demand-end-to-sexual-violence-in-war-1.4122450

"Eastern Congo has seen more than two decades of conflict among armed groups that either sought to unseat presidents or simply grab control of some the central African nation's vast mineral wealth.

"The importance of Dr. Mukwege's enduring, dedicated and selfless efforts in this field cannot be overstated. He has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticized the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war," the Nobel committee said ..."

Oh, Congo.

The sexual assault in the Congo is far worse than you can ever imagine...


http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/congo-rape-and-uninvolved-un.html?m=1

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/congo-man-redux.html?m=1

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2018/03/the-horror-of-congo-future-proves-past.html?m=1

The Horror of the Congo ... The future proves the past...

Originally published almost a decade ago...  the Newshour, it was reported that people in the Congo walked for miles in the rain to vote, and when their names did not show up at the polling place, they walked for more miles from place to place to vote.
How can one not admire the Women of The Congo?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/30/world/africa/congo-election-board-may-annul-tens-of-thousands-of-votes.html?_r=1

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Africa/Africa-Monitor/2011/1129/A-brief-history-of-Congo-s-wars

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/5226772.stm

The atrocious violence in the congo is just about the worst:
more HERE:
 http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/congo-rape-and-theuninvolved-un.html
http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/npr-interview-congo-mass-rape-and.html
http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/rape-in-congo-womans-body-is-worth-less.html

photo from http://congowomen.org/tour/

"The Women of the Democratic Republic of Congo

have shown incredible bravery in the face of unbelievable atrocities, as evidenced by the photographs assembled in this exhibition. These women, along with their families, have survived a litany of atrocities: oppressive dictators; the violent passage to democracy; economic crises; and an ongoing struggle of regional and tribal warfare which has found its end far too slowly and with far too much bloodshed. These challenges have been accompanied by a devastating lack of both general and reproductive healthcare, HIV/AIDS, and the common occurrence of rape and extreme sexual violence against women and girls of all ages. For those who survive, support is often unavailable..." the tour HERE

Marcus Bleasdale: (and Orchestra in Congo HERE)

Koko the gorilla dies...

Koko has passed... our loss.
/koko-gorilla-famed-for-using-sign-language-and-crying-over-pet-kitten-dead-at-46/

Here is a reprint of an earlier article.


Koko was sad when told that Robin Williams, an acquaintance of hers, had died....What? was TOLD? Yes, Koko knows sign language.  (video below)...
Apparently, Koko had become despondent over the death of a life-long friend. Robin Williams managed to make her laugh for the first time in 6 months.

When i was young,
 i learned about Koko. It was a fabulous thing. (Thank you, wise teachers...)
This Gorilla painted pictures of things she liked!
This is a picture of a dog who ran and played with her:

She picked out out prospective mating partners from videos, like a dating site...
She ran and played with kittens and dogs, forming interspecies relationships -- other than her relationships with us humans.
Her own pet kitten --tailless--
she named All Ball.

!!

 Here she is playing with her own little kitten pet.
Warning--
 there is deep emotional moment here.





Robin Williams and Koko

Koko made the news tonight.

Here is the story and video of Koko adopting two kittens.

http://wtvr.com/2015/10/15/adorable-video-shows-koko-the-gorilla-adopting-two-kittens/

many pics here

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3273726/Meeting-mummy-time-Koko-gorilla-adopts-two-baby-kittens-cuddles-fondly-heart-warming-footage.html



Now. If you can bear it-- watch this very short video of what gorillas do to us, and what we do to gorillas.


 long version here

https://vimeo.com/87866211





Baby Mountain Gorilla

Endangered Silverback Gorillas

One of the most heartbreaking and horrifying acts committed by humans

 is the torture or killing of 

sentient beings. 

Animals such as elephants, horses, all the higher mammals--, who have memories, emotions, families---
that we can treat them so despicably is beyond bearing at times. That we treat even the lower animals poorly reflects on us as well. We all walk about manifesting ourselves. ( The one minute at the end of The Urban Gorilla above--especially in light of the first minute--shows very clearly that the human being, capable of the highest good, is also capable of the most deplorable evil. )

However, to treat such tender and loving animals as, say, elephants, who exhibit deep family ties, who mourn their dead, who are traumatized by loss-- as if we are monsters, and they are nothing--or really, as if they are our hated enemies!
 --surely will be one of our greatest shames we will bear before God the Creator Almighty, when all things are bathed in Light.



This is merely a prelude to ask you to look at the destruction of Gorillas in the Congo. Yes, The Congo is surely in the crosshairs of Satan:  http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/search?q=congo

Nonetheless, if you will spend two minutes researching what happens to gorillas there you will drop to your knees and pray for ....something.  Peace?  Destruction?

That all things be made new...

You can start here:

Destruction of the Giants


Warning.
 If you google:, Congo Gorilla Slaughter  and hit Images, you will weep for a long time.

The situation with elephants HERE:

The Secret Undecoded Language of Elephants and how to stop the poaching

Here is a large collection of respect for animal life quotes, with some wonderful pictures.

http://marysbeagooddogblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/respect-for-life-animal-quotes.html

We have enslaved the rest of the animal creation, and have treated our distant cousins in fur and feathers so badly that beyond doubt, if they were able to formulate a religion, they would depict the Devil in human form. ~William Ralph Inge, Outspoken Essays, 1922 

Mahatma Gandhi: "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"

From beasts we scorn as soulless, In forest, field and den, The cry goes up to witness The soullessness of men. ~M. Frida Hartley

more respect for life

puppy: Here       Whales: HERE

.

.

.

Humans HERE

.

.

.

Congo Man ...Redux

Congo Man

Pissing in your own cup of cold clean water

Shitting in your bowl of sweet rich food

I can’t wrap my head around your psychosis

Tell me, what you doin, Congo Man?

Shooting a gun up inside a woman

The very body of a woman-

The woman of your land

Cutting out the life of your future generations

What devil in your head, o congo man?

Like Burning down your fields so full of grain

And Making sure everybody watch the pain

Shattering the lives of your very own daughters

Tell me bout your madness, Congo Man!

Rise Up, Rise Up, Good Congo Man

Rise Up, Rise Up, Good Congo Men!

Rise Up, Rise Up, Good Congo Men!

Are you there, Are you there,

Good Congo Men?

Put these devils in a tight little box.

Forget about money, come out from the dark.

Give even your life if it is required.

Better find your Christ, o Congo Man

(Well, Neil heard screamin and bullwhips cracking

and asked How long? how long? we say,

Congo man better find your head

Dont forget what your Good book said

We know change gonna come at last

Now your chances are burning fast

Congo Man)

http://www.k-state.edu/war/congo/index.html

Mary Todd 2008-08-19

Posted years ago ...
History ...
Sadness.
I am going to repost a few from a decade ago.
U.N.?
 Please . .the future proves the past .

Congo, Rape, and the UnInvolved U.N. "Peacekeepers" Part 1

Rape Toll Rises: Infants, Women and Children. Where is the Global Outrage?

((First published in 2010. The future proves the past...))

For more on Congo,

enter congo into the search bar for this blog.

   Part Two HERE
  Aid Workers treating Rape Victims Attacked:
   There is a history here:
 /UN-raises-Congo-rape-toll-to-240/UPI-95961283437049/

/rebels-attack-aid-workers-treating-congo-rape-victims-2068105.html
"While Ms. Wallstrom said that the UN can't protect women in all conflict zones, it seems fair to ask why, while spending $1 billion, the UN can't protect women from mass multi-day rape 20 minutes from a UN peacekeeping base. Who will be held accountable? Those who looked away or those who dissembled after the fact? Why not both?"
history  

the texts of these links are printed below.

Investigate this yourself.
See what you can find.

write a letter.
ask a question.
http://www.innercitypress.com/drc9rapes090110.html
Why
do these things keep happening--
where is the energy in the media to make change for good happen?
This is the emergency.
This is the slaughter that is taking place now.
Cry out-racism, sexism, anything you want.
In the End, it is Abuse of Power.
Who is in charge?
Who is allowing this?
Who is behind the greed or lust for power or lust for violence that needs to be exposed?
Where are the journalists?
Where are our media??
Start putting this on 24/7.
Stop repeating every little snippy thing our politicians are spitting at each other, which "Celebrities" are drinking too much, what a bunch of sportscasters wear under their pants.


Fu'Crying out loud



U.N. raises Congo rape toll to 240



UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- More than 240 women, children and infants may have been raped when rebel forces seized a town in the Congo, a U.N. report said.

A spokesman for the United Nations said last month that a human rights team found that more than 150 women were gang-raped in late July and early August by members of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, or FDLR, and a local militia called Mai-Mai.

The United Nations raised the number of people raped by FDLR and Mai-Mai fighters to 240, adding some of those raped were infants, the BBC reports.

U.N. peacekeeping forces in the area have been supporting an effort to beat the FDLR, who are linked to the Rwandan genocides in 1994.

The U.N. Security Council in the wake of the initial reports had an emergency session and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon later sent a senior representative to the area to investigate.

The Security Council pressed the peacekeeping force in the area for not responding to the rape allegations. The force, however, said it was unaware of the rapes until more than a week after the atrocities despite being positioned around 20 miles from the Congolese village.

Leaders in the FDLR said their force weren't involved in the attacks.



Rebels attack aid workers treating Congo rape victims

Gunmen in eastern Congo fired on a private plane carrying international aid workers who escaped into the forest yesterday, the regional director of International Medical Corps (IMC) said.

A UN official said the aid workers were later rescued by peacekeepers. He said a Congolese soldier and two militiamen were killed in the firefight. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to reporters. IMC officials could not be immediately reached to confirm the rescue.

IMC regional director, Miel Hendrickson, said earlier that the endangered staff of the Los Angeles-based medical aid group were three Americans and one Georgian who were on the aircraft, and two Congolese staff who were at the landing strip outside Walikale mining town when the shooting started.

Mr Hendrickson said the attack comes a few weeks after a Russian pilot was kidnapped at Walikale airport. The whereabouts of the foreigner who piloted the plane were not immediately clear.

The aid workers are in a team treating scores of people raped in rebel attacks between 30 July and 4 August in villages about 40 miles from Walikale.

Mr Hendrickson said the number of people treated for rape in those attacks has risen to 242 from 192 last week. More and more survivors who had fled into dense forest have been coming out of hiding each day – some women completely naked, according to aid workers. The attacks took place within miles of a UN peacekeeping camp for about 80 Indian soldiers, and thousands of Congolese troops based at Walikale, a 90-minute drive from the villages, raising questions about why nothing was done. Those raped include four baby boys, one just a month old, and a great great-grandmother who was said to be 110 years old, according to civil society leader Charles Masudi Kisa.

Survivors have said their attackers were from the FDLR rebel group led by perpetrators of the Rwandan genocide who fled across the border to Congo in 1994 and have been terrorising the population in eastern Congo ever since, along with Congolese Mai-Mai militia. The Rwandan rebel group has denied the reports.

On Tuesday, the UN envoy in charge of sexual violence in conflict urged Congo's government to prosecute the perpetrators, and also warned leaders of the rebel and militia groups that they could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court because widespread and systemic sexual violence can constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The U.N. Sex Scandal

From the January 3 / January 10, 2005 issue: Exploitation, abuse, and other humanitarian efforts.


LAST MONTH A CLASSIFIED UNITED Nations report prompted Secretary General Kofi Annan to admit that U.N. peacekeepers and staff have sexually abused or exploited war refugees in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The worst of the 150 or so allegations of misconduct--some of them captured on videotape--include pedophilia, rape, and prostitution. While a U.N. investigation into the scandal continues, the organization has just suspended two more peacekeepers in neighboring Burundi over similar charges. The revelations come three years after another U.N. report found "widespread" evidence of sexual abuse of West African refugees.

"The issue with the U.N. is that peacekeeping operations unfortunately seem to be doing the same thing that other militaries do," Gita Sahgal of Amnesty International told the Christian Science Monitor. "Even the guardians have to be guarded." That's not far off the mark. Various U.N. reports and interviews with humanitarian groups suggest that international peacekeeping missions are creating a predatory sexual culture among vulnerable refugees--from relief workers who demand sexual favors in exchange for food to U.N. troops who rape women at gunpoint.

Allegations of sexual abuse or misconduct by U.N. staff stretch back at least a decade, to operations in Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea. A 2001 report, released by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children, found that sexual violence against refugees in West Africa was endemic (though some of its findings were denied by a subsequent U.N. team). A year later a coalition of religious organizations sent a letter to Secretary of State Colin Powell urging the United States to send more human rights monitors into Congo. The U.N. then introduced a "code of conduct" to help prevent future abuses, including prohibitions against sexual activity between staff and children and the exchange of money or food for sex.

On Congo Rapes, UN Admits 240 Victims, Dodges Meece Inaccuracies, Wallstrom Inaction

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, September 1 -- As the UN tries to slow down or even bury the story of its inaction on the mass rapes in Eastern Congo, the questions keep on coming and the admissions, drip by drip. But belatedly updated victim numbers can't change the inaccurate statements of MONUSCO chief Roger Meece, nor the inaction of Margot Wallstrome, UN envoy on Sexual Violence and Conflict.


On Wednesday at the UN in New York, Inner City Press asked about

Inner City Press: what the UN knew and when, saying that on 30 July in that e-mail it mentioned a rape in the village of Mpofi, and also a 10 August e-mail mentioning already 25 rapes. These dates are inconsistent, to put it mildly, with what Mr. Meece said to us from the video screen. What are the ramifications? Does the UN deny this... or are we missing something in terms of the inaccuracies?

Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq: As far as that goes, as you’re aware, when the Secretary-General learned of these mass rapes, what he did from our side was to immediately dispatch Atul Khare, the Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. He is there right now. We just mentioned what his travels in the area are. He, among other things, was sent there specifically to look into the mass rapes that occurred in the Walikale area. He’ll also look at our response and how we responded to it. He’s there now collecting information and we will see what his evaluation is of that situation when he returns. We expect him back next week and we expect him to report back to the Secretary-General, and also, by the way, to the Security Council, although, of course, their schedule for the month is still being determined.

Inner City Press: But I remember Martin [Nesirky] saying from this podium that here at the Secretariat in New York your office was looking into this 30 July e-mail to find what it was and what it said. Now, the New York Times says a rape occurred. I’m just wondering, has your office found that e-mail? And totally outside of Mr. Khare’s time schedule, what does it mean it mean about what Mr. Meece told us?

Deputy Spokesperson: Yes, we have been looking into that. At this stage, what I would wait for is to see what information Mr. Khare, as the person who is there on the ground, because he is there, he is accumulating data and he will report back. I think we’ll leave it until then. But, yes, we’ve been looking into this and certainly we’re trying to find what the providence of this particular e-mail is.

Inner City Press: Just one more on this. The International Medical Corps now says that the number of women treated in this mass rape incident, they’ve raised their number from 192 to 242. I’m just wondering if the UN, which initially had this 154 number, do you dispute those numbers? Or is the UN just shutting down its communications until 7 September?

Deputy Spokesperson: I don’t have for you at this stage any higher number beyond what we’ve given. However, as our presence in that area grows and as there’s been more of a restoration of peace to various areas, freeing up people to feel like they can speak, we’re trying to get more information about what’s going on. So we may find out more information about other attacks. So we would update the numbers accordingly once we get that. But right now at this stage what we’re doing is we’re spreading out into various communities. We’re looking into different reports and we’ll try and see what further information we have.

[The Spokesperson added later that the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) has put the number of rape victims at higher than 240, with more cases being reported.]

In fact, after the above transcribed questions, the UN released not only an updated number of victims, but a whole press release, in French which a tri-lingual colleague in New York has helpfully translated, below.


Unofficial translation from French

Today, MONUSCO in partnership with the DRC government, has continued to review its activities on the ground in order to better protect the civilian population, while conforming to its mandate.

MONUSCO launched today operation "Shop Window" in the areas of Pinga, Kibua, and Walikale, aimed at reassuring the population and demonstrating its efforts to use all available resources to fulfill its mandate to protect.

This operation follows the observation of increased activities of armed groups in the areas of Walikale and Masisi, who have committed a number of human rights violations and fostered insecurity amongst the civilian population.

Indeed, after the rapes of over 240 victims in Kibua, MONUSCO received additional information concerning other acts that have occurred in Mubi and in the area surrounding Pinga.

CONCERNING MUBI

Mubi is an area located approximately 36km northwest of Walikale on the axis of Walikale-Kisangani. On August 17, the North Kivu Brigade, MONUSCO police and the joint UNHCR bureau reported clashes between the FDLR and the Mai-Mai Sheka (that occurred) on August 16 and 17 and that resulted in the pillage of several homes, the detention of at least 50 people for looting, and the deaths of 2 FARDC and 7 wounded.

On August 25, "Heal Africa" informed MONUSCO of the 8 rape victims who sought medical attention in their center in Bilobilo. The office of human rights contacted the NGO IMC the same day for additional information. That evening, they received information of the release of all those who had been previously detained. On August 28, the IMC informed MONUSCO that according "Heal Africa" they had 11 rape victims in their center in Bilibilo, but that the number of victims could increase.

CONCERNING PINGA

Pinga is located 10 km northeast of Masisi. Based on the report from an interpreter who received information from an NGO, military observers made another report on August 18. A team was sent to Pinga on August 30 to verify the information. As a result, they confirmed that 16 rapes had occurred in the area over a period of two weeks: 2 in Bushimo on August 12 and 14---13 in Chuho on August 17 and 1 in Burai.

A patrol was dispatched to each of these locations to gather information and secure the areas. A meeting was set up with the 121st brigade that reinforced (the patrol's) presence and opened up an investigation. One suspect has already been apprehended.

Helicopter patrols in these areas have also been set up and MONUSCO troops have already received instructions concerning their future conduct. On August 30, a joint protection team was sent to Walikale and received a list the names of approximately 40 rape victims.

But what about the inaccurate statements by Roger Meece? And the inaction by Margot Wallstrom? What about accountability? Watch this site.

* * *

On Congo Rapes, UN Inaction & Dissembling Stretches to Wallstrom, Meece, Higher

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- Of the mass rapes in Eastern Congo which occurred from July 30 through August 4, the UN's Special Representative on Sexual Violence and Conflict Margot Wallstrom only learn on “August 21-22 through emerging media sources,” Wallstrom told the Press on Tuesday. Video here, from Minute 1:50.

Inner City Press asked what steps she had taken, in her six months on the job, to try to ensure that UN peacekeeping missions like MONUSCO in the Congo actually inform her of mass rape, rather than leaving her to find out about in in the newspapers ten days after MONUSCO admits knowing of it. Video here, from Minute 14:19.

Ms. Wallstrom, apparently realizing how bad it looked to learn only from the media, changed her story and said “not the newspaper,” she had “reports and calls one by one.” Videohere, from Minute 18:19.

Beyond Ms. Wallstrom's shifting and self serving story, one call she did receive was from the Secretary General, calling her into action from where she was in Europe. Still, as of August 31 she had not gone to the Congo after the rape story broke, instead sending an underling from the office she has barely staffed in six months.

She acknowledged that only four of ten posts have been filled; she said there was only been an office since June. She blamed this on the UN budget process.

Rather than offer a critique of the UN peacekeepers' inaction -- it has now been shown that the UN knew of at least one of the rapes on July 30, and of at least 25 by August 10 -- Ms. Wallstrom chided the media to keep the focus on the rapists.

Inner City Press asked about known rapists still serving in the FARCD Congolese army: Bosco Ntaganda, an FARDC commander who walks around Goma at will, Colonel Zimulinda / Zimurinda, who the UN worked with even after UN expert Philip Alston named him as responsible for 50 rapes, and ex-warlord and kidnapper and murderer of UN peacekeepers Peter Kerim, made a colonel in the FARDC. Video here, from Minute 35:15.

In response, Wallstrom lamented that some in the FARDC are “people straight from the forest.” But will her office call for their arrest and apprehension? Video here, from Minute 37:22. Wallstrom seemed to say yes. We'll see.

Regarding Wallstrom's "straight outta the forest" comment, an African UN official tells Inner City Press that Wallstrom's "language" is causing consternation. Ironically, butquintessentially UN, Wallstrom may face accountability if at all not for her inaction, but for her language.

Footnote: something to be established is whether Wallstrom even gave her cell phone number to Roger Meece and other peacekeeping officials. To be informed of mass rape known to UN peacekeepers does not require the full staff of ten.



While Ms. Wallstrom said that the UN can't protect women in all conflict zones, it seems fair to ask why, while spending $1 billion, the UN can't protect women from mass multi-day rape 20 minutes from a UN peacekeeping base. Who will be held accountable? Those who looked away or those who dissembled after the fact? Why not both? To be continued.

* * *Part two: Live interview

Mugabe in Zimbabwe; Somalia, Norway, the Sudan and Football. Weiner's Boners, Charlie's Rants and Lindsay's Drinks. What is Your News?...redux

Sigh...

Do not view this post if you have a weak heart. You are warned.

I am spoiled.

It is hot, 105 today.

I saw a man wearing breezy shorts and a t-shirt

walking on the sweltering campus today;

his wife 

was wrapped up

in many layers of a dark blue canvas burka.

I fell into a vicarious heat swoon

but resisted violence.

Joseph KONY 2012 HERE                                   

There is a famine

of such intensity that women stagger many many miles

through africa's heat

with their children to find something, anything to eat or drink-

while men with weapons ride around shooting and assaulting people.

i thought congo was the last straw.  I thought Sudan Child Soldiers broke my heart all the way. 

Could YOU DO THIS?

african famine summary

and current video watch HERE

or is there a Non-Interference Clause?

Y'Know, survival of the fittest and all that?

well, is it true or not?

If there was a “theory of evolution” which was really pure math, pure numbers, pure physics, pure random, random bits of flotsam and jetsam floating, churning about, evolving into ever-more complex astounding collections of moving- parts-machines, like Data on Startrek

propagation of the genes -Dude,  hitler a total genius the lodestar of evolution?

that is, no spirit no soul no personality no consciousness of the self, no rightwrong No Thing is of value except the passing of material and the length of time it takes to change and the improbability of random chance that This long neck of the giraffe which reaches for plants also does not kill it when it drinks, head down, in the pond; then,

When does the self become the self? there would be no self.

I   I    I I  I'm

too sexy to wear socks

hold on here's my good side

american men's olympic skater

grammy winner

choose to fail

elected servant

vanity

getting away with it:

His   and   Hers

when animals attack

YAY football is gonna be OK!

celebrity

yeah burkas for advertising.

Think about it?

Oh Michael Vick

more on gypsy HERE

when

 is it time to help?

when time to step up?

when is it too late?

do not proceed.

what do we do with Beauty?

do not proceed.

those are knives
 stuck in the animal on purpose.

Oh Yeah.
FAMINE.

"A well nourished Sudanese man steals maize from a starving child during a food distribution at the Medecins Sans Frontieres feeding centre in Ajiep, southern Sudan. from Tom Stoddart's iWitness Gallery"

from http://zojojojo.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/dear-tv-watchers/

(and if famine is not enough, how about the

UTTER corruption of leaders;

beatings, murder, and destruction of the land

 all at the expense of the people.

for example, POV--Zimbabwe, mugabe, and the

brutal idi amin

Rule of Law: watch the Mike Campbell case

which premiered tonight http://www.pbs.org/pov/blog/2011/07/critics_mugabe_and_the_white_african.php

Famine.

HERE i found this pic:

how to jar myself from my complacency?

HOW TO JAR MYSELF FROM MY COMPLACENCY??

modern slavery

noninterference  clause?

this sudanese girl was crawling to a feeding station

what does it mean to have nothing?

what if it is my brother there?

this tiny child is featured in the film linked at top of post.

 death camps and nazi twin studies

There are many knds of famine

human compassion?

what if my mother had no help?

what if there were no clothes or food or water for ME?

Children desperate for water, for food...

time passes

What is it about Jesus?

The Associated Press Sunday, July 31, 2011

Somali women fleeing famine preyed on by rapists


"Refugee Barwago Mohamud huddles silently beneath a few blankets stretched over sticks at night, fearing for her life after a neighbor was raped, and a naked woman who had been kidnapped and gang-raped for three days in front of her terrified children was delivered to the medical tent next door.
Only a few hundred feet away stands a newly built camp with a police station, toilet blocks and schools. Neat thornbush fences in the camp separate residential areas for families to move into. But all the facilities are empty. The Kenyan government is refusing to open the new Ifo 2 facility as part of the world's biggest refugee camp, Dadaab, saying the desperate Somali refugees flowing into the country are a security risk.

But for the women and children who fled war and famine and are now forced to build their shelters farther and farther away from the center of the camps, the extension would be a refuge from the armed men who prowl the bush at night. Some may be deserters from Somali forces across the border; others are Kenyan bandits who rob and gang-rape the stream of refugees fleeing the famine in Somalia.
The contrast between the squalid, insecure outskirts of the sprawling camp and the empty, silent facilities shows how regional politics can interfere with aid efforts, causing millions of dollars to be wasted and leaving women and children vulnerable to attack.

"What can we do?" Mohamud asked. "Our neighbors have been raped at night. We are afraid. Some boys are helping watch at night in case of trouble but they also work during the day."

Mohamud and eight other women and girls share their rickety shelter on the outskirts of Dadaab, a camp designed for 90,000 people which now houses around 440,000 refugees. Almost all are from war-ravaged Somalia. Some have been here for more than 20 years, when the country first collapsed into anarchy. But now more than 1,000 are arriving daily, fleeing fighting or hunger.
The U.N. said this month that at least two regions in Somalia are suffering from famine and 11.3 million people in the Horn of Africa need aid.

To help ease the overcrowding, international donors including the U.S. and European Union spent $16 million building the Ifo 2 extension, which could house 40,000 people. But it is still unclear when or if the Kenyan government will open it.
Research shows that women are often attacked when they leave their families to go to the bathroom or gather firewood. When Mohamud's three young daughters need to relieve themselves, she insists on going with them, and takes the only torch the nine women share between them. She has no shoes, so she walks barefoot over the thorny ground.

"Women express a lot of fear about going to the bush. They say there are men with guns there," said Sinead Murray, an aid worker with the International Rescue Committee. Her organization has recorded a spike in rapes and attempted rape. Since the beginning of June, they have had double the number of attacks reported from January-May.
"More and more women are coming forward who have been raped," said Murray, who said consultations with communities show the vast majority of rapes go unreported. Women may not know where to seek help, or fear ostracism by their community.
They are women like Sahan, who was on a bus coming over from Somalia when four gunmen stopped the vehicle. The women were ordered off and raped in the bush for three hours. She has not reported the rape because she was living far away from any medical services on the outskirts of the camp and did not want to leave her family. She asked her last name not be used to protect her privacy.

A reporter for The Associated Press drove around the newly constructed area in Dadaab and found rows of new toilet blocks standing amid the rows of empty lots, where women could more safely go to the bathroom and easily walk to police or medical services if they were attacked.

The Ifo 2 camp also houses a freshly painted primary and secondary school, police station, and headquarters for aid organizations ranging from Handicap International to the Norwegian Refugee Council padlocked shut. A medical facility for Doctors Without Borders lay half-built after aid workers said they were told to stop building early this year. The group now treats people in nearby tents instead.

More than two weeks ago, Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga visited Dadaab and said the Ifo 2 extension would open in 10 days. On Saturday, Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said that no decision had yet been reached.
Kenyan officials have said that they consider the influx of Somalis a security risk because part of the country is held by al-Qaida linked rebels. They also fear that if they provide the schools and medical care lacking in Somalia, families will simply move to Kenya to get better services. The Kenyans want aid agencies to deliver food in Somalia instead but charities face attack by bandits and harassment by Kenyan officials at the border.
But Somalis say they have no other choice than to flee their homes because they will be killed by gunmen or starve to death if they stay at home.
In the meantime, the refugees keep coming as the hunger crisis worsens but there is nowhere for them to go. The camps are full to bursting, and medical staff are setting up tents to treat new arrivals. Women and their children are being forced farther out, away from services and security. Aid agencies are appealing for more donations, unable to use the facilities they built. And Mohamud, whose door is only a blanket draped on a stick, keeps her daughters close and dreads each sunset.
"We are afraid," she said again, as her 13-year-old daughter played in the dirt in front of her. "Maybe they will come back. But we have nowhere else to go."

mommy, do i need some work done?