“Last year, Congo’s rape epidemic appeared to be easing a bit, with fewer cases reported and some rapists jailed. But today, it seems like that thin veneer of law and order has been stripped away. The way villagers describe it, it is open season on civilians.”

Seems like it’s not just continuing, it’s getting worse.

And as for the idea that it’s just another example of bad news to make Africa look bad, I’m not sure how pretending that a problem doesn’t exist is going to improve anything… let alone rape, which is a horrendous crime of power and humiliation. Hiding it only empowers the rapists!

Here’s the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/world/africa/05congo.html?em

You use photos of 2006 (including a 4 year old raped child who, if you ask Unicef or anyone working in children’s rights or child protection will tell you that it’s not acceptable), and you quote a blog post from 2007. Besides, everything you quote is from expats visiting Panzi (most probably all American) giving very superficial analysis of the rape “epidemic” (would you say there’s a shooting epidemic in the US? It sure looks like that from here)

Yes, rape is still going on in Eastern DRC, and the conflict is far from being solved. But you could have bothered to look for more recent assessments and blogs about it and perhaps to actually quote some African bloggers. This is the kind of sensationalist and pointless coverage about the Congo and Africa that we loathe, leaving the impression that it’s all rape, rape, rape, and helpless victims that have no voice but through saintly Western visitors.