Personal Reflection

           Researching for this blog wasn't an easy task. I mean that in two different senses. First off, there was a scarce amount of information, and I wish that I could have dug deeper into this work. My second reasoning for this difficulty was the fact that these sorts of things, rape, abductions, child soldier recruitment, murders, etc; They all happen on a day to day basis in Africa. The people that populate such a broken continent have to face such tragedy every single moment that they live. Women being kidnapped, raped, forced into marriage. Men being attacked, forced into illegal military systems. And children, the most innocent of all, being made to kill one another, being sexually violated before they even know what that type of thing is. 

        As I sit here writing this safe in my home, in my country with women's rights, racial equality, freedom of speech, I find myself reflecting on my own life, and the lives of the people around me. I examine the heart ache and pain that a Canadian citizen would go through, compared to that of an African. One thing is for sure, someone always has it worse. Especially in this case. 

      

Facts and Statistics Regarding War Crimes

 

   Rape

• A woman is raped approximately every 26 seconds in Africa.
• 1,738 South African men anonymously admitted to have raped someone.
• 3 out of 4 men admitted those women were under 20 years of age, while 1 out of 10 said the victims were under 10.
• 2.1% of women over the age of 16 in Africa admit to have been sexually abused at least once in their life.
• An estimated 40% of African women will be raped in their life time.
• While only 1 out of every 9 rapes will be reported, only 14% of rapists will be charged.

Child Soldiers

• Children are often used as spies before they become official "Soldiers".
• Quite often children in the military will be used as human shields, protecting the older, more experienced men.
• When young girls are recruited with promises to be able to fight, they're turned into sex slaves for the other Soldiers instead.
• Child soldiers are more subject to being terrorized.
• When the children are captured by other rebel groups, they sometimes get limbs amputated as some form of punishment. 

 

Central African Republic Conflict

                   

                   Beginning in 2012, the Central African Republic Conflict started out as a problem with the Seleka rebel group. This one of many rebel groups in Africa, accused the government of failing to abide by peace laws that were settled in both 2007 and 2011. So instead of trying to make meetings and sort things out in a civil way, Seleka started capturing many large towns and villages. After a while, surrounding places had began to become fed up with their people being murdered, imprisoned, and turned into slaves. Some of the first places that sent troops to fight off the rebels were countries such as Chad and 
Angola.

                  A year had passed and the African government had seemed to have no more power over the rebels than when they just started. Countless shootings, human trafficking, and the production of child armies began to boom more and more as time went on. Skip to present day, 2014. As the media looks at Africa, they see a country where human rights are being abused, religious groups such as Muslims are being targeted with continuous massacres and even outbreaks of cannibalistic actions. All of this has lead to many Muslims fleeing the country for their lives. Not stopping and looking back at war-torn Africa.

3 Notorious African War Criminals

1. Joseph Kony

In 2005, Joesph Kony was prosecuted on 12 counts of crimes against humanity, 21 counts of war crimes all in regards to Uganda. Kony started as the commander-in-chief of the Lords Resistance Army. While in charge, Kony was the leader of many gruesome and horrific acts such as, murder, rape, abduction, burning villages, forcing children into sex slavery and making them fight as child soldiers. Currently, he is at large,with whereabouts unknown.

2. Jean-Pierre Bemba

Indicted in May of 2008, Jean-Pierre Bemba was brought into the International Criminal Court on 2 counts of crimes against humanity and 4 counts of war related crimes, all committed in the Central African Republic. One month later, Bemba was charged with 3 more counts of crimes against humanity and another 5 counts on war crimes. This supposed leader of the Movement for the Liberation of the Congo was said to be behind multiple rapes, different types of torture, and multiple pillages of various towns and villages. His trial begun in November of 2010, and has yet to cease.

3. Ahmed Haroun

Here's a bad one. Ahmed Haroun stood in front of the International Criminal Court on 20 counts of crimes against humanity and 22 counts on war crimes. Haroun was allegedly said to have been in charge of operations affiliated with the Sudanese military while he was Minister of State in the Darfur Region. The citizens in said region were exposed to various inhumane acts such as, forcible transfer, imprisonment, torture, and sexual abuse. After Haroun's trial, he continued doing illegal work with the Sudanese Military and was later on appointed Governor of South Kordofan. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_indicted_in_the_International_Criminal_Court
(information)
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/joseph-kony-search-dropped-us/2013/04/04/id/497831/
(photo 1)
http://www.factibus.com/factibus/Jean-Pierre_Bemba/chronologie.html
(photo 2)
http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?mot594
(photo 3)

Introductory

African Soliders

      
        War Crimes are defined as crimes that are committed against international rules of war. Most common crimes committed in Africa are done by military rebels that do not feel the need to abide by the law; powerful leaders trying to run their countries the way they want, and not the way that is suggested. In this blog, I hope to shed some light on a few events that have occurred in Africa, pertaining to different army groups that have made history in some gruesome and horrific ways. 

Victims of Sexual Abuse

                              

      Rebels are one of the worst known source of war crimes. There was an instance in 1991 where a nineteen year old woman met up with a group of rebels led by an evil man nicknamed "Mosquito". She mentions how it was him and nine other men. He raped her, and then instructed his men to do the same. They left her, used and broken. It caused her so much physical and emotional trauma. Her husband called her barren, and doesn't even want her anymore. Unfortunately, this is only one of many stories to be shared. Hundreds of women went through horrors like this. This case took place in Sierra Leone, at the beginning of their ten year civil war. A breeding ground for destruction.


http://www.un.org/africarenewal/magazine/january-2005/sexual-violence-invisible-war-crime
(photo 2 and information credited to this site)