Congolese Thug Charged In War Crimes; Hamas Does Same Without Worry

A Congolese thug is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court at the Hague for war crimes, including inducting children as young as 15 into his militia.

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is accused of forcing children under the age of 15 to fight in the military wing of the Union of Congolese Patriots.

"Lubanga's armed group recruited, trained and used hundreds of young children to kill, pillage and rape. The children still suffer the consequences of Lubanga's crimes. They cannot forget what they saw, what they suffered, what they did," ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said as the trial opened on Monday morning.

Lubanga pleaded not guilty. His defense will not begin its opening statement until Tuesday. He sat largely impassively, in suit and tie, as the prosecution opened its case.

This is little different than what Hamas and other jihadi groups has done in Gaza and throughout the world for years on end. Hamas has been indoctrinating children in the jihad against Israel, and repeatedly marches them into battles, using them as human shields and hoping to incite Palestinians to further violence. Photo evidence courtesy of Charles at LGF.

Or see here, here, here, here, or:


That's Hizbullah indoctrinating another generation to hate Israel and seek its destruction. They're busy passing out toy guns to tots and young ones, but before long, they're out throwing rocks at Israelis, but they will be given the real thing soon enough.

Where is the world outcry and demand that Hamas leaders be indicted for war crimes and to stand trial for their actions? Nary a voice will be raised to do so, despite the overwhelming piles of evidence of just that.

UPDATE:
In video form:

UN Failing Africa Again: Congo Violence Displaces 600,000+

This time, it's the situation in the Congo that deserves closer attention. The United Nations 17,000 member peacekeeping force in Congo, the largest such contingent in the world, is on the run after rebel groups have gone on the offensive against the regime there. 600,000 are displaced and the numbers continue to grow literally by the hour.

The misery in the Congo has its genesis in the 1994 genocide and ethnic cleansing in neighboring Rwanda, and we're now watching the same ethnic groups, the Hutus and Tutsis about to rip Congo apart. Millions of Hutus were forced to flee Rwanda following the 1994 genocide and settled in Congo, including many of those responsible for the genocide. They set up camps from which to carry out operations against the Tutsis in Rwanda. Now, they're on the march:

Rebels vowing to take Congo's eastern provincial capital of 600,000 people advanced toward Goma on Tuesday as Congolese troops and U.N. tanks retreated, while tens of thousands fled to a makeshift shelter.

The sudden influx tripled the size of the camp in Kibati in a matter of hours, said Ron Redmond, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency. A hundred refugees a day, mostly women and children, were also fleeing across the border into Uganda, that country's Red Cross said.

In Kibati, a few miles from the front line, young men also lobbed rocks Tuesday at three U.N. tanks with Uruguayan troops heading away from the battlefield.

There are no simple answers to dealing with the situation there, but the UN's presence does little to deter the combatants from going after people who are taking refuge at UN refugee camps.

The Congolese military and the UN have retreated in the face of this rebel army, leaving civilians in the path of the advancing army wondering about what will happen next.

Aid groups and UN officials warn of a human rights catastrophe. Considering that the UN is doing nothing but withdrawing from the field of battle, the African Union isn't likely to send in forces anytime soon, and the Congolese military is also retreating, I'd say that there's little anyone can do to stop the advancing rebel army from taking Goma.

No one at the UN seems prepared to actually force peace on this rebel army; making a sustained fight to the rebel army, rather than withdrawing to avoid a fight. This only enables and emboldens this group to take further territory and advance towards its goals. The use of helicopter gunships is a start, but those UN tanks and armored units need to stop retreating and begin holding their ground.

There's also suggestions that the rebel army is operating in cahoots with the Rwandan government, which expands the level of this crisis.

UPDATE:
It's also important to keep in mind that the failure to act to prevent the 1994 genocide is leading to further bloodshed and displacement of hundreds of thousands of people. It should once again be a clarion call for action to stop bad actors before they are able to carry out their plans, and shows that the UN cannot handle such situations with peacekeepers who are constrained by their rules of engagement from actually enforcing peace by going after those who wish to break it.

Horrors Lurking Beyond The Big Media Coverage

The situation in Congo is one that makes Darfur pale in comparison. Rape and unspeakable crimes against humanity persist on a daily basis, and are all the result of continuing problems from the Rwandan genocide in 1994.

The problems have their roots in the Rwandan genocide in 1994, when thousands of victims and perpetrators fled across the border. Upwards of 10,000 Rwandan rebel forces remained, living in forested areas and terrorising local populations at their will. Rwanda doesn't want them back, and even if they did, many refuse to return. The Congolese Army, it seems, has neither the collective heart nor the political will to forcibly remove them, and with many soldiers not receiving pay for months on end, they too are guilty of looting and pillaging. So the forces remain, intent on the sexual and social destruction of the local population.

So far they are succeeding on a spectacular scale. For those who are apprehended, there is little impunity, thanks to antiquated gender laws. The attacks grow more numerous and sadistic by the day and the normalisation of sexual violence continues largely unabated.

"Darfur is nothing compared to what's going on in the Congo," says Schuler Deschryver, who despite constant death threats, continues to raise the plight of Congolese women. "My father was the founder of the National Park in Rwanda, which is home to rare silver back gorillas. During the war here, just one silver back was killed. And when it happened, within 48 hours millions in funding was sent to ensure the rest of the gorilla population was protected. Why isn't the same done with our women? I'll tell you why, because in the eyes of the international community animals have more value than humans in this part of the world."

Schuler Deschryver's anger is also felt a few kilometres away, on the outskirts of Bukavu, where Dr Denis Mukwege, an obstetrician for more than 20 years, tries to deal with the aftermath of sexual violence. He runs Panzi Hospital, set up in 1999 in response to the emergency crisis after the so-called African war; it houses more than 350 patients. Each day, 10 new cases are admitted, some as young as nine, so badly damaged that reconstructive surgery is often required. The victims sit on benches, lining urine-soaked corridors, alone and frightened. On eye contact, there is nothing. No expression, no acknowledgement, no smiles - just a fleeting confirmation that behind their eyes, a pained suffering lies deep.

Mukwege can't say for certain if the attacks are on the increase. In general, the hospital estimates it sees just 10 per cent of all sexual violence victims, but certain patterns are developing. Attackers are now identifiable by their manner of attack: one group, after raping the woman or girl, inserts the barrel of a gun into her vagina and shoots, thus destroying her vagina, bladder, rectum and causing massive blood loss. Some force males at gunpoint to rape mothers or sisters, often in front of the whole community. A large percentage of the attackers are HIV-positive and knowingly try to infect their victims.

These aren't just random acts of grotesque inhumanity; it is the systematic sexual and social destruction of whole populations in eastern Congo. And little, it seems, is being done to stop it.

Nothing is done to stop it because it simply isn't fashionable for the Hollywood elites to travel to Congo to demand a stop to the rapes and killings and mutilations. If it were the gorillas, they'd be lifting their voices to demand an end to the senseless deaths and poaching.

There are serious problems with the way the world community deals with human rights catastrophes, and the entire region in Africa is still dealing with the failures to stop the Rwandan genocide in 1994. It's a slow motion horror that continues to take lives and breed new generations of hatred and violence.