African women continue to fall prey to rapist

Reports of rape and unspeakable violence against women from Congo, Rwanda and Darfur have become common place in the media. Now, the voice of survivors in Cote d'Ivoire has bubbled to the surface. While the IRIN report was superficial at best, it did highlight an epidemic plaguing the continent. Violence against women is becoming as common place as poverty and civil war. Until world leaders begin to actively address this cancer that is killing women and young girls, we are destined to be stuck in an endless cycle of self destruction.

COTE D'IVOIRE: “Rapes are encouraged”

DAKAR, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Rapes of women and girls are common in western Côte d’Ivoire and generally go unpunished, said residents of the region.

“These days nearly every time we hear of armed robberies in homes, on the roads or on plantations, we hear of rape,” said a resident of the western town of Duékoué some 500km from the commercial capital Abidjan, who wanted to remain anonymous.

“We hear of two, three, four rapes every day.”

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