Trying To Stop The Cycle Of Rape And Violence In African Soldiers

AFRICOM Trying To Stop Violent Cycle Among African Soldiers -- Stars And Stripes

STUTTGART, Germany — There was no field manual to consult, no military doctrine to guide the way.

When Michele Wagner, an academic with U.S. Africa Command’s social science research center, deployed to a Congolese military camp in 2010, the goal was to get the Congolese soldiers to open up dark chapters of their past. The goal was to help them take the first step toward breaking an ugly cycle of sexual violence and rape, which has long been used as a tactic of intimidation by soldiers and militias in remote parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

For the United States, creating a professional military in the DRC is seen as the best chance at bolstering security and stability in a resource-rich country where more than a decade of conflict has left millions dead.

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My Comment: Children/adults who are traumatized tend to follow one of two paths later on .... they become (and follow) those who traumatized them, or they become the opposite .... confronting and battling those who traumatized them. For the soldiers in the DRC, rape and violence is so ingrained in the culture that it will take generations to overcome and eliminate this mindset. But you have to start somewhere .... and kudos to Africom who are now trying their best to take the first steps in stopping this cycle of violence.