KINSHASA — The United States will finance a programme to help women who have been victims of sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the US embassy announced Tuesday.
"This seven-million-dollar (five million euro) project provides support for clinics, hospitals and community centres for women and children," who have been victims of rape, the embassy said in a statement.
The project, baptised Espoir (Hope), was jointly launched by the Congolese government and the US embassy and is financed by the development agency USAID.
The work will be carried out by the non-governmental organisation, the International Rescue Committee.
In mid-August, during a visit to Goma, the capital of the eastern Nord-Kivu province, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton committed Washington to work with the Kinshasa government and various institutions to fight against sexual violence.
Tens of thousands of women and young girls in Nord-Kivu and Sud-Kivu provinces have been assaulted, kidnapped, raped and mutilated by members of armed movements and also by soldiers of the Congolese army, the FARDC, according to the United Nations.00
Copyright © 2009 AFP
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment