The Congo - Modern Day - Article 1

I found my article on The New York Times website. It is titled "Frenzy of Rape in Congo Reveals U.N. Weakness" and is by Jeffrey Gettleman. This article discusses how the Congo has ultimately become both the U.N.'s greatest investment and greatest failure. Although they have spent much time attempting to improve the lives of the people in the Congo, they have still failed to achieve their main goal which is to protect the civilians. The beginning of this article tells of a story in which a 70 year old woman is raped by four armed men while U.N. peace keeping officials were stationed right up the road. The area of the Congo still continues to be rich in goods to this day, and that causes for large amounts of rebel groups attempting to take control over the mining of such materials as gold, tin and ore. The government claims to be in control, and attempts to flush out these groups by shutting down mines and halting the production of the goods in hopes of leading these groups away from the Congo, but most of the mines aren't even run by the government, thus they have little control at all. Although the U.N. has been working towards improving the lives of the civilians, women are still being raped and the people are still in danger. The officials are getting a little too wrapped up in the production of some goods instead of really focusing on keeping the people of the Congo safe from rebel forces. Why are the U.N. officials staying outside of the town? Why are they not staying in the heart of these villages so that they could stop these atrocities (the raping of women) before they even begin? It seems that the officials aren't focusing enough on the safety of the people and instead worrying about the bigger picture. Although that is a good thing, and will help the people in the long run, right now the main issue is the safety of the people of the Congo so that there will indeed be a future.