Stop Abusing Us

The recent case of the arrest of Dominique Strauss Kahn, the once powerful managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and France's presidential hopeful, being charged as an alleged sex offender – he is waiting for trial for allegedly sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a chambermaid in Sofitel Hotel in Manhattan on May 14, 2011 – once again brings into public focus the issue of abuse agaisnt women.

The world, and Africa in particular, needs to keep one thing clear. Sexual violence is a very serious crime against women. TrustLaw, a Thomson Reuters Foundation providing free legal service and information on good governance and women's rights, recently released a world survey on the most dangerous countries in the world for women to live. Of the top five, two are in Africa. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was second on the list with its horrific levels of rape and Somalia was ranked fifth. The survey said more than 400,000 women are raped in the country each year and the United Nations has called DRC the rape capital of the world. In Somalia, women suffer from a high maternal mortality rate, rape and female genital mutilation, along with limited access to education, healthcare and economic resources. The most dangerous thing a woman in Somalia can do is to become pregnant. It puts her life at risk as she has a 50-50 chance of living because of the lack of antenatal care. In fact any medical care is absent for new mothers.

In addition, the practice of female genital mutilation in Somalia, carried out on almost all girls aged four to 10, is aimed at ensuring girls remain virgins until marriage. However this practice causes difficulties in childbirth and is a factor behind the high rates of death in childbirth. We need laws against female genital mutilation in Somalia and elsewhere. We need respect for our women. We need to break this outdated way of thinking. We need to be able to live in safety. How can women be the mothers of a nation when they are abused?

Ayanna Dini, Somalia

Stay Out

First and foremost I would like to offer my immense thanks to ChinAfrica magazine. Through your publication I have got chance to explore a lot of information about the healthy relationship between Africa and China. I find ChinAfrica monthly here in Eritrea in the French library and always look forward to it.

I wish to comment on the current turmoil in Libya between the central government and the opposition. When the conflict started, the international community backed by the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorizing a no-fly zone over Libya. If this was only to prevent civilians from getting harmed it could be seen as a good thing, but we are seeing NATO bombing the central government's targets, including civilians. Thus the Western countries have fully joined the opposition groups and support them financially and militarily. This will not help the people of Libya, as what has been done by the Western countries will only exacerbate the situation.

If the Western countries are working in a pragmatic way they should not align themselves with one side, but in this case they are clearly sided with opposition groups. Even according to the Charter of the United Nations this bombing is considered as intervention in the domestic issues of Libya.

We Africans do not want to see a second Somalia on our continent, as this will only create more problems for Africa. Looking at such kinds of problems in Africa, can we say there is a true international community in the world? I don't think so.

To confirm the unwise actions of the international community in this case, we can compare it with the Ethiopia-Eritrea conflict. Ethiopia and Eritrea had a border conflict from 1998-2001. Eventually the international court reached a solution and both countries took their share. But still the Ethiopian Government has invaded Eritrean territory. The international community should be responsible to try and compel Ethiopia to see that this is wrong. But until now this has not been done. Why I mention this fact is as a way of measuring the efficiency of the international community.

The situation in Libya is the same as this example. What we have seen by the Western countries in Libya is unjust and without shame they consider the opposition leader as a legitimate government. This act will surely take Libya on a path of destruction. Western countries and the international community should only be preparing the ground for a political solution without taking sides in this conflict.

Finally I would like to advise African leaders to find a solution to the current situation in Libya, because peace in one African country will serve all African countries. Also peace helps us in Africa to prevent the so-called intervention of Western leaders.

Simon Hagos, Eritrea