Clinton to push Congo, U.N. on atrocities on women

A woman with a traditional Congolese hair style poses for a portrait in the village of Bangadi in northeastern Congo, February 18, 2009.

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the use of women as "weapons of war" in eastern Congo must stop and the government of Democratic Republic of Congo must do more to address the problem of rape.

Clinton arrived in the capital Kinshasa from neighboring Angola for a two-day visit that will include a trip to Goma, capital of the violent North Kivu province which aid groups say is the most dangerous place on earth for women and children.

"It should be a mark of shame," said Clinton, who said women were being used as "weapons of war" in eastern Congo and that she would press Congo's government hard to do more to combat the atrocities and prosecute offenders.

"We have to speak out against impunity of those in positions of authority who either commit these crimes or condone them," she added in a speech to university students in Kinshasa.

Congo's government and the U.N.'s biggest peacekeeping force are struggling to stabilize the east of the vast central African country after decades of dictatorship and a 1998-2003 war.

She said pressure must be put on both Congo's government and those of neighbors like Rwanda and Uganda to end the violence.

In Lusaka, leaders from Africa's Great Lakes region agreed to hold a special summit on the security situation in Congo.

The leaders of Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia "resolved that a summit be convened by the DRC as soon as possible," they said in a communique after a one-day meeting.

They supported calls by former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania for donors to hold a pledging conference to fund security reform in Congo.

Clinton said she wanted to address the root causes of the conflict, including the trade in minerals such as cassiterite and coltan, which are dug in eastern Congo for use in consumer electronics and whose sale funds armed groups there.

"Just as much as we worry about exploitation of minerals, we need to worry about the exploitation of women. Both of them undermine democracy and the rule of law," she said.

The United Nations has accused all sides of human rights abuses in Congo, including mass killings, rape and lootings. In Goma, tens of thousands of displaced people are packed into camps and are particularly vulnerable to attacks.

ANTI-CORRUPTION DRIVE

Clinton is also expected to meet President Joseph Kabila in Goma and will urge greater government transparency. She will also call for greater efforts to curb corruption, a theme of her 11-day Africa trip.

She delivered the same anti-corruption message to Angola's leaders on Sunday and Monday and will repeat it in Nigeria later this week.

"We are going to press on working for ways to create broader political legitimacy and credibility by his government across the country," she told reporters traveling with her.

Elections in 2006 were seen as an important step toward the return of law and order after nearly 15 years of violence, during which Congolese rebel groups and foreign armies fought two wars, committed abuses and looted the nation's minerals.

Rights groups say more than 600 civilians have been killed and thousands of women and girls raped by both government and rebel forces since the start of UN-backed military operations by Congolese forces in January.

"The UN-backed offensive that was supposed to make life better for the people of eastern Congo is instead becoming a human tragedy," said Marcel Stoessel of Oxfam.

"Secretary Clinton needs to make it very clear that U.S. support for the U.N.'s efforts in Congo is not a blank check and that civilians should be protected."

Clinton visited a hospital funded by Congolese-born NBA basketball star Dikembe Mutombo, who also accompanied her to a meeting with students, where the sporting hero appealed to the audience not to lose hope in his homeland.

"There is hope because you are here," he told Clinton.

The Great Lakes leaders said their proposed Congo summit "would also discuss joint military operations against the LRA by the Central African Republic, DRC, Sudan and Uganda."

The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has waged a brutal, two-decade rebellion that began in north Uganda but has spilled into south Sudan, east Congo and Central African Republic.

The Lakes leaders said the LRA, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebel group and Interahamwe militia members remained the root cause of insecurity in eastern DRC, Central African Republic, Rwanda, Sudan and Uganda.

(Editing by Mark John, Daniel Magnowski, Wangui Kanina)