The crisis in the eastern DRC is thereason behind a visit to the country by Cindy McCain, wife of US Senator JohnMcCain, the former presidential candidate. FromGoma, Mrs. McCain spoke to VOA about why the Congolese humanitarian crisis is important to her.
"Myfirst visit here was in 1994 during the (Rwandan) genocide. I'm been doingrelief work?since the early 80's. And through the course of coming back toAfrica and doing the work that I do through other organizations?it became verynecessary. And I've been urged from many different avenues to come to Congo andtake a look to see exactly what's going on," she says.
Hertrip is sponsored by the UN World Food Program and other organizations.
"Tocompare it from 1994 till now is very educational and it's also very sad," shesays.
Askedwhat differences she sees upon her return to the DRC, McCain says, "Not much,to be honest with you. It's still a country that has no infrastructure. Itcan't feed its population. It's unable to produce a living and give?youngpeople particularly, an opportunity. And so, I don't see any differences fromwhat I saw in 1994, and I'm sorry to say that, other than the production ofcell phone towers."
Sheadds, though, "This is a wonderful country and could be a prosperous country,given a government that was strong and working for its people."
CindyMcCain met Friday with a number of women who've been raped or otherwise sexuallyassault by members of armed groups.
"Ijust left a group of women that I sat down with in one of the IDP (internallydisplaced persons) camps here. And?just sit and listen to not only what theirproblems were, but just where they needed to go and where they wanted to go,quite frankly. And many of these women don't understand that they have rights.More importantly, the inability of their own government to protect them so theycan go and collect firewood and protect their own children is terrible. It'salmost a societal thing?it's devastating. I'm almost surprised to see a groupof women still very determined to raise their children and keep their familiestogether even under such gruesome circumstances," she says.
Shesays she plans to meet with the media upon her return to the United States atthe end of the month to describe the conditions she found in the DRC.
"It's raising awareness and makingsure that we don't let people forget about the DRC and about what's going onhere because this is an ongoing conflict," she says.