Actress Sees Congo Suffering

The most deadly war ever documented in Africa is currently taking place in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since 1998, the conflict in the central African nation has claimed an estimated 3.3 million lives, mostly women, children and the elderly.

Oscar-winning actress Jessica Lange is a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF and she has just returned from the region.

She tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith one of her goals is to put an end to the widespread brutal rape of women there.

She says, "It's almost inconceivable that we are existing simultaneously on the same planet. I'm amazed at their strength and their perseverance and their dignity in the face of unfathomable tragedy they encounter on a daily basis. Especially, the focus of our visit was sexual violence against women and girls."

Combatants of all armed groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo have committed rape and other forms of sexual violence. These abuses are widespread and systematic in eastern Congo. Women and girls are often raped during military operations as a form of punishment for allegedly "supporting the enemy" and to instill shame and fear within the community. Husbands, fathers and children are sometimes forced to watch. Many rape victims have been abducted and remain missing.

Lange also spoke with demobilized child soldiers and heard their stories. She says, "It's hard, first of all, to understand really on an emotional, on a primal level what they're telling you, because what their experiences have been are so beyond our realities." She says many of the fighters are from 9 to 14 years of age.

Closely connected to the horror of rape is the impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The lethal combination of high rates of HIV rates among soldiers and the massive rape in eastern Congo means a possible death sentence for raped girls and women. Data from the Panzi hospital in Bukavu indicates that approximately 27 percent of rape victims tested positive for HIV. Estimates indicate that 15 percent of the population is infected in eastern DRC.

Lange says, "There's no recourse for these women at all at this point and I think that's one of the things that the international community has to address."

The factors fuelling the spread of HIV include sexual violence, the movement of large numbers of displaced people, the breakdown of normal protective structures, the widespread presence of soldiers (especially from countries with relatively high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates such as Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zimbabwe) and the absence of health care.