Indianapolis Recorder, Indianapolis, Marion County, 8 September 2000 — Page 5

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 6,2000

THE INDIANAPOLIS RECORDER

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Pedophilia threatens Congo resort, seaport city

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By LOUIS PATRICK

OKAMBA

His slightly older friend, Christian, added: “Our customers are essentially white, but there are also

POINTE-NOIRE, Congo Africans, including Congolese, 18 (PANA) — During the 1997 civil years old and more.

war in the Republic of Congo, Patou, whose retired father lives

Pointe-Noire seaport in the south in Brazzaville, depends on prosti-

of the country became an impor- tution for survival.

tant retreat center for people and

services.

Though guns in battlefields have since been silenced, this port and

“I don’t steal people’s belongings. The rest is nobody’s business ... 1 use my body as I wish,” he said. Many Pointe-Noire children

second Congolese city after with no means of support are not Brazzaville, confronts a new war aware of the consequences of their

within its population. Local authorities and the city residents, however, do not need to use force of arms in this social

sexual behavior. They openly ad-

mit being homosexuals and that they engage in sex without using condoms. “I submit to the client’s will, using a condom or not depends entirely on him. All I need is money,” Ghislain said, agreeing with his friends that they had never undergone test for AIDS. According to him. many young homosexuals in Pointe-Noire suffer from piles. “Those who are courageous enough to talk to the more experienced are given advice, but most of them keep quiet

and continue to suffer,” he said. “I know roots and other products, permanganate of potassium, for example, that are very efficient in the treatment of anal wounds,” he added, noting that anal penetration is very dangerous, especially for children. Pedophilia is a real problem in Pointe-Noire and authorities are getting worried about it. The city mayor, Luc Makosso, is conscious of the existence of this blight, which has taken disturbing proportions since the arrival of displaced per-

sons. “We are working out a strategy to curb its progress," he told the journalists. Jean-Jacques Moukyama Mbelli, the city's socio-cultural service director, was more specific. Pedophilia, according to him, affects 7- to 15-year-old children. “I live at a junction of three major night clubs in the city center and I am in a position to say so. Everyday, I see children furtively picked up by foreigners, mostly whites,” he added.

He said the city council has not

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been able to tackle the problem X;

effectively because it lades par* ;J;

ents’ cooperation.

“We have collected lots of sto-

ries horn children and we have also had discussions with some of the adults perpetrating these acts, but we are still helpless because of the lack of collaboration from parents. We cannot discuss with them such a taboo issue—homosexual-

ity,” he said.

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conflict. While some people blame it on displaced persons from neighboring regions, others say the Congolese must break with their culture of silence and speak out what they had put under taboo. In the aftermath of the civil war, it is not stray guns but perverse sexual behavior that is endangering many lives in Pointe-Noire. Despite the risk of spreading HIV among the young generation, pedophilia is gradually becoming part of the people’s lifestyle. Boys of up to age 15 are being dragged into commercial sex simply because they are displaced victims of the civil war. Girls too are affected, but to a lesser degree. Their common denominator is that they are either orphans or street children in a city where money is the only thing that counts. In less than two years, the city’s population has doubled from 400,000to 800,000due to the mass exodus from Brazzaville, 500 kilometers east, and neighboring regions, where government forces and the rebels haVe been fighting. Edgar, 11, is one of the “victims.” He arrived in Pointe-Noire in 1998 from Dolisie, fleeing the fighting in the Niari region, the bastion of former President Pascal Lissouba. In his flight, Edgar lost contact with his parents and two brothers. He has since never gotten news of their whereabouts. He later deserted the PointeNoire reception center to be on his own as a shoeshine boy. From that job, however, Edgar could not make both ends meet. On advice of a friend whose lifestyle had quickly improved because of prostitution, he decided to give it a try. In daytime, Edgar is busy polishing shoes in the main streets of Pointe-Noire. At night, he hangs around some comers and nightclubs to hook customers—usually expatriates. His co-sex worker, Ghislain, 17, is well known in the trade. Recently, he told a group of visiting journalists from Brazzaville that he was prepared to accept 10,000 CFA francs (less than $20) for his service. Sometimes he does not make so much and ends up accepting 3,000 francs when business goes down. ■“I was forced by circumstances to do what I do to earn my living today. I needed to do it in order to escape from the bullying adults subjected us to in the reception center. Now, I earn some money to eat and buy a few things, clothes, for example,” he added. Referring to his own experience, Edgar said: “I sometimes come across a kind man, who gives me a lot of money without sleeping with me or a vicious man who makes me suffer and abandons me in the street.”

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