Rape South Africa

President Thabo Mbeki used his New Year's message Friday to call on South Africans to stop a wave of rapes of babies and children. "Rapes occur in our homes, they occur amongst relatives, they occur among people who know one another," he said. "We must make sure that indeed we break the silence with regard to this, that we report the wrongdoers to the police and make sure that the system of justice punishes these people appropriately."

President Thabo Mbeki used his New Year's message Friday to call on South Africans to stop a wave of rapes of babies and children. "Rapes occur in our homes, they occur amongst relatives, they occur among people who know one another," he said. "We must make sure that indeed we break the silence with regard to this, that we report the wrongdoers to the police and make sure that the system of justice punishes these people appropriately."

Leading African American clergy, including Bishop Charles E. Blake of the Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles, have issued an open letter to black leaders urging them to address the AIDS crisis in Africa. "What verdict will our descendants render upon their ancestors who stood silently as a generation of African children were reduced to a biological underclass by this sexual holocaust?" said the letter, dated Tuesday.

Tanye Langenhoven remembers a sudden weight descending on her in the dark, a cold knife blade on her throat and then a low voice whispering in her ear. "I prayed to God to help me," the 27-year-old college media officer said, recalling the night two years ago when she was raped in her bed. "I prayed for it to be over. I prayed the man would not kill me." But becoming a statistic--a rape occurs about every 10 minutes in South Africa--only began her ordeal.