GIs retrain Congo troops known for being violent

At a remote military base in the jungle city of Kisangani, an elite team of U.S. troops is attempting to retrain a battalion of Congolese infantrymen to serve as a model for an unruly force that has a reputation for using rape as a weapon of war. In a region where intimidation is used by soldiers and the rebels they fight, the U.S. Special Operations Command Africa troops offer plenty of traditional soldiering instruction. For now, the team of about 25 Americans is focused on small-unit tactics, medical care, logistics support and communications. Soon they also will enlist alternative methods to reform a military in disarray. U.S. Africa Command is drafting curriculum for dealing with the sexual violence issues that plague the Congolese military and will incorporate those findings into training this summer. "That's something that we didn't know how to do. We don't have those textbooks," said a Special Forces officer at AFRICOM headquarters in Stuttgart.