South African men march against rape

About 2,000 men have taken part in a two-kilometre march in the South African city of Johannesburg to demonstrate male opposition to the chronic problem of rape against women and children.

The organiser of the demonstration, Mongezi Mnyani, told the BBC that men now wanted to make a stand against rape with the slogan "real men don't rape".

He said people were breaking their silence and were no longer willing to treat the matter as a private affair.

Latest figures show that a woman is raped every 26 seconds in South Africa, and about 20,000 child rapes are reported annually.

President Thabo Mbeki has put his name to a publicity campaign aimed at stamping out the abuse.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service