Systematic rape of 303 people in Congo defies belief, says UN

Sep 24, 2010, 16:16 GMT

Kinshasa/Geneva - The systematic rape of 303 men, women and children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo defied belief, the United Nation's human rights chief said Friday.

'The scale and viciousness of these mass rapes defy belief,' said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, as initial results of a probe into the unprecedented assault were released

'Even in the eastern part of DR Congo, where rape has been a perennial and massive problem for the past 15 years, this incident stands out because of the extraordinarily cold-blooded and systematic way in which it appears to have been planned and executed.'

According to the report, 235 women, 52 girls, 13 men and 3 boys were raped, some several times, over the course of four days in the Walikale region between 30 July and 2 August.

Around 200 heavily armed members of three militia groups, including Hutu rebel group the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, cut off the villages before embarking on the raping spree.

According to the report, one group would rape and loot in a village, while others were setting ambushes to catch those fleeing through the forest. These people would then be raped or taken for forced labour.

The final number of victims may be higher because attacks were ongoing in some villages and many people were still hiding in the forest for fear of further attacks, the report said.

The report, prepared by a team which visited 13 affected villages, said serious shortcomings in the Congolese army and local police stopped them from acting, and also pointed the finger at the UN peacekeeping mission, known as MONUSCO.

'It [the report] also notes that their failure to prevent or stop the attacks was compounded by subsequent failings on the part of MONUSCO forces, which ... suffered from a number of operational constraints,' Pillay's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

MONUSCO, which has a base close to the attack sites, has since stepped up patrols in the area.

Sexual violence has become a huge problem in DR Congo, which is still recovering from a full-scale conflict that ran from 1998 to 2003. An estimated 5.4 million people have died as a result of the conflict and its long aftermath.

Rebel and militia groups continue to roam the east of the country - raping, looting and raking in cash by illegally mining minerals for use in consumer electronics.

The report said the militia used mass rape as a tool to subjugate local populations believed to be pro-government. Pillay warned that until the illegal mining trade was stamped out, such attacks would continue.

'So long as this free-for-all continues, with the mines and quarries controlled by armed groups or other rogue elements, the local population will be prey to attacks such as these,' she said.