Eastern Congo - Rape city

More than 500 rapes in eastern Congo in last jully.

The United Nations reported Tuesday that more than 500 systematic rapes were committed by armed combatants in eastern Congo since late July — more than double the number previously reported — and accepted partial responsibility for not protecting citizens.

U .N. Assistant Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Atul Khare told the U.N. Security Council that at least 267 more rapes occurred in another area of the country's east, in addition to 242 rapes earlier reported in and around Luvungi, a village of about 2,200 people located about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from a U.N. peacekeepers' camp.

"While the primary responsibility for protection of civilians lies with the state, its national army and police force," said Khare, "clearly, we have also failed. Our actions were not adequate, resulting in unacceptable brutalization of the population of the villages in the area. We must do better."

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Congo, called MONUSCO, on Sept. 1 launched an operation using 750 troops to back efforts by Congolese security forces to arrest the perpetrators of the attacks, said Khare. At least 27 rebels armed with automatic rifles have surrendered and at least four more have been arrested, he said.

Meanwhile, Khare said, peacekeepers will undertake more night patrols, and perform more random checks on communities. The U.N. is also looking into ways of providing peacekeepers with mobile phones by installing a high frequency radio in Luvungi, he said.

Rape as a weapon of war has become shockingly commonplace in eastern Congo, where the government army and U.N. peacekeepers have failed to defeat the few thousands rebels responsible for a protracted conflict fueled by vast mineral reserves. Luvungi is a farming center on the main road between Goma, the eastern provincial capital, and the major mining town of Walikale.

Khare told reporters after the council session that over 15,000 rapes were reported in Congo in both 2008 and 2009.

Ambassador Susan Rice, the U.S. representative to the United Nations, called Tuesday's briefing "very frank, comprehensive and illuminating" and said she looked forward to more sessions examining ways to prevent future mass rapes in Congo.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in recent days sent Khare to Congo to investigate why U.N. peacekeepers didn't learn about at least 242 mass rapes in the Luvungi area from July 30 to Aug. 4 until Aug. 12, when it was informed by the International Medical Corps which was treating many of the victims.

The additional sexual attacks, in an area called Uvira and other regions of North and South Kivu, came to light during Khare's trip. He told council members he learned of 74 cases of sexual violence, including against 21 minors — all girls between the ages of 7 and 15 — and six men, in a village called Miki, in South Kivu. All the women in another village, Kiluma, may have been systematically raped, he said.

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