THE UNITED NATIONS has said that approximately 500 men, women and children were raped in eastern Congo during July and August, doubling the previously reported figures.

The UN’s biggest peace-keeping mission has been heavily criticised for failing the people of Congo, following the revelation that hundreds of villagers became the victims of a raping and looting spree by militiamen just 20 miles from a UN base.

Atul Khare, the UN assistant secretary general for peacekeeping, said:

While the primary responsibility for protection of civilians lies with the state, its national army and police force, clearly we have also failed. Our actions were not adequate, resulting in unacceptable brutalisation of the population of the villages in the area.

The attacks took place between 30 July and 4 August. Khare said that the latest victims include 21 girls between 7 and 21 years old, and six men.

The victims range from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old woman.

Warnings

Accusations levelled at the UN claim it had been warned that the villagers were in danger but did nothing to prevent the attacks.

The Guardian reports that on 25 July, five days before the attacks, Charles Masudi Kisa of the local Walikale Civil Association told local authorities that the withdrawal of soldiers from several outposts was putting people in danger of attacks from rebels.

On 29 July, Kisa said he sent warnings to the UN civil affairs bureau in Walikale, the army and the local administration that rebels were moving in on the village of Luvungi.

However, UN officials said that peacekeepers in the area knew nothing about the attacks until 12 August.

Peacekeepers even passed through the area twice during period – but were told that roadblocks were being set up. They say they were unaware of what was happening.

Rape as a weapon

Sexual violence has long been used as a weapon of war in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Margot Wallstrom, who leads a new United Nations office concentrating on sexual violence in armed conflict, told the UN  Security Council that the rapes in the villages in North Kivu “were not an isolated incident but part of a broader pattern of widespread systematic rape and pillage.”