UN Report: Congo Government Troops Blamed For Mass Rape

GENEVA -- Congolese government troops carried out mass rapes in a remote part of eastern Congo over the New Year period, according to witnesses and victims cited in a United Nations report released Friday.

Investigators found at least 47 women were subjected to rape and other sexual assaults from Dec. 31, 2010, to Jan. 1, 2011 in an isolated and mountainous area of North Kivu province, the U.N.'s human rights office said.

The victims, aged between 16 and 65, included pregnant women, and some were raped in front of their children, the report said.

The incident occured when 100 soldiers had attacked the villages of Bushani and Kalambahiro with whips, machetes and rifles, accusing the inhabitants of supporting enemy forces.

Investigators were unable to interview some of the rape victims because most of the villagers have fled to the nearby forest or other towns, fearing another attack. Others refused to give evidence because they feared reprisals, the U.N. said.

"Considering the evidence gathered, the number of victims of this attack could be significantly higher," the report said.

Armed groups in Congo have frequently used rape as a tool of war against perceived enemy supporters. The region has been wracked by violence since Rwanda's 1994 genocide spilled conflict across the border.

A study published in the American Journal of Public Health in June concluded that more than 1,000 women are raped in Congo every day.

The study based on a government health survey found the highest frequency of rape was in North Kivu province, where 67 women per 1,000 had been raped at least once.

The U.N. report Friday said the Congolese military has failed to fully cooperate with investigators, hindering attempts to prosecute the attackers.

Earlier this month the U.N. implicated government troops in the rape of at least 121 women over a three-day period June 11-13 in the village of Nyakiele in South Kivu province.