Gang rapes reported in Congo
Nearly 200 women and four baby boys attacked by rebels
JOHANNESBURG – Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days within miles of a U.N. peacekeepers’ base in an eastern Congo mining district, an American aid worker and a Congolese doctor said Monday.
Will F. Cragin of the International Medical Corps said aid and U.N. workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages in eastern Congo the day after the attack began on July 30.
More than three weeks later, the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo has issued no statement about the atrocities and said Monday it still is investigating.
Cragin told the Associated Press by telephone that his organization was only able to get into the town, which he said is about 10 miles from a U.N. military camp, after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting and withdrew of their own accord on Aug. 4.
At U.N. headquarters in New York, spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday that a U.N. Joint Human Rights team verified allegations of the rape of at least 154 women by combatants from the Rwandan rebel FDLR group and Congolese Mai-Mai rebels in the village of Bunangiri. He said the victims are receiving medical and psycho-social care.
Nesirky said the U.N. peacekeeping mission has a military company operating base in Kibua, some about 19 miles east of the village, but he said FDLR attackers blocked the road and prevented villagers from reaching the nearest communication point.
There was no fighting and no deaths, Cragin said, just “lots of pillaging and the systematic raping of women.”
Four young boys also were raped, said Dr. Kasimbo Charles Kacha, the district medical chief. Masudi said they were babies aged one month, six months, a year and 18 months.