Further Victims Revealed in DRC Mass Rapes Case

By Aprille Muscara
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 1 (IPS) The number of women raped by rebel groups
during last month’s raid of more
than a dozen villages centred around Walikale, Democratic Republic of the
Congo
(DRC), has risen to over 240, U.N. officials told reporters here today.

Following the Jul. 30 to Aug. 3 raid, rebels are now believed to have
continued
pillaging in and around neighbouring areas of Mubi and Pinga: In addition
to
those previously reported, an additional 75 rape victims have been
identified.

As a result of the observed increase in violence and in an effort to
reassure
and protect the population, the U.N. peacekeeping force in the DRC
(MONUSCO) and the 121st brigade of the Congolese military are boosting
their presence in the affected areas, according to a statement released
today
by MONUSCO. Helicopters have also been dispatched for surveillance over
the
concerned areas.

Additionally, the Congolese military "has opened an
investigation," the
statement said. "One suspect has already been apprehended," it
said.
Although the U.N. maintains a presence in the DRC, the legal burden to
arrest
and prosecute the perpetrators of the mass rapes lies with the Congolese
government.

Victims left in the wake of the rebels’ violence have gradually come
forward
as the Congolese military is able to secure their villages and the rebels
retreat,
U.N. spokesperson Farhan Haq told IPS.

The U.N. has identified the perpetrators as members of the Democratic
Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) and Mai Mai Cheka – rebel groups that
regularly terrorise the mineral-rich eastern DRC region, looting villages
and
systematically gang raping women and children as a tool of war.

MONUSCO was informed of the additional rapes following the Walikale raid
by
aid groups who provided care to the victims.

The U.N. is currently conducting its own non-criminal investigation,
jointly
headed by its human rights office and MONUSCO, "to try to establish
the facts
related to the U.N.’s mission on the ground, to learn from that and
also, in so
doing, to try to establish… what actually happened," U.N.
spokesperson
Martin Nesirqy told IPS.

The U.N. and MONUSCO have come under fire since news of the mass gang
rapes first broke early last week – for their failure to prevent the raid
despite
having knowledge of rebel activity in the villages. The primary mandate of
the
one billion dollar MONUSCO force, the world body’s largest
peacekeeping
presence worldwide, is the protection of civilians.

Eighty peacekeepers patrol the densely wooded 300 square kilometre area
encompassing Walikale – a number, the U.N. says, is insufficient.
"They can’t
be behind every bush," outgoing U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes
told
reporters here last week.

U.N. agencies knew of rebel activity and one reported rape in the Walikale
area
when the raid began on Jul. 30, and knew of 24 more rapes by Aug. 10,
‘The
New York Times’ reported today, disputing earlier claims by
officials that the
U.N. did not have knowledge of rapes of any scale until Aug. 12.

A MONUSCO patrol did not pass through the villages until Aug. 2. At this
time, the raid was still occurring, but U.N. officials say that the
peacekeepers
received no indication of the rebels’ presence, or of the mass rapes
during
their visit.

Meanwhile, the DRC government insists that it doesn’t need U.N.
peacekeepers, who have been in the country since 1999 after a ceasefire
was
brokered between warring factions in the central African region.

Kinshasa has expressed its desire for the MONUSCO mandate – which expires
next summer – not to be extended, and has sought a drawdown of U.N. forces
in the DRC. Nearly 2,000 blue helmets stationed in the relatively stable
western part of the country were sent home in June.

But aid groups claim that the DRC’s security forces are incapable of
providing
peace and stability to its citizens. The Congolese army has itself been
reported to perpetrate human rights abuses, including systematic rape of
the
civilian population.

As a result, "as long as the Congolese armed forces are in a state of
indiscipline where they are themselves a threat to the population and
women,
mostly… MONUSCO is the best hope to protect civilians," Marcel
Stoessel, DRC
country director for Amnesty International told IPS.

But in the long run, Stoessel said, the way to ensure an end to the
impunity
for human rights abuses, like sexual violence, committed in the conflict-
ridden DRC is comprehensive security sector reform.

"MONUSCO cannot be a long-term solution," Stoessel told IPS.