THE CONGOLESE authorities would have to fully investigate the recent rape of more than 150 women and children in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council has been told.
Secretary general Ban Ki-moon said the Congolese also said peacekeepers in the area should have done more to protect local people from rebels.
A United Nations peacekeeper military base is situated within 30 kilometres of the town, but it was 10 days before they learned of the atrocity.
Some reports say almost 200 women and some baby boys were attacked by the rebels over a four- day period last month, before they left. The UN has confirmed 154 cases.
The Rwandan Hutu FDLR rebel group said yesterday it was no way involved in the mass rape.
The FDLR is “in no way involved in these odious actions and takes umbrage at the baseless accusations launched against them by the secretary general of the United Nations”, executive secretary Callixte Mbarushimana said.
On July 30th, rebels from the FDLR, which is accused of carrying out the 1994 genocide in its own country, allegedly occupied the village of Luvungi in Kivu province.
“Armed men entered the village, telling people not to flee, convincing them that they had come for food,” said Giorgio Trombatore, country director for the International Medical Corps in the DRC. It had informed the UN of the events after travelling to the village.
“But later on in the dark, another group arrived. For the next three days, they raped and did what they did,” he said as he recounted evidence from survivors, who say they suffered multiple gang rapes, often in front of their own children.
The UN says its patrols were in Luvungi on August 2nd and 9th but the townspeople said nothing about the rapes.
Roger Meece, the UN special representative in the region, said cultural baggage or fear of reprisals may have prevented the villagers from approaching them.
However, the fact that UN peacekeepers did not know what was happening on the ground was hardly a surprise, said humanitarian workers in the region.
“We have been telling Monusco [the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo] for a long time that they need to change their practices,” said Ellie Kemp, head of policy with Oxfam in the DRC.
“Communities have been telling us that even when peacekeepers leave their bases, they don’t get out of their vehicles or talk to anyone.”
The UN, however, was reviewing a range of its peacekeeping practices in the region, including how to improve communication with the locals, said Mr Meece.
“And to be fair, they are getting better,” said Ms Kemp. “Where they listened to the people and have done what they want, going out on foot, at night and becoming more unpredictable, they have been more effective.”
The mission’s mandate, however, only runs until June 2011, when the Congolese government wants the force to draw down and security handed over to the national army.
Part of the National Congress for the Defence of the People, a rebel group in eastern Congo, has been integrated into the national army, with many officers retaining their existing ranks. This has led to parallel chains of command.
There has been no proper vetting of rebel commanders who joined the Congolese armed forces, leading to human rights abusers such as Bosco Ntaganda, a former CNDP commander wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes, being let swap one uniform for another.
The army, which is poorly paid, has often as much incentive as rebels to loot villages.
“It doesn’t make for a pretty picture,” said Ms Kemp.
Dr Dr Muzong Kodi of Chatham House’s Africa Programme said: “At the end of day it is the Congolese forces who need to show responsibility.
“Their task is daunting, because you are dealing with soldiers who were fighting one another not long ago and that don’t have basic military training. So it’s a really steep learning curve for the Congolese armed forces.”