Congolese 'begged UN for protection from rebels'

Published on Wednesday 1 September 2010 18:02

Congolese community leaders have said they begged local UN officials and army commanders to protect villagers days before rebels gang-raped scores of people, from a month-old baby boy to a 110-year-old great-great-grandmother.

The rapes occurred in and around Luvungi, a village of about 2,200 people that is a half-hour drive from a UN peacekeepers' camp and a 90-minute ride from Walikale, a major mining centre and base for hundreds of Congolese troops.

The number of people treated for rape in the 30 July- 4 August attacks now stands at 242 - a high number even for eastern Congo, where rape has become a daily hazard. The rebels occupied the area for more than four days until they withdrew voluntarily.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has declared his outrage - survivors say they were attacked by between two and six fighters and raped in front of their husbands and children.

Charles Masudi Kisa yesterday said his Walikale Civil Association first sounded the alarm on 25 July, meeting with Congolese army and local authorities to say the withdrawal of soldiers from several outposts was putting people in danger of attacks from rebels. The military had abandoned every post from Luvungi to just outside Walikale, for unclear reasons, he said.

Mr Masudi said that on 29 July he warned the UN Civil Affairs bureau in Walikale, the army and the local administration that rebels were moving in on Luvungi. "We begged them to secure the population and told them people were in danger."

Roger Meece, the UN mission chief in Congo, said an army patrol received information on 2 August suggesting "a dramatic decrease" in rebel activity.