UN Admits It 'Failed' to Stop Mass Rapes in Congo

UNITED NATIONS (Sept. 7) -- The United Nations today admitted that it had "failed" to prevent the systematic rape of hundreds of women in the Democratic Republic of Congo this summer by rebel forces, and then failed to go public with the information on the mass atrocities committed over four days.

The U.N. said more than 500 systematic rapes were committed in eastern Congo since late July, more than double the number that had been previously reported.

"Our actions were not adequate, resulting in the unacceptable brutalization of the population of the villages in the area. We must do better," said Atul Khare, a senior official in the U.N. peacekeeping operations, which had troops as close as 10 miles from some of the assailed villages.

The United Nations' peacekeeping operation in the Congo has some 20,000 troops and an annual budget of $1.37 billion.

"I feel personally guilty to the people who have suffered this brutalization and I trust that we, all of us, will indeed to better," Khare told the Security Council while presenting his findings.

The U.N. confirmed that at least 242 women, including 28 minors, were raped between July 30 and Aug. 2 by Rwandan Hutu insurgents and Congolese rebels in and around the village of Luvungi the North Kivu province, in the eastern part of the country. Many women were raped by up to five or six men.

An additional 267 rapes occurred in July and August in North Kivu and adjoining South Kivu province, the U.N. said today. In the village of Miki, 74 people were raped, including 21 minors, some as young as 7, and six men.

The top U.N. official to prevent sexual violence, Margaret Wallstrom, quoted one raped woman as describing that the victims had been "forced to live through something like never before."

"She recounted how armed men went from house to house breaking down the doors, and how people were prevented from escaping because the village was surrounded," Wallstrom said. "She described how armed men inserted their hands into women's genitals searching for gold."

The U.N. has been heavily criticized for not coming forward with the information until almost a month after the rapes occurred. The world body only spoke out after a medical organization active in the region informed the press about what had happened.

By all accounts the U.N. knew that there were rebels in the area and had information about at least one rape case as early as July 30, but didn't act. At the briefing, Khare noted that the U.N. had indeed received this information, which was "unconfirmed" at the time. By Aug. 13 the U.N. knew of 68 victims, but it wasn't until 10 days later that it informed the media.

"As we focus on improving the flow of information and data, we must confront squarely the fact that we were slow to respond to the existing information," Wallstrom said.

The U.N. maintains one of the world's largest and most expensive peacekeeping forces in the Congo, and the fact that one of its outposts was close to the terrorized villages has raised questions about the mission's purpose.

Khare underlined that it was very difficult for the U.N. to operate in the mountainous and forested area, which has no proper roads, no cell phone reception and no electricity. Further, he said, it was difficult for villagers and peacekeepers to identify the rebels because they dressed like members of the Congolese army.

The U.N. also maintains that the Congolese government bears the primary responsibility for protecting its citizens and bringing the perpetrators to justice. Khare noted that Kinshasa had set up a commission to investigate the rapes but it had not taken any action.

U.N. officials asked the Security Council to impose targeted sanctions against two suspected leaders, identified as Col. Mayele, chief of staff of the Congolese rebel group Mai Mai Cheka, and Col. Serafim of the Rwandan rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda.

"These names are a starting point and constitute leads and leverage by which we may also identify some of the other participants in and the architects of the mass rape," Wallstrom said.

Besides the mass rape case, the U.N. found that hundreds of rapes are being committed in the region by the Congolese army as well. "As a national army it will need to maintain a much higher standard of discipline, good behavior and conduct, and observance of human rights," Khare said.

In the past, U.N. peacekeepers have also been discharged for sexually assaulting women in the Congo, which is often referred to as the "rape capital of the world."

More than 15,000 rapes were reported in Congo in 2008 and 2009, and the actual number may be much higher. "That is [only] what is reported," Khare said.

Describing how common rape is in the country, Wallstrom said that some Congolese women have concluded that "being gang raped by many men is normal for a woman."