Government troops in the Democratic Republic of Congo raped at least 121 women over a three-day period, then pillaged their village in the restive east of the country, the United Nations human rights office said on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said the incident allegedly occurred between June 11 and 13 in the village of Nyakiele in South Kivu province.
A UN team that visited the area “have confirmed that large-scale rape, pillaging and cruel and degrading treatment were committed in Nyakiele”, spokesperson Rupert Colville told reporters in Geneva.
He said UN investigators would return to the region next week to gather more information on the incident, which was first reported by medical aid group Médecins Sans Frontières last week.
Armed groups in eastern DRC have frequently used rape as a weapon of war. The region has been wracked by violence since Rwanda’s 1994 genocide spilled conflict across the border. Hutu militias that participated in the massacres of more than 500 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus sought refuge in Congo. – Sapa-AP