Renegade soldiers are suspected of having raped more than 150 women and girls during a new rampage in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo this month, UN officials said.
The United Nations is to give the first official details on Friday of an investigation into the attacks in the Minembwe area of Sud Kivu province between June 10 and June 12.
But the attacks came just after about 200 former rebels quit a training centre for forces being incorporated into the national army, according to a UN official speaking on condition of anonymity.
A DRC legislator from Sud Kivu, Jean-Marie Ngoma, this week blamed the assaults on soldiers who used to be from the Mai Mai militia, headed by a colonel named as Niragire Kifaru.
Ahead of the release of details from the inquiry, Margot Wallstrom, the UN’s special representative on combating sexual violence in conflict, said that more than 150 women and girls were raped in the attacks.
Wallstrom said the rapes were “yet another tragic illustration” of the need for security sector reform in DRC.
“This mass rape demonstrates a continuing pattern of ill-discipline on the part of those who bear arms,” she said in a statement.
“Fueling this pattern is the rapid integration of former rebel fighters into the national armed forces without vetting or systematic training.
1 500 women raped daily
“When these forces are denied adequate pay or provisions, the risk of looting food and livestock from civilians in the vicinity is greatly heightened.”
The UN is “verifying these incidents and identifying ways to support the survivors”, the official added.
The UN envoy said “commanders, as well as individual perpetrators, must therefore be held accountable”.
Wallstrom has in the past called DRC the “rape capital” of the world.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Public Health last month, based on 2006-2007, 1 500 women a day are raped in the country.
The army and militias have been implicated in mass rapes in DRC over the past two years. Earlier this year an army colonel was jailed for 20 years for crimes of sexual violence by his subordinates in eastern DRC. – AFP