The top UN envoy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo said on Wednesday that two peacekeeping patrols were not informed by villagers that mass rapes were taking place and the UN is now working to improve communications and prevent any recurrence.
Roger Meece, the new UN special representative, said peacekeepers didn’t learn about the “horrific” rapes of at least 154 Congolese civilians for nearly two weeks, which showed that the force’s actions to protect civilians were insufficient and need to be improved.
He said one idea being pursued was to have villages report to the UN’s forward operating base at Kibua every day. If the force did not receive a report, he said, it would assume there was a problem and send a patrol to investigate.
Meece gave the most detailed account of the UN’s actions since Monday’s report that Rwandan and Congolese rebels gang-raped nearly 200 women and some baby boys over four days.
Will Cragin of the International Medical Corps said on Monday that aid and UN workers knew rebels had occupied Luvungi town and surrounding villages the day after the attack began on July 30. He said his organization was only able to get into the town after rebels ended their brutal spree of raping and looting, and withdrew of their own accord on Aug. 4. The UN was not made aware of the attacks until more than a week later.
Pressed on why two UN patrols learned nothing about the mass rapes, Meece said he could only speculate.
“There is, of course, a significant amount of cultural baggage ... associated with rapes in this area, as well as elsewhere.” he said. “I can only speculate as to what may have been the reasons, but I know that these can be very powerful in the local society and environment.”
In Washington on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the US would help any effort to bring to justice rebels accused in the “horrific” mass rape.
“This horrific attack is yet another example of how sexual violence undermines efforts to achieve and maintain stability in areas torn by conflict, but striving for peace,” Clinton said in a statement. “The United States will do everything we can to work with the UN and the DRC [Democratic Republic of the Congo] government to hold the perpetrators of these acts accountable and to create a safe environment for women, girls and all civilians living in the eastern Congo.”
The UN adopted a resolution last year recognizing the importance of preventing and responding to sexual violence as a tactic of war against civilians.
Clinton said it was now time for member nations to go beyond that with specific steps to protect civilians against sexual violence and prosecute those who commit such atrocities.
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