8 Sept 2010

UN 'failed' DR Congo rape victims

UN troops failed 242 women and children who suffered a mass rape attack in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a top UN peacekeeping official has said.

Congo hosts the largest and most costly UN peacekeeping mission in the world, but the mass rape attacks happened just 30km from a UN base some time between July 30 and August 3 in the North Kivu region.

"Our actions were not adequate, resulting in the unacceptable brutalisation of villages in the area," Atul Khare, under-secretary general for peacekeeping operations, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

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He said that government of the DRC holds the primary responsibility for security in the area, but acknowledged that "Clearly, we have also failed".

The area was reportedly over-run by rebels from neighbouring Rwanda and Congolese Mai Mai militia.

On July 30, the day the rapes began, the UN mission in North Kivu apparently received an e-mail warning that rebels had moved into the town and one woman had been raped there.

But the UN did not report it until ten days later.

Al Jazeera