Peacekeepers failed to stop Congo rapes, UN says

By Africa correspondent Andrew Geoghegan
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The United Nations human rights chief has pointed to the failure of peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo in preventing the rape of hundreds of people.

A UN report has found that at least 300 men, women and children were raped by armed militia groups in the east of the country in late July. Human rights chief Navi Pillay said the scale and viciousness of the mass rapes defied belief. She pointed to the failure of both the local Congolese army and the UN peacekeeping force in preventing the atrocities.

It is believed militia groups attacked several villages after convincing the locals that they were there to protect them.

The UN report describes that while one group was raping and looting in a village another would set ambushes to capture fleeing residents.

Many of the captured were later taken away as forced labour. (ABC news)

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