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| Africa Subsaharan |
| U.N. Report Slams Rape Rampage by DR Congo Troops |
| 2013-05-09 |
| [An Nahar] Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... troops went on a rape rampage, attacking at least 135 women and girls as they retreated from a rebel advance last year, according to a U.N. report released Wednesday. Soldiers raped women at gunpoint, killed a boy who tried to save his goat and beat men who tried to defend their wives and homes, according to the latest harrowing episode from more than two decades of conflict in eastern DR Congo. U.N. human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... Sherlocks said the army and M23 rebels, who routed government forces as they took the major eastern city of Goma in November, could face international crimes against humanity charges. Congo authorities should promptly bring to trial rebel and army commanders "regardless of their rank", said the Sherlocks. They also called on "neighboring states" to hand over M23 leaders implicated in the atrocities. M23 fighters carried out a rape and killing spree in Goma as they took over on November 20 with U.N. peacekeepers powerless to stop them alone. Thousands of DR Congo army troops retreated to Minova in South Kivu province where they went on their own rampage in the town and eight surrounding villages. According to a toll given by the U.N. Sherlocks, 17 people, including two boys, were killed in the week-long offensive to take Goma. During their 10-day occupation of Goma and the nearby town of Sake, "at least 11 civilians were arbitrarily executed" and there were 58 rapes by M23 fighters. M23 took over a Goma military camp where at least 49 women -- mainly the wives of soldiers who had fled -- were raped or sexually assaulted, said the report. The militia also forcibly recruited child soldiers and slave labor. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 troops went on a rape rampage Bastids! That's our job! /UN |
| Posted by: Spot 2013-05-09 08:06 |