UN reports gross rights abuses in DR Congo, including systematic rape

The United Nations humanitarian office today deplored the continuing and systematic abduction of girls and women in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and it appealed urgently for funds to replace $1.5 million in humanitarian supplies grabbed by looters during military and civilian demonstrations.

"I am deeply disturbed by continuing reports of continuing human rights abuses, including sexual violence, perpetrated by various armed groups," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland. "If this conflict continues we could see massive population movements," he warned.

The brief seizure of the important eastern town of Bukavu by ethnic Tutsi or Banyamulenge military dissidents, led by Gen. Laurent Nkunda and Col. Jules Mutebusi, in late May and early June had spread violence to other parts of the eastern region, especially the Kivus, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

Joelle Sabella, a spokesperson for the UN Organization Mission in the DRC (MONUC), said last week that Bukavu was being isolated and effectively besieged by the mutineers, who have blocked routes from north and south, while the closure of the Rwanda border was imposing "economic asphyxiation" on the town.

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) said fierce clashes between Government troops and Mutebusi fighters recently took place in Kamanyola. Residents escaped to Nyangezi and over the border into Burundi. Meanwhile, scant rainfall was hampering local agricultural production.

The armed groups have been implicated in human rights abuses ranging from attacks on villages to pillaging, intimidation and harassment, while the systematic abduction and rape of women and girls continued, mostly with impunity, throughout the country, according to WFP.

"Ninety per cent of the humanitarian organizations operating in Bukavu, Goma, Kalemie, Kinshasa and Kindu have been affected by either looting, suspension of activities, or lack of access to vulnerable groups," OCHA said. "A total of 193 staff from more than 30 UN agencies and aid organizations were relocated to safer areas."

Three OCHA offices had been destroyed and an estimated 2.6 million vulnerable persons had been affected by the reduction of humanitarian activities.

OCHA said a joint assessment mission reported last week that there were about 250,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Rutshuru Territory. The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has said about 31,000 Congolese have fled to Burundi and 3,000 to Rwanda.