WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY NEWS archive: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (DRC)
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2006

Many to blame for war crimes against Congo's women
November 29, 2006 – (afrol News) In the fertile hills of eastern Congo Kinshasa(DRC), the region's women tell tales of war crimes crueller than others can imagine. They are angry with brutal rebels groups, Rwandans, the national army, mineral companies and the US, which they say supplied the arms. And the greatest war crime of all, they warn, is not letting their voices be heard even today.

Hundreds of thousands raped in Congo wars
November 14, 2006 – (The Guardian) Hundreds of thousands of women and girls have been raped over the past decade by soldiers, rebels and ethnic militias in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The scale of the assaults has become increasingly evident over recent months as growing numbers of women have emerged for treatment with the reduction in fighting ahead of presidential elections, and because medical workers have been able to reach areas in the east of the country long cut off by conflict.

Plight of Girl Soldiers “Overlooked”
October 31, 2006 – (IWPR) As the trial at the International Criminal Court of a Congolese rebel leader approaches, some fear that the voice of girls forced into militias may go unheard. While human rights organisations welcome the fact that Congo militia leader Thomas Lubanga will soon stand trial at the International Criminal Court for conscripting child soldiers, some are concerned that the scope of the official charge is inadequate.

Congo gangs hold thousands of child soldiers-report
October 11, 2006 - (Reuters) Girls made up some 40 percent of the children taken by armed groups during the war yet the vast majority remained unaccounted for, the rights group said. Some government officials regarded them as "dependants" of adult fighters, who considered them sexual possessions and did not feel obliged to hand them over.

U.N. official wants Congo rapes punished
September 8, 2006 – (AP) The U.N.'s humanitarian chief called Friday for an end to the rapes plaguing women in war-battered Congo and said the perpetrators, including those wearing military uniforms, must be severely punished. Jan Egeland, visiting Congo's eastern borderlands where violence continues despite the official end to a 1996-2002 war, said women in the region continue to suffer from sexual violence.

U.N. Congo peacekeepers again accused of sex abuse
August 17, 2006 – (Reuters) The United Nations is investigating a suspected child prostitution ring involving its peacekeepers and government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the U.N. mission said on Thursday. Among accusations being investigated is that pimps are using the presence of U.N. peacekeepers to lure vulnerable girls to go and work as prostitutes in areas of South Kivu where they are deployed, the mission said in a statement.

DRC: Rape victims hope new leaders will halt violence
August 2, 2006 (IRIN) - Large numbers of women took part in Sunday’s elections in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s South Kivu Province in the hope that the new leaders would clamp down on the violence perpetrated by militants, say civil society organisations.

Congo election stirs hopes for peace among displaced villagers
July 29, 2006 - (Reuters) A truce between eastern Congolese militias and the government has stirred hopes of peace for thousands of villagers displaced by fighting ahead of historic elections on Sunday. Some 50,000 people have flooded into a makeshift camp at Gety in northeastern Ituri district in recent weeks, fleeing clashes between the army and militias who have long fought for control of the mineral-rich region.

Congo-Kinshasa: Country Prepares Itself for Elections
July 26, 2006 - (Business Day) The election in Democratic Republic of the Congo will be the most expensive to be supported by the United Nations (UN), costing the international community as much as $400m to give the country a new start. On Sunday, more than 25-million registered voters will go to the polls to elect a president and parliamentary representatives. Incumbent President Joseph Kabila is considered a favourite, though yesterday opposition demonstrators rioted in the capital, pulling down his campaign posters.

CONGO VIOLENCE
July 7, 2006 -(Reuters) As government soldiers dozed in the abandoned market stalls and excited U.N. peacekeepers celebrated reaching the town, several days late, a handful of civilians squatted in a mud hut. The dozen or so -- those too old, young or ill to flee -- were being kept under close guard and were all that was left of the population of 10,000 who lived in Tchei before the attack.

Rights abuses still plague Congo's children -Annan
June 20, 2006 - (Reuters) Despite an international crackdown, children are still being abducted, raped, and forcibly recruited as soldiers in Congo, with Congolese soldiers and police the main perpetrators, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said on Tuesday.

6 Congolese soldiers convicted of mass rape get life sentences, UN reports
June 9, 2006 – (UN News Centre) In a case that the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been following closely, six soldiers from the national armed forces were given life sentences of hard labour for crimes against humanity after their convictions on charges of mass rape were re-examined and confirmed.

Rape, brutality ignored to aid Congo peace
May 26, 2006 -(CNN) At a makeshift recreation center at a hospital here in eastern Congo, about 500 women surround one of their own, who's lying on the floor.

DRC: Soldiers jailed for mass rape
April 14, 2006 -(IRIN) Seven soldiers in the Congolese army have been sentenced to life in prison for crimes against humanity, including the mass rape of at least 119 women in the northwestern province of Equateur. This was the first sentence against the country's military personnel for crimes against humanity.

DR CONGO: UN WELCOMES LIFE SENTENCES ON SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF MASSIVE RAPE
April 13, 2006 -(UN News Service) Welcoming the first sentencing of army soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) for crimes against humanity stemming from massive rape, United Nations officials have called for further investigations to help prosecute other military personnel who may be implicated.

Humanitarian Intervention Urgently Needed in Katanga Province of DRC
April 10, 2006 -(International Medical Corps - USA) When an International Medical Corps nutrition and health assessment team recently went into camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, they found the humanitarian situation to be extremely alarming.

DRC: UN investigations into allegations of sexual offences by peacekeepers
January 26, 2006 -(IRIN) In February 2005, the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, created an office to address allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by some of MONUC's civilian and military personnel. It was the first such UN office to have been set-up as part of a peacekeeping mission. The office undertook scores of investigations but closed in November 2005 when investigations were taken over by the UN's Office for Internal Oversight in New York. The person who created and ran the office was Nicole Dahrendorf, a specialist in law and human rights. Dahrendorf is still with MONUC as an advisor. IRIN recently interviewed her.

Women’s Vote Tilts Balance in DRC’s Constitutional Referendum: 3 out of 5 voters women
January 20, 2006, - (UNIFEM) Kinshasa — The people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) voted a resounding "yes" at their Constitutional Referendum held in December 2005. The referendum was the first time in decades that Congolese went to the polls to decide on their country's future.

A movement by women in Congo fights stigma associated with rape
January 9, 2006 – (The Mercury News) MerVani Dikanza was running for her life through the wooded civil war battlegrounds of northeast Congo when five armed militiamen snared her. For the next several weeks she was their slave, made to carry their belongings and, she said, raped repeatedly. When the quiet 18-year-old finally escaped and found her husband at a refugee camp in Tchomia last January, she feared that he would leave her, the fate of so many other rape victims in a war-scarred society that often views the crime as the woman's fault. But a small group of female community leaders in Tchomia counseled Dikanza and her husband, Gilbert Gusapa. They told how medication could lessen her pain, advised her on how to avoid being attacked again and lectured him - sometimes sternly - on the need to remain loyal.

2005

250 Political Party Leaders in the Democratic Republic of Congo Agree to Mainstreaming Gender Equality Principles in their Political Party Manifestos, Activities, Protocols and Procedures
December 3, 2005 - (UNIFEM) Kinshasa - In a one day information exchange and training on the core principles of gender equality, 250 political party leaders in the DRC have agreed to mainstream gender equality principles in their political party manifestos, activities, protocols and procedures. The training was organized in response to the demands formulated by political party leaders and as a follow up to a brainstorming session by women in politics and political party leaders to address the obstacles and barriers women face within their political parties. Organized with the support of the United Nations Development Fund for Women(UNIFEM) and in partnership with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), MONUC, the Independent Electoral Commission and the Ministry of Women Affairs, the main objective of the training was to persuade political leaders to adopt favourable measures in support of “Equal Access of women and men to electoral mandates and electoral offices”.

Refugee Voices: One female child soldier's story in the Democratic Republic of Congo
November 7, 2005- (Reliefweb) UNICEF estimates that in North Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, there are about 33,000 children associated with all the different fighting forces and that 40% of them are girls. But when Refugees International visited the CTO (Center for Transit and Orientation) for former child soldiers in Goma, DRC, we were told that since the opening of the center in April 2002, only two girls have been among the 165 demobilized child soldiers.

Congo holds first trial of soldiers committing group rape
KINSHASA, Oct. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The military tribunal of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) has put on trial soldiers who committed group rape in the northwestern province of Equator, the UN peacekeeping mission in the country said Wednesday.

DRC-NIGERIA: 11 policemen suspended over sex abuse allegations in DR Congo
September 27, 2005 - (IRIN) Nigeria has suspended 11 policemen, including a senior officer, suspected of sexual abuse while serving as UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

DRC: 12,500 Girls members of armed groups , NGO report says
August 25, 2005 – (IRIN) Some 12,500 girls currently belong to government and non-government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a programme to disarm, demobilise and reintegrate all militias into society is failing them, Save the Children, an NGO, said in an August 2005 report.

CONGO MILITIAMEN RAPE 15 IN VILLAGE ATTACK – U.N.
June 6, 2005 - (Reuters) Pro-government militiamen raped 15 women and girls in an attack on a remote Congolese village last month, stealing their clothes so they were forced to flee naked, the United Nations said on Monday.

“Not Women Anymore…”
May 6, 2005 - (Ms Magazine) The Congo’s rape survivors face pain, shame and AIDS by Stephanie Nolen It took Thérèse Mwandeko a year to save the money. She knew she could walk the first 40 kilometers of her journey, but would need to pay for a lift for the last 20.

UN Mission Probes Possible Breaches of Zero-Tolerance Policy on Sexual Exploitation
April 12, 2005 - (UN News) The United Nations mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is investigating two weekend incidents for possible breaches of its zero-tolerance policies on sexual exploitation and abuse, a UN spokesman said today.

DRC: The problems of reintegrating child soldiers
April 12, 2005 - (IRIN) The disarmament effort of the UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, known as MONUC, has brought almost 3,000 minors into the care of child-protection agencies working in the northeastern district of Ituri.

Zero-Tolerance Policy Regarding Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: MONUC More Vigilant Than Ever
April 11, 2005 - (MONUC Press Release) MONUC was informed, this past weekend, of an incident in which the police in Kinshasa arrested two international civilian employees of U.N. Mission, one of them a United Nations volunteer (UNV).

Women killed and mutilated in Congo attack - U.N.
April 6, 2005 - (Reuters) At least nine women have been murdered and their bodies mutilated by a militia terrorising civilians in Democratic Republic of Congo's copper-rich Katanga province, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

DRC: UN agency expresses concern over thousands of children in armed groups
April 5, 2005 (IRIN) - Despite 3,313 children being disarmed in the last six months in Congo's northeastern district of Ituri, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) has expressed concerned over thousands others yet to be released by armed groups.

"No Go" Zones to Prevent Sex Abuse by U.N. Peacekeepers
April 4, 2005 - (IPS) As charges mount of sexual abuse and child molestation by U.N. peacekeepers, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) has drawn up a list of "no go" zones barring visits by blue-helmeted soldiers and civilian staff.

In Congo, Peace Eludes Its U.N. Keepers
March 28, 2005 - (Washington Post Foreign Service) Early one morning last month, Capt. Shebih Hassan, a U.N. peacekeeper from Pakistan, spotted crowds of terrified women and children gathering at the foot of grassy hills near his battalion's camp.

DRC: More action needed to stop sexual abuses, new UN report says
March 25, 2005 - (IRIN) A new UN report issued on Thursday said that efforts to stop UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from sexually abusing the local population have not been effective and it recommended establishing better mechanisms to investigate cases.

DRC: Ituri militias take war to civilians
March 23, 2005 - (IRIN) Three months after the resumption of fighting between Lendu and Hema militias in Ituri, a district in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), a vivid picture of human-rights violations is emerging. Pregnant women have been gang raped, children burnt to death and villages razed to the ground.

DRC: UN official dismissed over sex abuse scandal
March 18, 2005 (IRIN) - A senior UN civilian official accused of sexual misconduct in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is no longer under investigations; another senior official has been dismissed, Fred Eckhard, the spokesman for the UN Secretary-General, announced on Thursday.

UN mission in DR of Congo suspends or expels civilians in sexual abuse cases, clears three
March 17, 2005 – (UN NEWS) Seventeen civilians in the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have been investigated on allegations of sexual exploitation, of which three cases have been closed for lack of evidence and one is still being reviewed, a UN spokesman said today.

UN reports atrocities in Congo
March 17, 2005 - (Guardian) Armed militia groups in the Democratic Republic of the Congo kidnapped hundreds of rival tribe members, tortured, mutilated, raped and decapitated their victims, and even boiled alive and ate two girls in front of their mother.

Sex-Assault Continues Unchecked in Congo
March 13, 2005 - (WOMENSENEWS) In the jungles and border towns of eastern Congo, a civil war staggers on, largely ignored. So far tens of thousands of women and girls have been sexually assaulted during this humanitarian crisis, according to Human Rights Watch.

DRC: Women remain under represented in government
March 10, 2005 (IRIN) - Women are still under represented at decision-making levels in the Democratic Republic of Congo's (DRC’s) institutions, reduced to the role of house help and have even become victims of repeated sexual violence, women's representatives said on Tuesday during the International Women's Day.

DRC: Women's day in Kindu
March 9, 2005 - (MONUC) Thousands of women and girls from all walks of life and shades of opinion converged at Kindu's Tribune on Tuesday, March 8th, to commemorate the 30th Annual International Women's Day. As early as 8:00 am, more than 200 women's groups, largely made up of girls from primary, secondary and other institutions of higher learning arrived at the city's "Palais de Justice" where they all moved in unison downtown to the Tribune.

D.R. Congo: Tens of Thousands Raped, Few Prosecuted
Judicial Reforms Needed to Ensure Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence
March 7, 2005 (Kinshasa, ) In eastern Congo’s conflict, government troops and rebel fighters have raped tens of thousands of women and girls, but fewer than a dozen perpetrators have been prosecuted by a judicial system in dire need of reform, Human Rights Watch said in a report released on the eve of International Women’s Day.

'No justice' for DR Congo's raped
March 7, 2005 (BBC - Kigali) A human rights group says the justice system in the Democratic Republic of Congo needs urgent reform to end widespread rape in eastern areas. The US-based Human Rights Watch says that although more rape victims have gone to court, the government has not done enough to ensure prosecutions.

Women and children gang raped in Congo's Ituri-MSF
March 3, 2005 (Reuters) - Women and children are being gang raped in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo in what amounts to crimes against humanity, Medecins Sans Frontieres said on Thursday.The aid group called for all forces deployed in the Ituri region -- including U.N. peacekeepers who killed an estimated 50 militiamen in a battle on Tuesday -- to protect the tens of thousands of Congolese civilians fleeing violence.

UN soldiers arrested in DR Congo
February 13, 2005 - (BBC News) Six Moroccan soldiers serving as UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been arrested over sex abuse claims, Moroccan officials say. The head of the Moroccan contingent of UN peacekeepers and his deputy have also been relieved of their duties

'Shocked' Annan Backs Zero Tolerance to Stop Sex Abuse by Peacekeepers in Congo
February 11, 2005 - (The Independent) The UN secretary general, buffeted by the oil-for-food scandal, has endorsed tough measures to halt sex abuse at the UN mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

How the UN was Forced to Tackle Stain on its Integrity
February 11, 2005 - (The Independent) In March 1998 I was having dinner with staff from the UN in Sarajevo. The topic of conversation turned to the increasing number of bars in Bosnia, housing prostitutes from countries in eastern Europe, mainly Romania and Moldova. Someone said that in the infamous Arizona Market, near Brcko in north-eastern Bosnia, young girls from these countries were paraded weekly for sale and purchased by bar owners who put them to work as sex slaves.

U.N. Sex Crimes in Congo: Prostitution, Rapes Run Rampant
February 11, 2005 - (ABC News) Widespread allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse of Congolese women, boys and girls have been made against U.N. personnel who were sent to help and protect them -- despite a so-called zero tolerance policy touted by the United Nations toward such behavior.
For an accompanying slideshow, comprised of photos taken during ABC's
investigation in DRC, CLICK HERE.

UN Bans Peacekeepers from Sex with Congolese
February 10, 2005 - (Reuters) U.N. peacekeepers have been banned from having sex with the local population in Congo following allegations of widespread abuse of women and girls, the United Nations said on Wednesday.

Sex ban on DR Congo peacekeepers
February 10, 2005 - (BBC) UN peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been banned from having sex with locals after claims of widespread abuse of women and girls.

Annan Calls for Security Council Support in Fight Against Sexual Exploitation in Peacekeeping Missions
February 9, 2005 - (UN News) Secretary-General Kofi Annan has written to the Security Council appealing for more police and French-speaking investigators to strengthen the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), as an expanded investigation into allegations of sexual exploitation and misconduct continues, a UN spokesperson said today.

Eight years of darkness
Rory Carroll reports on a wave of sexual violence sweeping through the Democratic Republic of Congo
January 31, 2005 - (Guardian) Mwanvua Silimu has just told a lie and everyone in the room knows it. She stares at her feet, silent. The 14-year-old is back home after months as the prisoner of vagabond soldiers, relating her ordeal.

U.N. Troops Exploited Congo Girls
January 8, 2005 - (United Nations - AP) — United Nations peacekeepers in Congo sexually exploited women and girls, some as young as 13, a U.N. watchdog office said Friday in a new confirmation that efforts to curb abuses by U.N. troops are not working.Peacekeepers regularly had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money, investigators from the world body's Office of Internal Oversight Services found.

DR Congo Sex Abuse Claims Upheld
January 8, 2005 - (BBC News, United Nations) A United Nations inquiry has found that UN peacekeepers working in DR Congo sexually abused girls as young as 13. The report by the UN watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, investigated abuse allegations in the north-east Congolese town of Bunia.

2004

Why Gender Still Matters: Sexual Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized Masculinity
December 18, 2004 - (Partnership Africa Canada) In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the urgent need to address violence against women and use of HIV as a weapon of war has been identified as a top priority by Congolese NGOs.  In Why Gender Still Matters: Sexual Violence and the Need to Confront Militarized Masculinity, A Case Study of the Conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, released today by Partnership Africa Canada (PAC), Eli Mechanic shows the compelling need to tackle gender based violence head on.

Rape in Ituri: Kpandroma Under a Law of Silence
December 17, 2004 - (monuc.org) With precise figures unavailable, the Kpandroma region, in Ituri's Djugu territory, seems to hold a sad record of sexual violence - a situation worsened by the splintering of unruly militias, which have evolved into banditry from their original civil defence role. This violence flourishes thanks to the silence of a population traumatised by years of fighting - a silence only broken by the rare few who dare to step forward and talk to MONUC.

Violences Sexuelles Contre les Femmes et les Filles
December 7, 2004 - (monuc.org) Une jeune fille victime de violences sexuelles. La guerre est pourtant terminée; mais des hommes en uniforme continuent à violer des femmes en toute impunité dans l'Equateur. Certaines se cachent toujours dans des forets à Ikela, Basankusu ou encore Imese, par peur des militaires, et en attendant le départ de leurs villages de ces derniers. Les Nations Unies, en collaboration avec des ONG locales, tentent de «soigner» les victimes de cette barbarie d'une autre époque. Dernière initiative en date, un séminaire sur les droits et la détraumatisation des femmes victimes des violences sexuelles qui vient de s'achever à Mbandaka.

Democratic Republic of Congo: HIV - the longest lasting scar of war
December 1, 2004 - (Amnesty International) The conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that raged from 1996 to 2003 has left numerous scars on the people and infrastructure of the country. The widespread destruction of homes and hospitals, the mass killings and brutality that characterised this ugly conflict have left children without families, people without limbs and widespread sickness.

Report Shows DR Congo Rape Horror
October 26, 2004 - (BBC) Fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo have raped at least 40,000 women over the past six years, human rights agency Amnesty International reports. All groups involved in the civil war committed extreme sexual violence during the civil war throughout the east of the country, it finds.

UN DR Congo Sex Abuses 'on Film'
November 24, 2004 (BBC) The United Nations is investigating some 150 allegations of sexual abuse by UN civilian staff and soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Accusations include paedophilia, rape and prostitution at a UN site in Bunia, says UN official Jane Holl Lute.

UN Probing Charges of Sex Abuse in DR of Congo, Peacekeeping Official Says
November 23, 2004 - (UN News Service - New York) The United Nations has dispatched two teams to investigate 150 charges of sexual exploitation and abuse by civilian and military personnel serving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), according to a senior UN official.

DRC: Help the Healing Begin
November 15, 2004 - (Amnesty International) Armed groups in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have raped tens of thousands of women, in systematic attacks marked by extreme brutality.

DRC Soldiers Arrested forMmolesting Women
October 27, 2004 - (SA - Kinshasa) Police in Democratic Republic of Congo have arrested 10 regular army soldiers and two police officers for molesting women, the UN radio station Okapi reported as Amnesty International denounced widsespread and unpunished rape.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Mass Rape- Time for Remedies
October 26, 2004 - (Amnesty International) Below are facts gathered from the report Mass rape - time for remedies. The report is based on interviews and research conducted by Amnesty International (AI) in the Eastern DRC in 2004. The report is part of AI's global campaign "Stop violence against women". The report focuses particularly on one of rape survivors' most pressing needs: access to adequate medical care and the urgent need for the DRC transitional government and the international donor community to take action.

Kalemie: Women take Responsibility in Transition and Election Processes
October 10, 2004 - (MONUC) Parliamentarian Vicky Katumwa addresses the workshop. Sensitizing women on the importance of their active participation in DRC's transition was the main them in a workshop entitled: "The Congolese Woman in View of the Stakes of the Transition: Focus on Kalemie." Lead by a women's delegation from Kinshasa headed up by Ms. Vicky Katumwa, the first Reporter of the National Assembly and Kalemie native, the workshop lasted three days, from 14 to 16 October 2004.

Maniema's Muslim women speak out
August 26, 2004 - (MONUC) The DR Congo is overwhelmingly a Christian state, with the Islamic religion practiced among only some 10 per cent of the population. But in the country's youngest province, historical roots have carved out different proportions. Thanks to the Arab slave trade that dates back years ahead of Belgian colonization, today many regions of Maniema province have as many Muslim residents as Christian.

A TALE OF UGANDA PEOPLES DEFENCE FORCES’ (UPDF) CONGOLESE WOMEN
August 22, 2004 - (The Monitor) In 2001, as hundreds of Uganda Peoples Defence Forces trekked back home, after a controversial stay in the DR Congo, they were followed by hundreds of Congolese women, some with babies clinging on their backs, some pregnant.

GRIEF AND ANGER AT MASS BURAL OF MASSACRE VICTIMS
August 17, 2004 - (IRIN) At a mass burial in Burundi on Monday, thousands of people lamented the death of hundreds of Tutsis from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as Banyamulenge, who had fled fighting across the border in June. They were slaughtered on Friday in their refugee camp at Gatumba, west of the capital, Bujumbura, and close to the border with the DRC.

UN CONDEMNS MASSACRE OF TUTSI REFUGEES
August 16, 2004 - (The Guardian) The UN security council has condemned the massacre last week of more than 160 Tutsi Congolese refugees in Burundi. Most of the victims were women, children and babies, shot dead and burned as they slept in shelters at the Gatumba refugee transit camp on Friday.

ATTACK ON REFUGEE CAMP IN BURUNDI KILLS AT LEAST 180
August 14, 2004 - (Associated Press) Dozens of attackers raided a United Nations refugee camp in western Burundi, shooting and hacking to death at least 180 people, witnesses and officials said Saturday.

ARMED CONGO GROUPS ACCUSED OF WAR CRIMES
August 10, 2004 - (AP) U.N. human rights experts accused all armed groups in Congo's troubled northeastern Ituri province of war crimes and said Rwanda, Uganda, and the former Congolese government contributed to "the massive abuses,'' according to a report.

DRC: SPECIAL REPORT ON WAR AND PEACE IN THE KIVUS
August 6, 2004 - (IRIN) A major stumbling block to the achievement of peace in the Democratic Republic of Congo is the present showdown in South Kivu Province between the dissident army general, Laurent Nkunda, and loyalist government troops.

THE INTERSECTION BETWEEN MEN, MASCULINITIES AND RAPE IN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO
July 22, 2004 - (Partnership Africa Canada Dialogue, Issue 1, No 2) The ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been marked by almost unimaginable atrocities - with sexual assault being a major part of the violence. According to the UN, gang rape has been so systematic and brutal that doctors in the DRC are now classifying wounds inflicted by rapists as combat injuries. Up to one in three Congolese women in conflict-affected areas have been raped and detailed reports from Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), among others, show the awful ramifications of the widespread sexual violence.

KIVU SEXUAL VIOLENCE: AGAINST WOMEN & MEN
July 19, 2004 - (Pambazuka News) For three and a half years, Arche d'Alliance, a human rights organisation, has been involved in a project investigating, monitoring, reporting and offering legal and socio-medical assistance to women victims of sexual violence in the territories of Uvira and Fizi.

A HOME TO RETURN A LITTLE DIGNITY TO WOMEN
July 16, 2004 - (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs) After months of interviews, the InterAgency Committte Against Violence Against Women found that 70 % of the women they interviewed in the IDP camps and in the town of Kalemie had been victim of either rape, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, kidnapping, or other human rights violations.

SA TROOPS 'RAPED KIDS IN DRC'
July 12, 2004 - (Pretoria News) South African and other peacekeeping troops have allegedly committed a string of rapes and other sexual offences against children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The United Nations has sent a special team to the DRC to investigate.

CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY IN CONGO CONFLICT REACHES ACROSS BORDERS
June 22, 2004 - (Human Rights Watch) Amid recent killings and rapes by government and rebel soldiers in the eastern Congo, the decision by the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor to systematically investigate war crimes in the Democratic Republic of the Congo could not be more timely, Human Rights Watch said today.

EASTERN CONGO BECOMING CIVILIAN DISASTER ZONE
June 14, 2004 - (Reuters) Eastern Congo is rapidly turning into one of the world's biggest humanitarian disasters, with 3.3 million people out of reach of relief groups, a senior U.N. official said. Jan Egeland, the emergency relief coordinator, told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday that 10 million people in 20 countries were in conflict areas with little access to aid, the largest number in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

DR CONGO'S SHAMEFUL SEX SECRET: YOUNG REFUGEES SELL THEIR BODIES TO UN PEACEKEEPERS
June 3, 2004 – (BBC) Faela* is 13 and her son Joseph is just under six months old. Sitting on the dusty ground in Bunia's largest camp for Internationally Displaced People (IDP), with Joseph in her arms, she talks about how she ensures that she and her son are fed.

U.N. PROBES 30 SEX ABUSE CLAIMS IN D.R.C., DISCIPLINES ONE
May 27, 2004 – (UN Wire) The United Nations said yesterday it is investigating 30 cases of alleged sexual abuse of minors by peacekeepers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (Associated Press /News24.com, May 27).

UN LOOKS INTO SEX ABUSE CLAIMS
May 27, 2004 – (Associated Press /News24.com) The United Nations is investigating allegations of 30 cases of sexual abuse of minors by peacekeepers in Congo, the world body said on Wednesday.

MEMBER OF UN MISSION IN DR OF CONGO ACCUSED OF SEXUAL ABUSE SENT HOME FOR TRIAL
May 26, 2004 – (UN) One member of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accused of sexual abuse is being repatriated early and will be prosecuted by his national authorities, the UN spokesman said today.

U.N. PEACEKEEPERS SEXUALLY ABUSING GIRLS IN D.R.C. CAMP
May 25, 2004 – (UN Wire) Teenage girls in the Democratic Republic of the Congo who were repeatedly raped by militiamen are being sexually exploited by U.N. peacekeepers who give the girls food in exchange for sex, the London Independent reports, giving details on allegations that have resulted in a U.N. inquiry.

UN TROOPS BUY SEX FROM TEENAGE REFUGEES IN CONGO CAMP
May 25, 2004 – (Independent) Teenage rape victims fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of Congo are being sexually exploited by the United Nations peace-keeping troops sent to the stop their suffering.

SEX AND DEATH IN THE HEART OF AFRICA
May 25, 2004 – (Independent) Hungry, frightened and helpless, young women in the Democratic Republic of Congo are selling their bodies in exchange for food and shelter. And the men expecting such 'payment' are the UN peacekeepers responsible for protecting them. By Kate Holt and Sarah Hughes

UN STAFF IN CONGO FACE CHILD SEX CLAIMS
May 17 2004 – (Financial Times) One of the United Nations toughest missions in Africa is facing damaging allegations that peacekeeping troops as well as civilian UN personnel have been involved in the systematic sexual abuse of minors.

UN PROBES REPORTS OF SEXUAL ABUSE BY CONGO STAFF
May 10, 2004 - (Reuters) The United Nations mission in Congo said Monday it was investigating allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation of civilians, including minors, by its staff serving in the northeastern town of Bunia.

DRC: HELP VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE AMONG EXPELLED CONGOLESE, OCHA SAYS
April 28, 2004 – (IRIN) Tens of thousands of Congolese expelled from Angola may be in need of psychological support and health care following reports of systematic sexual violence they underwent upon their expulsion, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported on Tuesday.

FORMER D.R.C. GIRL SOLDIERS SHUNNED UPON HOMECOMING
April 15, 2004 – (UN Wire) Girls who fought in the ethnic conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's northeastern region face ostracism when they return home and often cannot form relationships, according to a U.N. expert on child protection.

D.R.C. NEEDS STRICTER MEASURES AGAINST RAPE, MSF SAYS
April 2, 2004 – (UN Wire) The Democratic Republic of the Congo must enforce laws against rape, bring perpetrators to justice and provide medical treatment for victims if it is to bring an end to — and help women recover from —the brutal sexual violence so common since the start of its civil war, Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a report released yesterday.

DRC: WORDS ALONE WILL NOT PUT AN END TO SEXUAL VIOLENCE
April 1, 2004 – (Medecins Sans Frontieres) MSF report illustrates terrible consequences of rape in the DRC and the need for action.

DRC: MSF CALLS FOR NATIONAL PROTOCOL ON SEXUAL VIOLENCE
April 1, 2004 – (IRIN) A national protocol on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is needed to end rapes that are going on despite the end of the civil war, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said on Thursday in a new report.

JOURNÉE INTERNATIONALE DE LA FEMME À GOMA
16 Mars 2004 – (MONUC) Le samedi 6 mars 2004, la journée de réflexion des femmes pygmées a ouvert les manifestations en l’occasion de la Journée Internationale de la Femme qui sera célébrée dans le monde entier le lundi 8 mars 2004.

JOURNÉE INTERNATIONALE DE LA FEMME À KALÉMIE
13 Mars 2004 – (MONUC) Plus de 5000 femmes sont descendues dans la rue à Kalemie pour marquer le 8 mars, la Journée internationale de la femme. Le manifestation était la plus grande célébration en l’honneur des femmes jusqu’à ce jour dans cette ville katangaise. Pendant trois heures, des dizaines d’associations de femmes ont défilé devant le gouverneur du nord du Katanga, le chef du bureau régional de la MONUC et autres autorités politico-administratives de la province.

CÉLÉBRATION DE LA JOURNÉE INTERNATIONALE DE LA FEMME À KINDU
12 Mars 2004 – (MONUC) Au commencement il y avait Régine Kaponga…Chef de la Division « condition féminine et famille » au sein de l’administration locale, Régine est, à Kindu, le symbole de la femme par excellence. Boule de nerfs, débordante d’énergie, « depuis l’age de 14 ans » confie-t-elle, lorsqu’elle menait ses camarades collégiennes, « Maman Régine » est, depuis plusieurs années, la maîtresse de cérémonies des journées internationales de la femme dans la province du Maniema. En 1975, elle fut sélectionnée pour représenter sa province dans la capitale pour la première édition de cette journée. Aujourd’hui, 29 ans plus tard, son enthousiasme et sa détermination restent intacts, malgré les dures années de guerre : « Toutes les femmes sont capables de faire ce que les hommes font. Nous allons le leur montrer par ce défilé. Pour qu’ils sachent que nous ne sommes pas faites pour subir la guerre mais pour participer a l’édification de la paix et du développement » lance-t-elle, du haut de la tribune, à une foule de près d’un millier de personnes.

JOURNÉE DE LA FEMME À KISANGANI
11 Mars 2004 – (MONUC) A l’occasion de la Journée Internationale de la Femme (JIF) 2004, la Section de l’ Information Publique de la MONUC de Kisangani a organisé le lundi 8 mars 2004 une conférence-débat sur le thème : « La femme face aux enjeux du sida ». La Fondation Femmes Plus (FFP), ONG d’accompagnement psychosocial des personnes vivant avec le VIH/SIDA a étroitement collaboré à l’organisation de cette activité.

CÉLÉBRATION DE LA JOURNÉE DU 8 MARS À BENI ET BUTEMBO
10 Mars 2004 – (MONUC) Les activités marquant la célébration de la Journée de la femme ont été lancés dans le territoire de Beni bien avant le 8 mars avec des conférences-débats, des programmes radiophoniques, des pièces de théâtre et des projections vidéo qui ont couvert tout le territoire de Beni, c’est à dire de Beni ville jusqu’à Eringeti à la frontière du district de l’Ituri en passant par Oicha. Ces activités qui ont commencé le 1er mars et qui se sont succédées jusqu’au 8 mars ont été coordonnées par le Bureau de la Monuc à Beni avec la participation de la société civile, du Club Académia de la Fédération des Etudiants de Beni.

MAMANS TAKE TO THE STREETS EN MASSE IN KALEMIE
March 9, 2004 – (MONUC) Over 5,000 women marched down the main street of Kalemie in celebration of March 8th, International Women’s Day. The biggest women’s day event to hit Kalemie, the parade lasted over three hours as each group of women marched past the Governor of Northern Katanga, the MONUC Head of Office and several Kalemie authorities.

FOCUS ON RAMPANT RAPE, DESPITE END OF WAR
March 8, 2004 – (IRIN) Widespread rape of women and children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has continued to increase despite the inauguration of a transitional national government and related institutions, organizations in the fight against sexual violence have said.

SILENCE = RAPE
March 8, 2004 – (The Nation - March 8, 2004 issue) Last May, 6-year-old Shashir was playing outside her home near Goma, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), when armed militia appeared. The terrified child was carried kicking and screaming into the bush. There, she was pinned down and gang-raped. Sexually savaged and bleeding from multiple wounds, she lay there after the attack, how long no one knows, but she was close to starving when finally found. Her attackers, who'd disappeared back into the bush, wiped out her village as effectively as a biblical plague of locusts.

CONGO RAPE VICTIMS SEEK SOLACE
January 24, 2004 – (BBC) The war in Congo, estimated to have killed three million people and involving armies from seven different countries, is coming to an end.

UN TO INVESTIGATE REPORTED MASSACRE
January 23, 2004 - (IRIN) The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MONUC, is to send a team to investigate a reported massacre in Ituri District, eastern DRC, a MONUC official told IRIN.

RWANDA: FOCUS ON HELPING FORMER CHILD SOLDIERS (INCLUDES SECTION ON FORMER GIRL CHILD SOLDIERS)
January 22, 2004 - (IRIN) Despite the scorching sun, a cool breeze from the nearby volcanic mountains enables the former child soldiers to play football in the open space outside the Mutobo Transit Camp. For their part, the adult former combatants are attending a lecture in a rudimentary iron-roofed building nearby.

2003

DECEMBER 2003

UNICEF LAUNCHES 'ALL GIRLS TO SCHOOL' CAMPAIGN
December 16, 2003 – (IRIN) The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Monday launched a national campaign to promote education of all girls.

DRCONGO RAPE VICTIMS FACE A LIFE OF LONELINESS AND SHAME
December 15, 2003 – (AFP) Since the start of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) war in 1998, aid workers say that in eastern Sud-Kivu province alone more than 8,000 rape cases have been reported, or around 30 people every week.

DR CONGO: SAFI'S STORY - A COURAGEOUS YOUNG WOMAN MOVES BEYOND HER PAST EXPERIENCE OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
December 15, 2003 – (UNICEF) "My name is Safi*. I come from Uvira, South Kivu Province, DRC, near the Burundi border. I am 17 years old." …"It was April 2002 when they came to our house. It was about 6 p.m. They knocked on the door of our home and we opened it up because we thought it must be the neighbors stopping by to say hello. But it wasn't the neighbors. It was six armed men. They pushed their way into our home with their guns. We were all there. My mother, my father, my older brother and my four younger brothers and sisters. The men started yelling for my father to give them all his money, but he didn't have any.

RAPE, PILLAGE CONTINUE TO PLAGUE SOUTHERN LUBERO, NORTH KIVU PROVINCE
December 11, 2003 – (IRIN) Rape and abduction of women and girls, and pillage of crops by armed groups continue to plague the southern Lubero region, North Kivu Province of eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a joint UN-NGO humanitarian assessment mission reported on Thursday.

UNFPA SIGNS AGREEMENTS WITH D.R.C.; 34 SEX SLAVES FREED
December 5, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. Population Fund on Wednesday signed four agreements worth $30 million with the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to support population activities in the country for 2002-06. The funds will be used to support women's development, reproductive health and the fight against HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections. Youth centers are also slated to be built with the funds (Panafrican News Agency, Dec. 3).

SEX SLAVES RESCUED
December 4, 2003 – (AP in The Hamilton Spectator – Canada) UN peacekeepers said yesterday they had freed more than 30 women held as sex slaves by tribal fighters in Congo's volatile northeastern Ituri province.

UN TROOPS FREE SEX SLAVES IN EASTERN CONGO
December 3, 2003 – (Reuters) U.N. troops freed dozens of young girls and women used as sex slaves during raids on camps run by ethnic militiamen in northeastern Congo, officials said on Wednesday.

NOVEMBER 2003

A WAR ON WOMEN
November 25, 2003 – (Guardian UK) "I used to have a lovely voice," croaks one woman squeezed onto a bench in the corner. "And now look!"

SAVING CONGO, ONE WOMAN AT A TIME
November 24, 2003 – (UN Wire) Isabelle was only 15 when she and her mother went out into the fields early one morning in the lawless eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

TANZANIAN CAMP STEPS UP CAMPAIGN TO STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
November 24, 2003 – (UNHCR) A year ago, Kiza Mpondamali, a middle-aged Congolese woman in Lugufu refugee camp in western Tanzania, led a spirited drive to fight discrimination against women and girls and to push parents to send their daughters to school.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE A WIDESPREAD WEAPON IN DR CONGO CONFLICT
November 13, 2003 - (AFP) After raping teenaged Marie, three uniformed soldiers left her in a forest in Democratic Republic of Congo's South Kivu province, where sexual violence is widespread.

BURUNDI-DRC: HUMAN RIGHTS SITUATION REMAINS BLEAK, UN REPORTS
November 11, 2003 - (IRIN) Women and children continue to bear the brunt of human rights violations in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where, despite some progress towards peace, rape is still being used as a weapon of war, and children are still being recruited to fight these wars, according to two new UN reports.

WOMEN HAVE IMPORTANT ROLE IN PEACE EFFORTS, U.S. SAYS: U.N. SECURITY COUNCIL REVIEWS PROGRESS ON ADDRESSING WOMEN'S SECURITY ISSUES
November 10, 2003 – (Washington File) The United States places great emphasis on the role of women in resolving conflicts and building peace, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte says. "No approach to peace can succeed if it does not view men and women as equally important components of the solution," he says.

U.N. RAPPORTEUR CONCERNED ABOUT WOMEN, CHILDREN IN D.R.C.
November 7, 2003 – (UN Wire) The U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iulia Motoc, has launched a new appeal to parties involved in the conflict in the province of South Kivu to cease fighting, saying she is concerned with the situation of civilians there, especially women and children, the United Nations said yesterday.

SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO CONCERNED ABOUT SITUATION OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN SOUTH KIVU
November 6, 2003 – (UN) The Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iulia Motoc, has expressed her concern about the situation of civilians, especially women and children, in the province of South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

WOMEN SUFFER DISPROPORTIONATELY DURING AND AFTER WAR TOLD DURING DAY-LONG DEBATE ON WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY
November 5, 2003 – (MONUC) Women and girls suffered disproportionately during and after war, as existing inequalities were magnified, and social networks broke down, making them more vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations told the Security Council today.

THOUSANDS OF WOMEN ASSAULTED; NEW FIGHTING IN EASTERN DR OF CONGO, UN SAYS
November 4, 2003 – (UN) Thousands of women and girls between the ages of 5 and 80 in the eastern area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo have been tortured and raped and many are nursing bullet wounds, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today.

DR CONGO: CHILDREN REUNITED WITH THEIR PARENTS
November 3, 2003 – (ICRC) "Unbelievable!" said Jazmin Cibalonza, as she took her two children, Claude, 13 years, and Nada, 12 years, into her arms and kissed them after they stepped from an ICRC car at their home in Goma. "My dream has come true," added Jazmin, whose voice filled with emotion when she thanked the ICRC for bringing her children back to her after more than five years' separation.

OCTOBER 2003

RAPE SO COMMON IN D.R.C., IT IS CONSIDERED COMBAT INJURY
October 27, 2003 – (UN Wire) Gang rape has been so systematic and brutal in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that doctors in the country are now classifying vaginal destruction as a crime of combat, the Washington Post reported Saturday.

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: ITURI -- A NEED FOR PROTECTION, A THIRST FOR JUSTICE
October 21, 2003 – (Amnesty International) The Ugandan government must acknowledge its share of the responsibility for the enormous human suffering and abuse of human rights in Ituri. It must take immediate steps to end its continued support of armed groups and the economic plunder which fuels the atrocities, said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Kampala, launching the report Democratic Republic of Congo: Ituri, a need for protection, a thirst for justice.

RIGHTS BODY URGES KIGALI TO HELP CURB RIGHTS ABUSES IN EASTERN CONGO
October 15, 2003 - (IRIN) - Human rights NGO Amnesty International has called upon the Rwandan government to use its influence on armed elements operating in neighbouring eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to help curb human rights abuses throughout the region.

MONUC PROBING KILLING OF 16 IN NDUNDA, SOUTH KIVU PROVINCE
October 13, 2003 - (IRIN) - The UN has launched an investigation to find those responsible for the killing of 16 civilians, primarily women, during an attack on 6 October on the village of Ndunda, 30 km north of the town of Uvira, South Kivu Province, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

CONGO: A HELL ON EARTH FOR WOMEN
October 2, 2003 – (World Press Review) "She came in last evening. Five armed men had raped her the night before, a few kilometers from here," explains Mathilde Muhindo, director of a social assistance agency of the Roman Catholic diocese of Bukavu, on the eastern border of the Democratic Republic of Congo. "This morning, she was still crying. I cried with her," says Muhindo, in whose eyes traces of tears are visible. Through a window outside her office, you see the profile of a woman, her shoulders slumped, her face buried in her hands, sitting crumpled on the edge of a bed. Looking away from the building, the eye meets an infinitely tranquil countryside. In the distance, the hills of Rwanda emerge from the mist, which lends a deep gray hue to the mirror-smooth waters of Lake Kivu below.

SEPTEMBER 2003

MASS RAPE, LOOTING WIDESPREAD IN SOUTHEAST DRCONGO
September 12, 2003 - (AFP) Mass rape and looting by armed groups are widespread in the southeast Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) province of Nord-Katanga, where an outbreak of cholera also threatens people's lives, medical aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said Friday.

CONGO KILLINGS WILL GET COURT'S ATTENTION
September 9, 2003 – (Reuters) The chief prosecutor for the new International Criminal Court said today that his first investigations would focus on recent massacres and other crimes in the eastern Congo region of Ituri.

INDICATIONS OF GENOCIDE IN ITURI EXIST, UN RIGHTS ENVOY SAYS
September 1, 2003 – (IRIN) The UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Iulia Motoc, said on Sunday that there were indications that genocide may have occurred in the eastern district of Ituri.

AUGUST 2003

“PLEASE, DON'T RAPE THE WOMEN”
August 14, 2003 – (Accra Mail - Accra) Oscar-wining actress Jessica Lange, newly appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), has called on the international community to put an end to the widespread brutal rape of women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

UNICEF GOODWILL ENVOY URGES FOCUS ON D.R.C. WOMEN, CHILDREN
August 12, 2003 – (UN Wire) Renowned actress and UNICEF goodwill ambassador Jessica Lange yesterday ended a three-day mission to the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo by urging the world to pay more attention to the country's plight, especially with regards to women and children.

UNICEF AMBASSADOR JESSICA LANGE SHOCKED AND DEEPLY MOVED BY SYSTEMATIC RAPE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN EASTERN DRC
August 11, 2003 – (UNICEF) Shocked and deeply moved by the brutal and sometimes systematic rape of women and children in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Jessica Lange said today that the world can no longer ignore the atrocities that are being committed daily against the women and children of DRC.

JUNE 2003

FIRST LADY TO OPEN CONFERENCE ON WOMEN
June 30, 2003 – (BuaNews - Pretoria) South Africa is to host a five-day conference, ahead of Women's Month, in August. The Women in Dialogue Conference, to be held at the University of Pretoria from this Wednesday, follows another successful conference entitled Peace Dialogue, that was held in March between women from South Africa and the Democratic Republic Congo.

WOMEN IN WAR-TORN DR CONGO REGION DEPLORE UN'S "GUILTY SILENCE"
June 23, 2003 - (AFP) Women's organisations in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Monday accused the United Nations mission there of turning a blind eye to ongoing fighting which has ravaged this part of the vast African country.

WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION CRITICAL TO PEACE, UNIFEM HEAD SAYS
June 19, 2003 – (UN Wire) With an estimated 45 armed conflicts and wars happening around the world, women are increasingly demanding participation in peace talks and the reconstruction of their countries, UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer told U.N. Wire in an interview yesterday.

CHILDREN SUFFER TORTURE, RAPE AND CRUELTY IN DRC, NGOS REPORT
June 18, 2003 - (IRIN) Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have suffered systematic torture and cruelty during the country's five-year war, according to a new report by a consortium of NGOs.

RIGHTS GROUPS: CONGO WOMEN SUFFERING ABUSE
June 17, 2003 - (UN AP) Leading human rights and aid agencies called the situation in Congo one of the world's largest humanitarian tragedies and demanded urgent action to halt the sexual abuse and forced recruitment of children.

DR CONGO CHILDREN "ONE OF PLANET'S MAJOR HUMANITARIAN TRAGEDIES": NGO
June 16, 2003 - (AFP) The fate of children in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo is a major humanitarian disaster, the coordinator of an umbrella organization to protect children said Monday.

UNICEF CONDEMNS ATROCITIES AGAINST WOMEN AND CHILDREN
June 16, 2003 – (African Church Information Service) The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has raised alarm over violence meted against women and children in the ongoing conflict in Ituri Province, east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

CONGO'S WARRING FACTIONS LEAVE A TRAIL OF RAPE
June 9, 2003 – (NYT) They had walked through the banana groves and up the empty red dirt roads. Among them was a mother of two, clutching a child at her breasts, a pregnant woman holding her belly, a girl in a tattered blue school uniform skirt.

SECURITY COUNCIL REMINDED OF ITS COMMITMENT TO PUT GENDER ISSUES AT THE CENTRE OF PEACE EFFORTS
June 6, 2003 – (DPI/OSAGI Press Release) - In a briefing note to the Security Council released yesterday in preparation for its upcoming missions to Africa, Angela King, Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women, reminded the Security Council of its commitment to put women and girls at the centre of peace efforts and indicated concrete steps to be taken by the two missions to ensure a greater participation of women in the peace processes in these regions. Two Security Council missions are scheduled to travel to West Africa and to the Great Lakes region later this month.

UN ADVISER URGES SECURITY COUNCIL MISSIONS TO AFRICA TO FOCUS ON WOMEN, GIRLS
June 6, 2003 – (UN) On the eve of a United Nations Security Council mission to Central Africa, Secretary-General Kofi Annan's top adviser on women's issues has reminded the delegation of its commitment to put women and girls at the centre of peace efforts and to ensure that women played a greater role in the region's overall reconciliation processes.

MAY 2003

UPCOMING SECURITY COUNCIL MISSIONS TO AFRICA: WILL THERE BE A GENDER PERSPECTIVE?
May 30, 2003 – (PeaceWomen) In June, the Security Council members will travel to Central and West Africa in order to witness the current armed conflict and post-conflict situations in countries in the respective regions. On June 7, the Council members- led by the French- will depart for the Great Lakes region, where they will spend a week visiting six countries, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Tanzania. Later in the month, on June 28, the British will lead a Council mission to West Africa, where the Council members will spend six days visiting Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

FEMMES ET CONSOLIDATION DE LA PAIX EN RDC
May 22, 2003 – (Le Phare - Kinshasa) "Femmes et consolidation de la paix en RDC", c'est le thème de la Conférence ouverte mardi au Palais du peuple à l'intention des femmes congolaises issues de plusieurs couches socio-professionnelles. L'initiative de ces assises revient au Caucus des femmes, un groupe d'actions de lobbying regroupant plusieurs organisations féminines du pays.

UNIFEM URGES DRC PRESIDENT TO INVOLVE WOMEN IN NEW GOVERNMENT
May 22, 2003 – (UN Wire) U.N. Development Fund for Women Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer met yesterday with President Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and urged him to involve women in the war-torn country's political transition and economic reconstruction.

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF UNIFEM VISITS DRC AND LAUNCHES REPORT ON WOMEN IN ARMED CONFLICT
May 2003 (MONUC) As part of her tour to the region, the Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM); Ms. Noeleen Heyzer, is due to arrive in the DRC on the 18th of this month in a four day visit.

BURUNDI, DRC AMONG WORST PLACES TO BE A WOMAN
May 7, 2003 – (IRIN) Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are among the world's five worst conflict zones in which to be a woman or a child, according to a new report issued by the international NGO Save the Children, ahead of Mothers' Day to be marked on 11 May.

APRIL 2003

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MASSACRE
April 29, 2003 – (Mail & Guardian) At least 60 people, mostly women and children, were killed in a massacre in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the weekend, Ugandan army spokesperson Major Shaban Bantariza said on Monday.

MORE THAN THREE MILLION CONGOLESE DEAD, AND NO ONE NOTICES, SAYS IRC
April 28, 2003 – (AlertNet) Earlier this month, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said that its studies had found that at least 3.3 million people have died in the war that has gripped the Democratic Republic of Congo since 1998, making it the deadliest documented conflict since World War II. Michael Despines, now senior policy and programme adviser for IRC in New York, worked in eastern Congo for six years, and challenges humanitarians to influence humanitarian policies that would result in real change.

NGOS DISCUSS HOW TO HELP VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN DRC
April 14, 2003 - (IRIN) Humanitarian organisations working in South Kivu Province in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo are looking to launch a new project to help women who have been victims of sexual violence, the UN Mission in the DRC, MONUC, reported.

CONFLICT IN DR CONGO DEADLIEST SINCE WORLD WAR II, SAYS THE IRC
April 8, 2003 – (IRC) The four and a half year war in the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken more lives than any other since World War II and is the deadliest documented conflict in African history, says the International Rescue Committee.

MARCH 2003

CHILD LABOUR BANNED, WOMEN'S ACCESS TO JOBS EASED IN DR CONGO
March 19, 2003 - (AFP) Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has revised its labour laws, banning child labour and lifting a requirement on women to obtain their husband's permission before getting a job, the labour and social minister said Tuesday.

CIVILIANS BEAR THE BRUNT OF CONFLICT IN DRC
March 17, 2003 - (AFP) Marie Dwagani, 24, whose foot was recently blown off when she stepped on a landmine in this Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) town, sat groaning in what must be excruciating pain.

UN VOLUNTEER LAUNCHES FIRST UN MISSION GENDER WEB SITE
March 7, 2003 – (UN Volunteers) Coinciding with International Women's Day, the Gender Office of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) will tomorrow launch the first UN mission web site dedicated to gender issues. To visit the new website, go to: http://www.monuc.org/gender/

FEBRUARY 2003

REFUGEES INTERNATIONAL CONDUCTING ASSESSMENT MISSION IN ITURI
February 13, 2003 – (IRIN) Refugees International (RI) is conducting a humanitarian assessment mission in the Ituri District of northeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the NGO announced on Thursday. The mission is focusing on assessing the overall situation of the displaced, with particular attention to the needs of vulnerable women and children.

WOMEN IN KINSHASA DEMONSTRATE AGAINST CANNIBALISM
February 5, 2003 – (IRIN) Traffic came to a halt along Boulevard du 30 juin, Kinshasa's main thoroughfare, on Tuesday as some 300 women held a prayer vigil in protest against acts of cannibalism reported recently in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

JANUARY 2003

U.N. SAYS CONGO REBELS GUILTY OF CANNIBALISM, RAPE, TORTURE
January 15, 2003 – (UN Wire) The United Nations today confirmed reports that rebels in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have used forced cannibalism, torture, systematic rape and kidnapping as weapons against civilians in the country's northeastern jungles.

2002

DR CONGO’S WOMEN IN THE FRONTLINE
November 6, 2002 – (BBC) Fifteen-year-old Uvila shudders as she speaks. She is the victim of a monstrous crime.

WOMEN IN EASTERN DRC CALL ON ALL ACTORS TO WORK FOR PEACE
October 31, 2002 - (IRIN) A consortium of women's development and human rights groups of South Kivu Province has made an impassioned plea to all stakeholders in the conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to resolve their differences and to channel their efforts into establishing a peaceful and stable nation.

1325 TRANSLATED IN ALL 4 LOCAL LANGUAGES
October 1, 2002 – At the initiative of the Gender Advisor office of MONUC, the UN Peacekeeping Operation in DRC, and in collaboration with the DRC Ministry of Culture, Resolution 1325 and the Nairobi Declaration (an agenda for peace written by Congolese women who met in Nairobi in February 2002) have just been translated into the four local languages of the DRC. The gender advisor office of MONUC has received the translated copies of 1325 and the declaration and is now strategizing about how to disseminate the information within DRC. Although this important event has not been covered by the press, it will be addressed in an upcoming report within MONUC.

RIGHTS GROUP DENOUNCES VIOLATIONS IN SUN CITY
July 16, 2002 - (IRIN) Human rights violations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have increased throughout the national territory since the signing of the Sun City agreement, according to a newly-issued report from one of the primary Congolese rights organisations.

RAPE AS 'WEAPON' IN THE CONGO, SAYS RIGHTS GROUP
July 15, 2002 - (The East African - Nairobi) The report says combatants of the RCD rebel group in eastern Congo, as well as forces opposed to them - the Mai-Mai fighters, armed Rwandan Hutus, and Burundian rebels of the Forces for the Defence of Democracy and Front for National Liberation - rape women and girls. Sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war by most of the forces sucked into the Democratic Republic of Congo conflict.

MONUC TO BEGIN TRAINING POLICE IN KISANGANI
July 11, 2002 - (IRIN) The UN Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as MONUC, is due to begin training police instructors in the eastern city of Kisangani on 29 July, the MONUC spokesman, Hamadoun Toure, told IRIN on Wednesday.

SEXUAL VIOLENCE RAMPANT, UNPUNISHED
June 20, 2002 - (HRW press release) Forces on all sides in the Congo conflict have committed war crimes against women and girls, Human Rights Watch said in a new 114-page report released today. The report documents the frequent and sometimes systematic use of rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Rwandan-occupied areas of eastern Congo.

UN RAPPORTEUR TO PROBE RECENT KISANGANI VIOLENCE
June 12, 2002 - (IRIN) The United Nations special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Asma Jahangir, will be in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 16 to 22 June to gather information on extrajudicial killings alleged to have occurred in the eastern city of Kisangani on 14 May 2002 and immediately thereafter, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.

SOUTH AFRICAN WOMEN SUPPORT CONGOLESE WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN PEACE NEGOTIATIONS
May 2002 – (UNIFEM Currents) UNIFEM facilitated a solidarity mission by the Women's League of the African National Congress (ANC) on 4 April to support Congolese women attending the Inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD) in Sun City, South Africa. The ANC women shared the history of their struggle for political participation and urged the Congolese women to create a support group to assist one another to access political leadership. They also urged the more than 60 Congolese women present to fight the system of gender discrimination and not their male counterparts.

UPDF CONGOLESE WIVES STARVING
June 11, 2002 -The Monitor (Kampala) About 300 Congolese wives of Uganda People's Defence Forces (UPDF) whose husbands are fighting in Sudan are starving and need desperate help, Aruu MP said.

NO WOMEN, NO PEACE IN THE GREAT LAKES
The current Security Council visit to signatories countries of the Lusaka Accords  provides a potential opportunity for assuring the practical implementation of Resolution 1325, in recognizing and promoting the role of women in peace negotiations, conflict prevention, reconstruction and decision-making processes. Yet, women have not been granted the opportunity to meet with Security Council members.

CONGOLESE WOMEN ABUSED UNDER UPDF
March 29, 2002 - (New Vision - Kampala) A Congolese civic woman leader on Tuesday attacked the Uganda government for the continued occupation of her country by the UPDF soldiers.

CELEBRATING INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY: WOMEN MAKE THEIR VOICES HEARD AT THE INTER-CONGOLESE DIALOGUE
March 11, 2002 - A group of women leaders from the Democratic Republic of Congo who are in Sun City, South Africa, to participate in the inter-Congolese Dialogue (ICD), marked International Women's Day with a powerful presentation at the Dialogue's plenary session. The women insisted that their plea for peace, unity and hope be taken seriously by the Dialogue participants.

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