Congo (Kinshasa)

Indian peacekeepers rescued seven women held by a militia group in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, the UN said Friday as it expressed concern over a new wave of rape attacks in the now notorious region.

Scores of new rapes have been reported in Nord and Sud Kivu provinces by militia groups and the DR Congo army, UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters.

Armed men raped 60 people in eastern Congo in the last 10 days, the latest in a spate of mass sexual attacks in the region, the United Nations said Friday. Charline Burton, a United Nations spokeswoman, said it was not clear who carried out the attacks in the Fizi area of South Kivu Province from Jan. 19 to Jan. 21.

The international emergency medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has provided specialised care to 53 women, men and children who were raped in a series of incidents that occurred between 19th January and 21st January in South Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have arrested the commander of national army soldiers who allegedly went on a rape and looting spree on New Year's Day in the eastern part of the country, the United Nations peacekeeping mission said today.

Officials with UNICEF said they saw a direct correlation between a lack of education and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

UNICEF said sexual violence is prevalent across much of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Rape is often used as a weapon of war, though UNICEF said sexual violence is present in all parts of society.

At least 50 women were raped in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by government troops during an operation to avenge the death of one of their colleagues, the UN said on Wednesday.

An earlier toll from Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) put the number of victims at 36 following the mass attack in the town of Fizi in Sud-Kivu province in early January.

Seven soldiers and a commander in the army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have been arrested over allegations that they were involved in a mass rape, according to the United Nations.

Fifty women have told the UN that they were raped in the eastern town of Fizi on the night of January 1 this year.

A former rebel commander integrated as a colonel into the Congolese army has been arrested in the rapes of dozens of women in volatile eastern Congo on New Year's Day, the United Nations has reported.

An army commander in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has been accused of leading the recent mass rape of at least 50 women.

One of the victims, as well as sources quoted in a UN report, all accuse Lt Col Kibibi Mutware of links to New Year's Day rapes in the town of Fizi.

There have been numerous cases of mass rape in DR Congo's conflict but this is believed to be the largest single incident allegedly involving the army.

Militia groups and government soldiers continue to profit from illegal mining in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, despite a ban on mining that was imposed by the government last year, according to campaigners