Congo (Kinshasa)

The World Medical Association today added its support to worldwide calls for an immediate inquiry into allegations that more than 700 women, men and children were raped when Angola recently expelled thousands of people back to the Democratic Republic of Congo. These atrocities add to the widespread and systematic nature of rape and other human rights violations in the Congo by rebels.

I have been back in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), for two weeks now meeting with leaders, activists, social workers, therapists, recent survivors, business owners, UN officials. There is good news and bad news. The bad news is that the situation on the ground remains the same if not worse.

The attempt by Congo and Rwanda to end the deadly conflict in eastern Congo by a secret presidential deal and military force is failing and must be changed fundamentally by the Kinshasa government and the international community.

The Democratic Republic of Congo government's two-year military campaign against rebels in the east is failing and has sparked widespread abuses by both insurgents and the army, the International Crisis Group said.

A military solution championed by Rwanda and DR Congo for restive eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has failed and the region risks deteriorating, the International Crisis Group warned Tuesday.

A woman working alone on her farm in a remote corner of eastern Congo is usually a worrisome sight. It's there, among her beans and potatoes, sorghum, cassava, or cabbage, that she is especially vulnerable to robbery, abduction, and rape – crimes committed throughout Congo's nearly 15 years of crippling violence.

World leaders are called on to support a mixed tribunal to prosecute human rights crimes in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Human Rights Watch said.

A U.N. human rights team determined that more than 300 civilians were raped in the Congo by militants July 30-Aug. 2. The U.N. peacekeeping mission in the area deflected criticism that it ignored warnings that surfaced days before the rapes occurred some 20 miles from their base.

The United Nations Office for the Coordiation of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in the Democratic Republic of Congo is investigating reports that close to 700 women were raped along the DRC-Angola border since September. The rapes occurred as some 7,000 illegal immigrants were expelled from Angola to the DRC.

The United Nations is investigating more than 770 alleged cases of sexual violence against people expelled by Angola to neighboring the Democratic Republic of Congo since September.