Congo (Kinshasa)

The UN Security Council was told that the best way to stop rapes in the Congo was to arrest and sanction commanders who permitted it, exclude perpetrators from any future amnesty and do something about the root of the violence -- the looting of minerals.

More than 15,000 rapes were committed last year in a strife-torn region of Democratic Republic of Congo where peacekeepers cannot guarantee civilian security, a top UN official said Friday.

With accusations now being made against DR Congo government troops of new cases of raping and killing in the east of the country, the head of the UN force, Roger Meece, said "the scale of the problem is enormous."

The Democratic Republic of Congo's first lady has led thousands of women on a march against sexual violence.

Olive Lembe Kabila headed the rally in the town of Bukavu in the east of the country, where Congolese and foreign armed groups have operated for years.

Last week, the UN said government troops were raping and killing women in the same villages where hundreds were raped by rebels in July and August.

During a press conference held in Kinshasa on Saturday, Defence Minister Charles Mwando Nsimba expressed outrage at the remarks made by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Margot Wallström, before the UN Security Council on Thursday.

At least 30 women were kept as prisoners in a dungeon-like structure and gang-raped over multiple weeks at the Congo and Angola border before being left in the bush without their clothes, an international aid agency said Tuesday.

Bukavu, 18 October 2010 - Peace and demilitarisation is the main theme of the third International Action of the World March of Women whose activities were held in Bukavu, South Kivu province from 13 to 17 October 2010. Thousands of people including DRC's First Lady Ms. Olive Lembe Kabila were in attendance.

Many of Congo's rape survivors took to the streets Sunday to speak out against sexual violence in a country where it has become a weapon of war.

"My heart is in pain, why are you raping me?" sang the rape victims, many of whom left hospital beds to join the march in eastern Congo.

United Nations peacekeepers and Government forces in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) today seized one of the rebel leaders suspected of being behind the mass rape of more than 300 civilians two months ago in the country's east.

A UN expert on sexual violence in war zones arrived in Kinshasa on the first leg of a week-long trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the scene of recent mass rape.

Margot Wallstrom, UN special representative on the prevention of sexual violence in conflict, was to visit the east of the country, where armed groups are regularly accused of horrific violence against civilians, from Thursday to Monday.

The recent incident of mass rape in the Walikali area of North Kivu followed by the release of a United Nations report on massacres in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has created a certain amount of discontent from various members of the international community. The Walikali incident has created intense concern, as has the UN report – albeit for different reasons.