20100824
africanews

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent a top official to Democratic Republic of Congo on Tuesday after a mass rape of women by rebels in the east that U.N. peacekeepers say they only heard about over a week later.

The rebels from the Mai Mai militia and Rwandan Hutu FDLR, who occupied the town of Luvungi in North Kivu province from July 30 to August 3, raped and assaulted at least 154 civilians, according to U.N. figures.

One aid group said many women were gang-raped by between two and six armed men.

The attack has stung the United Nations, which maintains its largest peacekeeping force in Congo. Ban has made protecting civilians and combating sexual violence, especially in Congo, central themes of his stewardship of the world body.

A statement issued by his office said Ban was outraged by the attack, and "given the seriousness of the incident" had decided to immediately dispatch Atul Khare, deputy head of the U.N. peacekeeping department, to Congo.

The statement did not spell out the precise mandate of Khare, who is Indian. India has the largest contingent in the peacekeeping force, known as MONUSCO, supplying more than 3,500 of its nearly 20,000 military personnel.

The statement also said Ban had instructed Margot Wallstrom, his special representative for sexual violence in conflict, to take charge of the U.N. "response and follow-up."

In a separate statement, Wallstrom said "this terrible incident confirms my general findings during my recent visit to (Congo) of the widespread and systematic nature of rape and other human rights violations."