U.N.: Congo troops raping, pillaging in villages

updated 4:55 p.m. ET Nov. 11, 2008

UNITED NATIONS - Hundreds of Congolese soldiers have rampaged through several villages in eastern Congo, the U.N. said Tuesday, alleging that the soldiers were raping women and pillaging homes as they pulled back ahead of a feared rebel advance.

U.N. peacekeeping spokesman Col. Jean-Paul Dietrich said the army troops had reportedly raped civilians near the town of Kanyabayonga in overnight violence that lasted into Tuesday morning. Kanyabayonga is 60 miles north of the provincial capital, Goma.

Dietrich said 700 to 800 Congolese soldiers fled Kanyabayonga and went on a rampage through several villages to the north.

"They looted vehicles, they looted some houses," Dietrich said by telephone from Kinshasa, the national capital.

Call for cease-fire
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called Tuesday for an immediate cease-fire so that aid workers could urgently help "at least 100,000 refugees" cut off in rebel-held areas north of Goma.

"Because of the ongoing fighting, these people have received virtually no assistance. Their situation has grown increasingly desperate," Ban said.

Aid workers were trying to gain access to the towns of Rutshuru and Kiwanja, both 10 miles south of Kanyabayonga in rebel-held territory, where they expected the need for food was urgent.

In normal times, the two towns have a combined population of more than 150,000. But aid workers said they have no idea how many people are there now. At least 250,000 people have been displaced by 10 weeks of fighting between army troops and rebels led by renegade general Laurent Nkunda.

Slide show   Crisis in Congo Orphans, civilians struggle through embattled region. more photos

A rebel spokesman said any aid workers who wanted to help civilians trapped on rebel-held territory would be safe.

"If there are NGOs who want to come to Rutshuru, they are welcome to come," rebel spokesman Bertrand Bisimwa said.

Congo's armed forces are notoriously ill-disciplined soldiers, historically better at looting than standing their ground. In recent days, AP journalists have seen them manning checkpoints drunk. As Nkunda's forces bore down on Goma in late October, the army retreated in tanks and commandeered cars, looting civilians along the way.

Dietrich said the U.N. flew helicopters over the ravaged area Tuesday, carried out foot patrols, and initiated an investigation into the violence with the Congolese army.

The fighting in eastern Congo is fueled by ethnic hatred left over from the 1994 slaughter of at least 500,000 Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda. Nkunda says he is fighting to protect minority Tutsis from Rwandan Hutu militants who participated in the genocide before escaping to Congo.

A U.N. mission sent to Kiwanja, about 50 miles north of Goma, to investigate reports of massacres said Tuesday it had received "credible reports that civilians were targeted, that a large number of them were murdered," U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York.

At least 50 civilians killed
She said no exact death toll was available yet. The New York-based Human Rights Watch said at least 50 civilians were killed in Kiwanja — mostly by rebels.

Closer to Goma, the situation for displaced refugees was dire.

"I haven't eaten properly in three weeks," said Teoneste Dies, 22. He fled his home three weeks ago with his wife and three children, surviving on whatever potatoes they could scrounge.

On Tuesday, he waited with thousands of others for food aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

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