Congo Army Rapes Detailed in UN Report as Special Brigade Arrives

http://passblue.com/2013/05/15/congo-army-rapes-detailed-in-un-report-as-special-brigade-arrives/

Congo Army Rapes Detailed in UN Report as Special Brigade Arrives

by Tala Dowlatshahi • May15, 2013

The cycle of sexual violence that has been churning throughout the eastern
half of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has refused to stop, despite
all the steps the United Nations has taken over decades to end the epidemic.
Just last fall, systematic rapes, committed by the Congolese Army, occurred
in an area around Minova, a new
<http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/UNJHROMay2013_en.pdf> report,
released earlier this month by the UN Joint Human Rights Office, reveals.

In November, the Congo Army, formally called the Armed Forces of the
Democratic Republic of Congo (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Democratic_Republic_of_the_Con
go> FARDC), retreated from North Kivu Province as the
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M23_%28militia%29> M23 rebel groupinvaded the
capital, Goma. The troops ended up near Minova, in South Kivu Province,
where the rapes occurred over 10 days, following a pattern in which three to
six soldiers entered a home, looted and raped the women and girls in the
house while one soldier stood guard outside. Victims were threatened with
death if they shouted.

The UN investigation, outlined in the report, documented 135 sexual assault
cases of women by the military, some at gunpoint, and many women attacked by
more than one soldier. The victims included 33 girls, 6 to 17 years old. In
addition, the report said that M23 rebels were responsible for at least 59
cases of sexual violence in the Goma area, many of them wives of Congolese
Army soldiers.

As to why the soldiers committed such crimes without provocation is not
addressed in the report, but André-Michel Essoungou, a
<http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/about/dpko/> UN Department of
Peacekeeping and Field Supportspokesman, said that this type of behavior was
not unusual for retreating soldiers, who may be acting out of frustration
and “certainly goes to the issue of discipline.”

Only 11 Army officers have been arrested for the Minova attacks, and two for
rape. Twelve senior officers were suspended in March and are apparently
being investigated by the Congolese judiciary, with help from the UN
stabilization force in Congo. The report cites poor discipline among
soldiers and officers, improper training and inadequate vetting mechanisms
that could prevent soldiers with poor human-rights records from joining the
military.

The UN’s latest strategy to try to instill peace in the region is the
<http://passblue.com/2013/03/13/mary-robinson-new-special-envoy-for-central-
africa/> appointment of <http://www.mrfcj.org/> Mary Robinson, a former UN
high commissioner for human rights, as special envoy for the
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Great_Lakes> Great Lakes region, which
includes Congo. The UN is also deploying its first-ever
<http://passblue.com/2013/04/11/a-new-un-brigade-will-make-offensive-moves-i
n-congo/> combat brigade to intervene militarily in Congo, but there are
already questions about the value of the force, which will be working under
the umbrella of the largest police force and peacekeeping mission worldwide,
the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in Congo, or
<http://monusco.unmissions.org/> Monusco.

The brigade will consist of 3,000 infantry battalions, artillery and special
forces to fight the dozens of rebel groups plaguing the area. It will be led
by Malawi, South Africa and Tanzania troops, complementing Monusco’s work
protecting civilians, and Tanzanian soldiers have just arrived.

The Women’s Peace Delegation, a
<http://www.gnwp.org/womens-peace-dialogue-and-womens-peace-delegation-in-th
e-democratic-republic-of-congo> collection of nongovernmental organizations,
expressed serious concern that the brigade’s orders to disarm the M23 and
others will actually increase violence against civilians in revenge. The
women also expressed doubt that brigade members would adhere to the UN
principles of zero tolerance on sexual exploitation and abuse. The brigade
will, however, have a gender component to safeguard against abuses.

<http://www.enoughproject.org/staff/timo-mueller> Timo Mueller, a senior
researcher in Goma for the <http://www.enoughproject.org/> Enough Project,
a nonprofit group based in Washington that fights international humanitarian
crimes in central Africa, agrees with this assessment.

“The intervention brigade will further weaken state authority and increase
gender-based violence,” Mueller said in a telephone interview. “I am very
concerned, as it will certainly further militarize the province. The UN
mission [Monusco] has the primary mandate to protect civilians, and the
intervention brigade will enter the state, and all of the 20,000 UN
personnel will be under increasing attack and will spend all of their
resources protecting themselves and not the civilian population.”

Mueller thinks the brigade will cause a lot of chaos in the Kivu Provinces
and throughout eastern Congo, interfering with the follow-up investigation
and judicial work that is needed to identify sexual attacks.

“We are hearing rumors that the M23 and the other armed groups are staking
alliances to build a defense mechanism against the brigade,” he said. “This
will lead to displacement and a great dismantling of groups and collateral
damage. It will also erode the authority of the state and weaken its social
fabric.”

Rwanda, which borders some of the most contentious areas of eastern Congo
and has been <http://www.irinnews.org/report/97779/Briefing-M23-one-year-on>
named by the UN as a party to the M23 rebels’ illegal activities, supports
the brigade. “We believe that it must play a role of deterrence rather than
of a military solution,”
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eug%C3%A8ne-Richard_Gasana> Eugène-Richard
Gasana, the UN ambassador from Rwanda, wrote in an e-mail. He added that the
brigade should not only back the
<http://www.peaceau.org/en/topic/peace-security-and-cooperation-framework-fo
r-drc-and-the-region-signed-in-addis-ababa> new regional peace agreement
but also focus on “negative forces in activity,” like the Democratic Forces
for the Liberation of Rwanda (
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_Forces_for_the_Liberation_of_Rwanda
> FDLR), a Hutu rebel contingent that he said was forming a belt around the
Rwandan border for potential incursions and has been “the main source of
insecurity in eastern Congo since 1994.”

Most recently, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
<http://passblue.com/2013/04/19/ban-ki-moon-backs-emergency-steps-for-women-
raped-in-conflict/> recommended that emergency contraceptives be made
available to women who have been raped in conflicts.

<http://passblue.com/2013/05/15/congo-army-rapes-detailed-in-un-report-as-sp
ecial-brigade-arrives/tanzanian-troops-in-drc-2/> Tanzanian troops in
eastern Congo

Tanzanian troops, part of the UN's new combat brigade, have arrived in
eastern Congo.

“We have about four or five girls here per day who are victims of rape,”
Virginie Mumbere, who runs public affairs for <http://www.healafrica.org/>
Heal Africa, a community health organization in Goma, said in a Skype call.
Mumbere said that the lack of proper health infrastructure in the region
makes it difficult to reach all women and children who are victims of sexual
abuse.

Smaller homegrown groups, such as
<http://passblue.com/tag/womens-solidarity-for-the-well-being-of-families/>
Women’s Solidarity for the Well Being of Families and the
<https://grants.globalfundforwomen.org/GFWSearch/index.php?id=27160> League
for Congolese Solidarity, have been making inroads in helping victims
recover, reinforcing the fact that local people can make a bigger difference
than international institutions and government officials in many instances.

The UN and other professionals working in Congo have heavy hopes pinned on
Robinson, the new special envoy.

“Mrs. Robinson’s role is very relevant,” Mueller of Enough said. “She adds a
renewed commitment by the international community to provide peace in the
region.” He added that while women are getting less afraid to file court
cases, the UN must continue to work with nonprofit groups to promote justice
reform.

Robinson, who was also the first woman to be president of Ireland, is tasked
with carrying out the
<http://www.peaceau.org/en/topic/peace-security-and-cooperation-framework-fo
r-drc-and-the-region-signed-in-addis-ababa> Peace, Security and Cooperation
Framework for the Congo, which was signed in February 2013 by 11 countries:
Angola, Burundi, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo,
Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and
Zambia, as well as by the International Conference on the Great Lakes
Region, the Southern African Development Community, the African Union and
the UN.

A senior UN official in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations said in
a telephone interview that Robinson’s “framework of hope,” as she refers to
the peace agreement, has been set up to deter attacks against women and
children.

“The Congolese Army is not in the position to protect its own civilians,”
the peacekeeping official said. “The intervention brigade will deal with
these various armed groups and mitigate collateral damage. Obviously, there
are great risks, and the aim is to reduce the possibility that civilians
will be caught up in strike operations of the brigade.”

Robinson <http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44836#.UZOgWpFZzcw>
briefed the Security Council this month after a short visit to the Great
Lakes region. She underlined that the “spirit” of negotiations should be met
“with optimism and courage and not cynicism.” This time, she said in her own
spirit of optimism, there is a chance to resolve the crisis’s “underlying
causes and to stop it for good.”

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