The worsening conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo is causing a human rights crisis, the UN human rights office warned on Friday, amid reports of an escalation of sexual violence.
The Geneva-based agency – formally known as the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – said it has received reports from the provincial capital Goma and from combat zones in the neighbouring province of South Kivu of mass rape.
“We are verifying reports that 52 women were raped by Congolese troops in South Kivu, including alleged reports of gangrape,” the office said in a statement released on Friday, noting that such violence was nothing new.
“Conflict-related sexual violence has been an appalling feature of armed conflict in eastern DRC for decades,” the OHCHR said.
Fighting has intensified in the region in recent days after the M23 rebel group claimed control of Goma on Lake Kivu.
The M23 rebels are now expanding towards Bukavu in the province of South Kivu, according to the UN office.
In the territories it has occupied, M23 has “occupied schools and hospitals,” driven out displaced residents and “subjected the civilian population to forced conscription and forced labour,” the UN said.
The Rwanda-backed M23 militia is one of more than 100 armed groups in resource-rich eastern Congo and has been in conflict with the Congolese government for years.
M23 leader Corneille Nangaa said on Thursday that the group is “in Goma to stay” and announced a march on the capital, Kinshasa, to overthrow President Félix Tshisekedi.
While Rwanda denies backing the rebels, the UN has repeatedly called on Kigali to withdraw its forces from Congo and end its support for M23.
