“I am not sure I would concur that things are deteriorating,” stressed Roger Meece, the Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, at a press conference focused on the mass rapes which took place in the DRC earlier this month.
The UN reports some 154 women and children were gang raped by FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda) and Congolese rebels sometime between July 30-August 3. Reports from MONUC (United Nations Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo) underscore the United Nations Office in Kabula (just miles away from where the rapes occurred) had no previous knowledge or information from villagers about the rapes.
Speaking via video link from Goma, DRC, Mr. Meece added: “Certainly all of us here share the shock of this tragedy. It is a terrible event. People living in this area have been victims of extreme violence for many years.”
He described the predatory behavior of the FDLR but was adamant about the UN’s ability to control and monitor the area. There are currently 80 UN peacekeepers tasked to patrol a 300 square kilometer area.
The UN reports indicate FDLR movement on July 31 in collaboration with Mai Mai (Congolese rebel groups). The rebels blocked roads and on August 1st, stopped commercial traffic in search of money. At the time, Meece added, UN peacekeepers were in North Kivu “freeing hostages” that had been taken. On August 2nd, the FARDC (Congolese army or Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo) moved into the area and an exchange of fire took place. Further reports indicated robberies in vlllages nearby. It was not until August 12 when the UN was informed of the robberies and mass rapes in several villages, in particular Luvungi village, where a majority of the rapes occurred.
Mr. Meece reiterated the UN was not notified about the rapes until August 12. He was defending the UN’s role amidst widespread speculation from non governmental medical groups in the area that UN personnel knew about the rapes long before August 12, and were in the area when the rapes occurred. Meece added that his review this week of the evidence clearly indicated that none of the villagers reported being raped to the United Nations.
This really puts into question whether or not villagers trust the UN and/or fear reprisals from the FDLR and Mai Mai if they did speak out.
On August 13, the UN sent out a protection team to survey the damage on the villages from the looting and rapes. Mr. Meece said the UN is looking to rapidly improve daily communication to the villages from the UN compound in Kabula and to increase the regular series of police patrols and local meetings in the afflicted areas.