"We Have Failed" Confesses UN Official On Congo Rape Horror

Atul Khare, Assistant Secretary-General in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) briefed the Security Council today on his recent visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) capital Kinshasa and towns of Goma, Kirumba, Kibua, Bukavu and Uvira where over 400 women, girls and boys were raped by Rwandan, local Mai Mai rebels and DRC national army forces.

Khare met with government officials, generals and commanders to investigate whether the UN should be held accountable for its ineffective action in protecting civilians from the military and rebel groups.  Earlier this month, the International Medical Corps (IMC) and other humanitarian NGO’s blamed the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), for failing to protect the Walikale territory and in particular the village of Luvungi, where some 242 people reported being raped from July 30 through August 2nd. Many of the women were gang raped by up to five to six men at a time.

I had an opportunity to interact with civil society groups where rapes were perpetrated…” said Khare. “We have failed… Our actions were not adequate… We must do better. “

IMC stands firm in its condemnation of the UN missions in the DRC and its subsequent agencies, claiming OCHA (the humanitarian arm of the UN) informed dozens of aid agencies and UN affiliates on July 30 of the threat of mass rapes. 

“We searched internally the details of the systematic mass rapes and identified our shortcomings,” said Khare. 

Khare added that a police patrol was sent out on August 2nd to the villages, but no one reported being raped. Voicing the same concern about the UN’s delay in interacting with the community, Khare added that UN offices were not informed until some ten days later because villagers were afraid of future FDLR and Mai Mai retributive abuses should they confess to being raped. 

He outlined a new strategy being undertaken by UN offices in the DRC entitled “Operation Shop Window”, which underscores better training of national police, improved communication (there is currently no mobile coverage in the territories affected), more night patrols, and better identification and pursuance of the perpetrators (as some rebel groups wear identical military uniforms as peacekeepers.)  Also outlined in the strategy is a request to the international donor community to increase resources, and troops (only 4000 peacekeepers for 59,483 square kilometers). 

The UN Ambassador to the DRC, Mr. Ileka Atoki, reiterated his “deep disgust…at the acts of these bandits.” But he also said he wanted to end the “hypocrisy” that exists within the UN. He mentioned a lack of adequate troops and resources and added the UN Missions were not providing thorough security stabilization, and support to the national justice system.